孤峰穿一月，傈僳望天门。Gū fēng chuān yī yuè, Lìsù wàng tiānmén – A lone peak is pierced by one moon; the Lisu gaze at the gate of heaven.
石月亮 Shíyuèliàng the Stone Moon is the prefecture’s strangest natural signature: a perfect circular hole punched clean through a 大理岩 dàlǐyán marble peak on the 高黎贡山 Gāolígòng Shān Gaoligong ridge, high above 福贡县 Fùgòng Xiàn Fugong County, so that a disc of sky shows through the rock like a second moon hung on the mountain. The peak it sits on is 月亮山 Yuèliàng Shān Moon Mountain, and the aperture — roughly a few tens of metres across, round and uncanny — is visible from the 怒江美丽公路 Nùjiāng Měilì Gōnglù Beautiful Road far below as a pale ring in the dark cliff face, most clearly at the right angle of light in the dry season. Geologically it is a 穿洞 chuāndòng natural through-cave, a karst window worn through the marble by weather over unimaginable time; touristically it is the one Nujiang landmark you mainly admire from a distance, because the climb to stand inside the ring is a serious 高黎贡山 Gāolígòng Shān ridge hike, not a staircase with a railing. The Lisu 傈僳族 Lìsùzú legend wraps the hole in story — a sky-moon or a 天门 tiānmén gate of heaven let down to the people, a motif tied to the 创世 chuàngshì creation epics the Lisu still sing — and the name itself, 石月亮 Shíyuèliàng “stone moon,” is the literal description poets and geologists agree on.
The honest grade is “a free roadside wonder you do not enter,” and that is the whole point. There is no gate, no ticket, no turnstile at the 石月亮 Shíyuèliàng viewpoint pull-off on the Beautiful Road; you stop the car, look up, and the marble moon is there (or isn’t — see below). Getting here is pure Nujiang overland logic: the viewpoint is in central Fugong, on the sealed highway, reachable as a stop between 六库 Liùkù and 贡山 Gòngshān, with no rail and no detour worth naming. For the ambitious, the trail up 月亮山 Yuèliàng Shān toward the actual arch begins from the 亚坪 Yàpíng Yaping side road and is a long, steep, often muddy ridge walk to altitude (worth confirming the current trailhead and whether any 护林站 hùlín zhàn forest-station permit is asked — the Gaoligong flank is protected, and a guided approach from 亚坪 Yàpíng is the sane way, not a solo scramble). Most travellers rightly content themselves with the distant view and call it enough.
The wry take is that the Stone Moon is the prefecture’s most “you had to be there, at the right time” sight, and the right time is everything. What is overrated is any promise you will see a crisp ring on demand — the 石月亮 Shíyuèliàng is a trick of angle and light, best caught in the clear dry months (October to April) from the correct pull-off, and often hidden by haze, cloud or the wrong sun in summer, so half the visitors photograph a blurry pale smudge and call it mystical. What is worth it is real: the moment the ring reads sharp against blue, the 高黎贡山 Gāolígòng Shān ridge line behind it, and the quiet thrill that a hole in a mountain can be a prefecture’s emblem. Best season is the dry window; the June-to-September rains wash the view out and slick the 亚坪 Yàpíng climb. Carry binoculars for the distant aperture, do not treat the protected ridge as a free-for-all if you hike, and keep your camera lens off any frontier installation — the Gaoligong crest near here runs close to sensitive ground, and the 石月亮 Shíyuèliàng is best loved from the road, not from a misadventure on the mountain.
Practicalities
- Rating: A natural marble through-arch (a 穿洞 chuāndòng karst window) on the Gaoligong ridge above Fugong; a free roadside landmark of Nujiang, not a graded ticketed scenic area.
- Tickets: Free to view from the Beautiful Road pull-off; the ridge hike toward the arch from 亚坪 Yàpíng may need a forest-station permit or a guide (worth confirming the current trailhead rules — the Gaoligong flank is protected).
- Address: 石月亮乡 Shíyuèliàng Xiāng / the Moon Mountain ridge, Fugong County, Nujiang — visible from the 怒江美丽公路 Nùjiāng Měilì Gōnglù between 六库 Liùkù and 贡山 Gòngshān; no rail.
- Time needed: Fifteen minutes for the roadside view; a full day-plus if you attempt the 亚坪 Yàpíng ridge climb to the arch itself with a guide.
Words and Names
石月亮 Shíyuèliàng Stone Moon · the natural marble arch on the Gaoligong ridge, Nujiang’s emblem 月亮山 Yuèliàng Shān Moon Mountain · the peak the Stone Moon is pierced through 高黎贡山 Gāolígòng Shān Gaoligong Mountains · the biodiversity ridge the arch sits on, above Fugong 大理岩 dàlǐyán marble · the rock the through-hole is worn through 穿洞 chuāndòng through-cave · the karst window geology of the Stone Moon 福贡县 Fùgòng Xiàn Fugong County · the central Nujiang county that holds the landmark 傈僳族 Lìsùzú Lisu people · the group whose legend and name the Stone Moon carries 天门 tiānmén gate of heaven · the Lisu mythic reading of the hole in the peak 亚坪 Yàpíng Yaping · the side-road trailhead for the serious ridge climb to the arch 怒江美丽公路 Nùjiāng Měilì Gōnglù Nujiang Beautiful Road · the highway pull-off from which the moon is viewed
flowcloud would say that 石月亮 Shíyuèliàng is Nujiang’s emblem — a round 大理岩 dàlǐyán marble hole punched through 月亮山 Yuèliàng Shān on the 高黎贡山 Gāolígòng Shān ridge, a free roadside 穿洞 chuāndòng you mostly admire from below — and that the honest move is the dry-season pull-off on the 怒江美丽公路 Nùjiāng Měilì Gōnglù with binoculars, because the ring is a trick of angle and light that summer haze washes out, and the Gaoligong crest near here is protected and sensitive, so love it from the road, not from a misadventure on the mountain. All checked October 2026.
Getting there: the 高黎贡山 Gāolígòng Shān ridge above 石月亮乡 Shíyuèliàng Xiāng, northern 福贡县 Fúgòng Xiàn – the arch is visible from the G219 near 利沙底 Lìshādǐ (worth confirming the exact viewpoint); the ridge climb needs a local guide and forest-station permission (worth confirming the details), and the honest plan is to photograph it from the valley road at first light. All checked October 2026.