Lincang Tiankeng mainly refers to the Cangyuan Tiankeng Group. The following is an introduction to it:
Basic Overview
The Cangyuan Tiankeng Group is located halfway up the mountain in the Yahua Valley Scenic Area in Cangyuan County, Lincang City. There are 7 Tiankengs distributed on the mountain road of more than 10 kilometers, and they are distributed on the same horizontal line. Currently, only one of them has been developed. The developed Tiankeng has a diameter of 184 meters, a depth of about 235 meters, and a circumference of 720 meters. It is currently the largest Tiankeng found in Yunnan Province.
Cause of formation
A large amount of limestone is distributed in the Awa Mountain area, which is the material condition for the formation of karst landforms such as underground caves, underground rivers, and Tiankengs. At the same time, several north-south mountain ranges blocked a large amount of water vapor from the Indian Ocean, forming abundant precipitation in the Awa Mountain. A large amount of precipitation cuts and dissolves the longitudinal cracks in the limestone, thus creating a large-scale Tiankeng Group in the Awa Mountain area.
Natural landscape
- Plant resources: Due to the great depth and height differences, the temperature and humidity are different, and the plants in the pit form a gradient distribution. There are rare plants such as banana, Alsophila spinulosa, and Dong palm, as well as evergreen broad-leaved trees such as oak trees, and deciduous broad-leaved forests such as oak trees.
- Geological landscape: There are some unfathomable caves hidden at the bottom of the tiankeng, with lakes, beaches, underground rivers, waterfalls and a large number of stalactites in the cave.
Cultural characteristics
In the myths and legends of the Wa people's creation epic "Sigangli", there are legends about the tiankeng, such as "After Lu An and Ji Li created the sky and the earth, they were afraid that the sky and the earth would fly away, so they tied the sky and the earth together with rattan. The ancestor of women, Gelibi, lifted the pestle for pounding rice and pushed the sky up high. This big pit is the place where the pestle sank when it fell down."
Tourism development
Currently, Tiankeng No. 2 has been completed and opened to the public. The scenic area has built glass plank roads, viewing platforms and other facilities. Visitors can stand on the glass plank road and look down, experiencing the excitement while feeling the mystery of the Tiankeng.