Lushan National Park — Mount Lu’s 1,474-metre summit in Jiangxi Province above Poyang Lake (inscribed 1996), the cultural mountain of Su Dongpo’s poem, Zhu Xi’s White Deer Grotto Academy, and the 1959 CCP Lushan Conference — links to Mount Wuyi 150 km south, Huangshan 250 km northeast, and Wudang Mountains 300 km northwest via HSR.
The Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains — 33 Daoist architectural groups built from Tang to Qing on Hubei’s sacred mountain, climaxing with the Yongle Emperor’s 1413–1416 Golden Summit bronze hall (inscribed 1994) — links east to the Three Gorges 200 km, southeast to Wulingyuan 350 km, and north to Longmen Grottoes 450 km via Wuhan HSR.
The Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and Kong Family Mansion at Qufu — 2,500 years of continuous Confucian heritage in Shandong Province (inscribed 1994) — links north to Mount Taishan 80 km away, southwest to the Longmen Grottoes 300 km by HSR, and north to the Forbidden City 700 km via Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail.
The Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples at Chengde — the Qing dynasty’s 564-hectare diplomatic summer compound with its Potala replica temple (inscribed 1994), 250 km northeast of Beijing — links to the Great Wall at Jinshanling 60 km south, the Forbidden City 250 km southwest, and the Shenyang Qing Palace 500 km northeast.
Wulingyuan Scenic Area at Zhangjiajie — 3,103 quartzite-sandstone pillars in Hunan Province (inscribed 1992, globally recognised via the 2009 Avatar film) — links northwest to the Wudang Mountains’ Daoist temples 350 km away, east to Mount Sanqingshan 650 km, and south to the South China Karst fenglin 600 km by high-speed rail.
Huanglong Scenic Area — 3,400 travertine terraced pools in gold and turquoise at 3,180–4,995 metres in Sichuan’s Min Mountains (inscribed 1992) — pairs naturally with Jiuzhaigou’s lake system 56 km northwest via the same high-altitude airport, with Mount Emei and Dujiangyan reachable by road south through Chengdu.
Jiuzhaigou Valley — 114 multi-coloured travertine lakes and alpine waterfalls in Sichuan’s Min Mountains (inscribed 1992, reconstructed after 2017 earthquake) — connects to Huanglong’s golden terraced pools 56 km south, Dujiangyan’s 2,275-year irrigation system 250 km south, and Mount Emei 340 km south on the Chengdu-Kunming HSR.
Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) — China’s 1990 UNESCO mixed inscription in southern Anhui, the granite peak landscape that became China’s dominant painting subject in the 17th century — connects to Xidi and Hongcun villages 70 km north, West Lake Hangzhou 90 minutes east, and the Classical Gardens of Suzhou 2.5 hours northeast by Hangzhou-Huangshan HSR.
The Peking Man Site at Zhoukoudian — 700,000-year-old Homo erectus occupation inscribed 1987, 48 km southwest of central Beijing — connects northeast to the Forbidden City (48 km), Great Wall at Badaling (60 km north), Ming Tombs (70 km north) and Summer Palace (40 km northeast) within a single Beijing heritage circuit.
