Natural wonders not to be missed

Shaoyang's beautiful scenery and rich culture, and its recent listing as a World Natural Heritage site, have made it an increasingly popular tourist destination.

Two rivers - the Zijiang and Yuanjiang - cross Shaoyang and it is an attractive water city in Hunan province that also boasts more than 1.2 million hectares of forests and some 470,000 hectares of grassland, outstanding figures in the province.

And the Liangshan Mountains, which are praised by geologists as the best of the Danxia landforms, were included on UNESCO's World Natural Heritage list on Aug 2, 2010.