Moon Hill () is a hill with a

natural arch A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion f ...

through it a few kilometers outside

Yangshuo Yangshuo County () is a county under the jurisdiction of Guilin City, in the northeast of Guangxi, China. Its seat is located in Yangshuo Town. Surrounded by karst peaks and bordered on one side by the Li River it is easily accessible by bus or by ...

in southern

China's China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

autonomous region. Moon Hill is part of the

Guilin Guilin ( Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...

Mountains. It is so named for a wide, semicircular hole through the hill, all that remains of what was once a

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

formed in the

phreatic zone The phreatic zone, saturated zone, or zone of saturation, is the part of an aquifer, below the water table, in which relatively all pores and fractures are saturated with water. Above the water table is the unsaturated or vadose zone. The phre ...

. Like most formations in the region, it is

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

. It is also a popular tourist attraction.

Description

It takes roughly 20 minutes to climb up to the arch (about 800 steps), or considerably longer for those who wish to reach the summit. Visitors must pay an entrance fee in order to climb the hill. Souvenir and refreshment vendors often follow climbers up and down the path. In addition to a concrete tourist path which passes through the arch, and a somewhat rougher, steeper path leading to the summit above the arch, Moon Hill has several

rock climbing Rock climbing is a sport in which participants climb up, across, or down natural rock formations. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a usually pre-defined route without falling. Rock climbing is a physically and ...

routes, many of which were pioneered by the American climber

Todd Skinner Todd Richard Skinner (October 27, 1958 – October 23, 2006) was an American rock climber and expert in big wall climbing. He made the first free ascents of many routes around the world, including his historic first free ascent with Paul Piana ...

in the 1990s. It has also been used for

abseil Abseiling ( ; ), also known as rappelling ( ; ), is the controlled descent of a steep slope, such as a rock face, by moving down a rope. When abseiling the person descending controls their own movement down the rope, in contrast to low ...

s in several adventure races. Moon Hill offers broad panoramic views of the surrounding countryside which is characterized by the knobby karst hills found throughout the region.

Geography

Moon Hill is located to the south of Yangshuo across the Jingbao river along

China National Highway 321 China National Highway 321 (G321) runs northwest from Guangzhou, Guangdong towards Guangxi Province, Guizhou Province, and ends in Chengdu, Sichuan Province. It is 2,220 kilometres in length. Route and distance See also * China National H ...

. It has an elevation of , while the hill is in relative height and in length. The arch is about 50 meters in height.

Climbing ban

Moon Hill had a two-year

ban recently lifted. The climbing ban, which went into effect in the first half of 2017, was in place due to a security guard on the viewing deck nearly being hit on the head with a piece of falling debris. During this time, climbing was only allowed during the annual Yangshuo climbing festival in late October. Moon Hill was leased by a new private company and, after meeting with the Yangshuo Climbers Association, they decided to remove the ban at the end of 2019. The ban was removed under the condition that the climbing routes be inspected annually, with the funding provided by the climbers' mandatory climbing insurance.

References

External links

{{Authority control Landforms of Guangxi Hills of China Tourist attractions in Guilin Climbing areas of China