China's rainbow mountains — striped sandstone that looks painted by gods
Zhangye Danxia National Geological Park in Gansu Province contains the most spectacular coloured landforms on Earth: hills of layered red, orange, yellow, green, and blue sandstone deposited over 24 million years, then uplifted and eroded into rippling, alien landscapes. The colours shift dramatically at sunrise and sunset, and the formations are unlike anywhere else — so vivid that early visitors refused to believe photographs hadn't been doctored. The site sits on the ancient Silk Road corridor, with the Hexi Corridor linking China to Central Asia running directly past.
The Danxia landforms were formed from red Cretaceous-period sandstone and conglomerates, oxidised to their extraordinary colours by iron and trace minerals over millions of years. The area was a key section of the Silk Road's Hexi Corridor, the narrow pass between the Tibetan Plateau and the Gobi Desert that funnelled caravans between China and Central Asia for centuries. The nearby Zhangye city was a major garrison town and trading post. The geological park was established in 2011 and has since grown into one of China's most visited natural wonders.