7 Days in Shaoguan

Elder Peak's 409-metre viewpoint and the Xianglong Lake loop fill a first day; the red beds that gave geology the word danxia joined UNESCO's China Danxia serial in 2010. Buses from Shaoguan East take about an hour.

1. shaoguan danxia mountain

The Yangyuan Stone pillar stands about 28 metres; afterwards a 10-km raft stretch drifts the Jinjiang under the cliff walls. The same combined ticket covers the eastern sector.

1. shaoguan danxia mountain

The temple south of town was founded in 502 and holds 360 Song-dynasty wooden arhat figures; it has been nationally protected since 2001. On the way back, the Maba skull found in 1958 is dated to roughly 129,000 years.

1. shaoguan nanhua temple
2. shaoguan maba man site

About 90 km west in Ruyuan's Yao county, the canyon runs some 15 km with walls over 300 metres deep; the ladder trail climbs more than 1,300 steps past a 200-metre waterfall.

1. shaoguan ruyuan grand canyon

In Ruyuan, the Yunmen Temple's founding is dated 923 — the house of the Yunmen line of Chan; go in the morning and keep the afternoon slow along the Zhen riverbanks downtown.

1. shaoguan yunmen temple

The 70-km ride northeast reaches Nanxiong — the 1.5-km lane lists 180-plus surnames whose families moved south in the Song era, and the pass road above was cut in 716 under Zhang Jiuling.

1. shaoguan zhuji lane
2. shaoguan meiguan pass

The Ming-era Fengcai Tower honours the Song statesman Yu Jing (1000-1064); a market breakfast under it, then the HSR south — Guangzhou is about 50 minutes.

1. shaoguan fengcai tower
2. shaoguan city markets