Huanggang Dabieshan UESCO Global Geopark is located in Huanggang City, northeastern Hubei Province, at the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains and on the northern bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, covering a total area of 2,625.54 square kilometers. As an important part of China's central mountain system—serving as a geological, geographical, ecological, and climatic divide—the Geopark preserves multi-phase metamorphic and deformational processes resulting from Earth's evolution since the Archean, along with a rich variety of magmatic activity relics, which are of global comparative significance. Integrating peaks, forests, pools, and waterfalls into one landscape, and combining religious culture, folk customs, and historical heritage, the park features verdant layered peaks, drifting seas of mist, vast stretches of forest, and the fragrance of birds and flowers. Characterized by continental orogenic belt structures and granite mountain landforms, it possesses typicality, integrity, systematicity, rarity, and scenic beauty in its geological relics. It serves as a natural laboratory for geoscientific research and a base for orogenic belt studies, and stands as a protected natural area with outstanding ecological environment, rich historical and cultural value, and extremely high scientific popularization value.
Scenery photo of Huanggang Dabieshan UNESCO Global Geopark (Source: Official Website of Huanggang Dabieshan UNESCO Global Geopark)
Establishment History of Huanggang Dabieshan UNESCO Global Geopark
August 2009
Approved by the Ministry of Land and Resources of China as a National Geopark construction project.
September 2013
Selected among the top 30 in the first national "China's Most Beautiful Geoparks" competition.
October 2013
Official inauguration and opening ceremony of the National Geopark was held.
July 15, 2017
The Huanggang Dabieshan Geopark Museum held its new building opening ceremony and was officially opened to the public as the Huanggang Branch of the Geological Museum of China.
July 17–20, 2017
Huanggang Dabieshan Geopark received an on‑site evaluation mission from UNESCO Global Geopark experts Klaus George and Quan Yongwen.
September 8, 2017
Designated as a "National Land and Resources Popular Science Base" by the former Ministry of Land and Resources and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
April 17, 2018
At its 204th session, the Executive Board of UNESCO adopted a resolution approving Huanggang Dabieshan Geopark in China as a UNESCO Global Geopark.
September 13, 2018
At the 8th International Conference on Global Geoparks, Huanggang Dabieshan Geopark was officially presented with its membership certificate of the Global Geoparks Network.
November 7, 2018
At the 2018 Annual Conference of UNESCO Global Geoparks in China, Mr. Yang Chao, Director of the Department of Protected Area Management of the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, officially presented the Geopark with its UNESCO Global Geopark plaque.
May 9–12, 2019
Huanggang Dabieshan UNESCO Global Geopark held its official unveiling and opening ceremony, along with an international symposium on Geoparks and Regional Economic Development.