The term “喀斯特” is the transliteration of German term “karst”. Karst was originally a place name of northwestern limestone plateau of previous Yugoslavia. In the end of nineteenth century, scholar J. Cvijic made study on that grotesque limestone landform, and termed the landform as Karst in his publication “Karst Phenomena”. Since then, Karst became an academic term describing various dissolution and morphological features occurred on carbonate rock.

China is one of the countries in the world with largest carbonate rock outcrop and well developed karst landforms. Exposed carbonate rock area amount to 1,250,000km2, account for 13％ of the country’s total territory. It is in south China that the karst area, with Guizhou as center and extends to Yunnan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Hunan and Hubei, extends continuously for 640,000 km2. This South China Karst is believed the largest single karst terrain in the world that contains best examples of continental tropical-subtropical karst landforms.

South China karst region has experienced complex geological evolution since early Paleozoic period (some 500 million years ago) and developed wide variety of karst landforms including the three most representative ones, i.e. Fenglin karst (tower karst) of Guangxi, Fengcong karst (cone karst) of Guizhou and Stone Forest karst (pinnacle karst) of Yunnan. In addition, this area also contains some unusual karst phenomena such as giant karst fissures and collapsed dolines. In the underground there are numerous magnificent and complex cave systems with rich speleothem. The south China karst area is therefore acclaimed the textbook of continental tropical and subtropical karst, being important and representative geomorphic and physiographic features of the earth  

South China Karst preserves and displays typical continental tropic-subtropic vegetation and ecosystems, the indigenous karst evergreen broadleaved forest, mixed karst coniferous- broadleaved forest, and karst coniferous forest not only are regarded as the “the last karst forest in the world” but also represent important on-going karst ecological process.

South China Karst has richest biodiversity, containing abundant plant and animal species. This region is home and sanctuary to many threatened plant and animal species.

Rich and unique karst landforms contained in the south China karst terrain display exceptional natural beauty, many areas have been traditional Chinese scenic resorts for hundreds years, of which, the tower karst of Guilin and the Stone Forest of Yunnan have long been regarded as great natural wonders.