27 Dec 2021

Shilin UGGp held a grand ceremony on the morning of 27th December 2021 to mark its 90th anniversary. ZHOU Linchun, Vice governor of the People's Government of Shilin county, attended the celebration and made addresses. Related leaders and officials from different apartments were invited to attend the ceremony. BI Wenxiang, the general director of Shilin Geopark Administrative Bureau, made a welcoming speech on the opening ceremony.

Following the opening ceremony was fold song and dance performance and the achievements exhibition since its establishment during the past nine decades.

In the afternoon, a forum was held on the development of Shilin tourism .

In 1931, former Yunnan provincial governor LONG Yun visited Shilin in his inspection tour. Greatly enchanted by the exceptional beauty of the stone forest scenery, he wrote two Chinese characters “Shi Lin" (Stone Forest) to name the forest-like landscape. Thence-forth, "Stone Forest" became the formal name of this special karst landscape, and LONG Yun’s calligraphy was later inscribed on a giant stone pillar - which nowadays is one of the well-known symbols of the Stone Forest. It was also in 1931 that the Stone Forest Park was formally established (only part of the present Major Stone Forest), beginning this area's park history.

Because of its important scientific and aesthetic values, the Stone Forest of Yunnan was designated as a National Park of China in 1982. It became one of China National geoparks in 2002 and became a member Global Geopark Network (GGN) in 13 Feb, 2004 and a UNESCO Global Geopark in 2015.