The Stone Forest, located 126 kilometers southeast of Kunming in the Lunan Yu Autonomous County, has the typical karst topography (area of limestone terrain) according to geologists. During the carboniferous period of the Paleozoic Era, around 270 million years ago, the region was a vast sea. Over time, the land shifted and the water flowed out leaving behind limestone formations. After ages of erosion, the final result was Stone Forest, which consists of numerous stone peaks, pillars, and stalagmites rising out of the ground extending high toward the sky. It looks like a forest of stone and thus, it was named.
The area's native people known as Sani, a branch of the Yi ethnic group, had many interesting legends. One, about the love of Ashima, a beautiful, smart and kind-hearted Sani girl, is the most popular and has been passed on from thousands of years ago. The Sani people celebrate the Torch Festival every lunar June 24 with traditional performances such as wrestling, bull fighting, pole-climbing, dragon-playing, lion-dancing and the A-xi Moon Dance. This time, the stone forest is even more magnificent with many lights and festive decorations.
