Chishui, located in China’s northwestern Guizhou province, is the city of waterfalls.

In the art world or in the natural world, green usually serves as a supporting colour for red, which blossoms and catches all the attention.

But in a river range in China’s northwestern Guizhou province, red gives birth to green. They compliment each other and form the most vibrant, almost dizzying, dichotomy.

Green here is the primeval forest and lush vegetation, while red is the land and rocks.

At a place near Chishui River—which flows from Guizhou to Sichuan—stands a vast expanse of rocky mountains and plunging waterfalls. To date, 72,178 hectares of this land has been designated as danxia landforms and is currently inspected by Unesco experts for a potential natural heritage listing. Literally meaning “red rocks”, danxia refers to red-coloured sandstone and conglomerates of the Cretaceous age, which often look like stacked pancakes.

“Some 230 million years ago, this was the bottom of the ocean,” says Tu Yuling, geologist with Guizhou Normal University.

“During the Jurassic age, this was an inland lake. Later it was elevated but managed to retain the red sandstones of that age.”

Red is the result of oxidisation of iron that permeates rocks and soil. Locals extract colour dyes out of the material.

Not only are mountain rocks crimson but also the soil exudes a rich vermilion.

When it rains, the river changes to a muddy reddish color with almost tragic overtones.

Near the Five-Pillar Peak, there is a gorge that resembles a cistern and the top edge is a striking circumference of danxia stones. Zhang Yimou, the Chinese filmmaker famed for using—or overusing—bright colours, would love it.

To prove that dinosaurs once roamed here, there are 40,000 alsophila trees in Jinshagou, one of the scenic parks in the area.

Alsophila is the oldest and rarest variety of fern, which dates back some 200 million years. It is much taller - about 5 to 6m, the highest reaching 9m, and 20 to 25cm in diameter— than other common ferns.

“Dinosaurs used to eat the little things on these trees,” explains Zeng Qiang, a local official.

However, scientists had not paid attention to it until 1983.

They arrived in Chishui looking for another breed of rare flora. But while taking a break, one member noticed alsophila and wondered whether it was the one on the endangered list.

The next year, a protection zone was mapped out. In 2000, the local government opened its ‘Jurassic Park’. The few dinosaur sculptures notwithstanding, only adventure seekers come here.

In Zigong of Sichuan province, some 100km from Chishui, fossils of every dinosaur species have been discovered and displayed in a museum.

“It’s not a place for leisure tourists,” says Zeng Qiang, the local official.

However, pleasure seekers have an abundance to revel in. As long as you love the sight of water pouring down slopes, Chishui is gushing with delight. It isn’t called the ‘city of waterfalls’ for nothing.

“We have 4,000 waterfalls, and I’m counting only those at least 3m tall,” Zeng says.

Chishui is located at the edge of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau where it descends sharply to the Sichuan Basin.

Hence the ubiquitous gorges and canyons where water cascades its way into softer rocks and dances downslope, forming nature’s most rapturous crescendo and mesmerising landscapes.

The biggest, Shizhangdong, sits on the upper reaches of Fengxi River, about 30 km from downtown Chishui.

It is 76m tall and 80m wide—8m taller than Huangguoshu, China’s largest waterfall, but 1 m narrower.

There are several points from where you can take photos or get wet. About 2km downstream is Zhongdong, or the Middle Fall, which is 75.6m by 18.5m.

Unlike the unruly Shizhangdong, this one is like a curtain with one half incorporating a break.

Closer to downtown, only 15km, is Sidonggou Scenic Area, with its succession of cataracts. The four big ones offer different ways of splashing, some passionate, some haunting. It looks like a fantasyland out of The Lord of the Rings.

If you love the land, you’ll also love the people who inhabit it.

There are several old towns in Chishui. On your way to the Sidonggou waterfalls is Datong, a narrow street with pebble stones and old women sitting by the door, reading old books or playing mahjong, a Chinese puzzle game. The only telltale sign of modernity is the TV behind every open door, which is always on.

Bing’an almost hangs onto the southern bank of the Chishui River.

Cross a suspension bridge, and you’ll transport yourself into a world where salt merchants used to relax.

Up the street a few restaurants serve ‘whitewater fish’, a local delicacy.

The local government likes to call the place ‘China’s Jurassic Park’. And this immense territory is luxuriant and relatively unadulterated by human intervention.

One feels small in this terrain of feverish danxia and tranquil verdure, traversed by ribbons of water. (By Raymond Zhou in Chisui (Guizhou)/ China Daily/ AsiaNews)