Geopark Memorabilia

      Mount Cangshan has been scientifically investigated and researched involving biology, geography, geology, ethnology, paleoanthropology since late 19th century. Before 1950s, various scientists conducted researches on the geological relics, geomorphological landscapes, botany, archaeology, and ethnology in this region.

      1932, German scholar Credner.W investigated Mount Cangshan;

      1937, Austrian scholar H.V. Wissmann firstly named the glacial period represented by the glacial landform of Mount Cangshan as the “Dali Glacial Period”. Siguang Li, a famous geologist, agreed with this and compared it with the glacial periods in eastern China and in European Alps, determined that it is the representative of the last glacial period of the Quaternary in China.

      1945, Yunzhu Sun conducted research on the ordovician strata near Xiangyang, Haidong;

      1947, Austrian nationality American scholar Joseph Locke visited this area to collect plant specimens;

      1948, Qi Yang conducted a more detailed study of stratigraphic paleontology in Wase near Haidong.

      From 1950s to 1980s, scholars at China and abroad systematically investigated and studied the geology, landforms, meteorology, river systems, mineral resources, geophysics, geochemistry, earthquakes, plants, animals, vegetation and forest resources, soil and land resources, paleoanthropology, sociology, national culture, etc. of Mount Cangshan, almost covered all fields of natural science and social science. Representative achievements in geoscience research include geological survey reports of different scales, hydrogeological survey reports, various mineral survey and evaluation reports, geophysical research reports, scenic resources research reports, "Three Rivers Geology" and "Yunnan Stratigraphic Summary", etc. These research projects laid a solid foundation for the establishment of the Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake Nature Reserve.

      Based on the importance of Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake, November 1981, Dali Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake Provincial Nature Reserve was established with the approval of Yunnan Provincial People's Government. From then on, the protection and management work of Cangshan mountain is in charge of the Dali Prefecture Urban and Rural Construction Environmental Protection Bureau. 

      November 1982, the State Council of China approved and announced the first batch of national key scenic spots, Cangshan-Erhai was listed as one of the 44 key scenic spots.

1984, Dali Prefecture established the "Erhai Lake Office";1985, the "Erhai Lake Office" was upgraded to the "Erhai Lake Administration".

      December 1988, the Standing Committee of Yunnan Provincial People's Congress approved the "Regulations on the Administration of Erhai Lake in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province (Draft)".

      April 1994, Yunnan Cangshan Erhai Nature Reserve was upgraded to a national nature reserve with the approval of the “State Council of the People's Republic of China (1994)-document No. 26”.

      1994, Dali Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake Nature Reserve Management Office compiled "Dali Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake National Nature Reserve Master Plan (1996-2010)".

      May 1995, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture People's Government approved the establishment of the Dali Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake National Nature Reserve Management Office, which is a department-level institution under Dali Urban and Rural Construction and Environmental Protection Bureau, with 6 staff and three management offices, i.e., Cangshan East Slope Management Office, Cangshan West Slope Management Office and Erhai Management Office.

      July 1998, the "Regulations on the Administration of Erhai Lake of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province (Revised)" was approved and promulgated, and came into effect on October 1 of the same year.

      January 2002, Dali Prefecture established the Dali Prefecture Environmental Protection Bureau, and set Dali Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake National Nature Reserve Management Office as its subordinate department-level institution with 6 staff.

      May 2002, the Standing Committee of Yunnan Provincial People's Congress approved the "Regulations on the Administration of Cangshan, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province", which was promulgated and implemented in October of the same year.

      September 2002, Dali Prefecture People's Government established Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture Mount Cangshan Protection Administration, a county-level bureau directly under the state government's administrative functions;

      December 2002, Yangbi County established Yangbi Mount Cangshan Protection Administration Suboffice;

      August 2003, Dali City established Dali Mount Cangshan Protection Administration Suboffice.

      August 2003, the "Overall Plan of Dali Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake National Nature Reserve (1996-2010)" was revised, and in December, Yunnan Provincial Government approved the implementation.

      January 2004, the "Regulations on the Administration of Erhai Lake of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province" were approved and implemented on June 1 of the same year.

      September 2004, the application work of national geoparks was started.

      February 2004, Eryuan County established Eryuan Mount Cangshan Protection Management Suboffice.

      2004, Dali Prefecture Erhai Lake Administration was adjusted to a municipal administration, the bureau and its affiliated institutions were all placed under Dali City, and changed to "Dali Erhai Lake Administration".

      2005, the staff of Dali Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake National Nature Reserve Management Office was adjusted to 5 under the reform of Dali Prefecture;

      August 2005, Dali Mount Cangshan Geopark was approved as the national geoparks in the fourth batch selection by Ministry of Land and Resources of China.

      November 2007, Dali Mount Cangshan Geopark was officially opened as National Geopark.

      October 2008, the application work of global geoparks was started.

      December 2008, Dali Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake National Nature Reserve Management Office started to implement the civil servant management system with reference to the civil servant management, and with 5 establishment staff.

      February 2009, the revision, of "Regulations on the Administration of Mount Cangshan, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province" was approved, and it came into force on June 1 of the same year. So far, Dali Cangshan-Erhai becomes a national nature reserve, a national scenic spot, a national geopark, and a key area for biodiversity conservation in northwest Yunnan.

      January 2012, Dali Mount Cangshan Geopark was awarded the candidacy of China's 2014 Global Geopark.

      September 2014, the Geopark was accepted by GGN and became the 31st UNESCO Global Geopark in China.

      April 2015,the Geopark was officially opened as a UNESCO Global Geopark and hosted the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Chinese UNESCO Global Geoparks.

      July 2015, Yunnan Provincial People's Government approved Dali Mount Cangshan Geopark as Yunnan Provincial Science Popularization Education Base.

      September 2016, won the third prize of the 2016 GGN "Best Practice Award".

      December 2016, Science popularization and education base of land and resources was approved by the Ministry of Land and Resources of China.

      August 2017, the plan for Dali Mount Cangshan UNESCO Global Geopark (2017-2030) was completed.

      October 2017, the protection and utilization facilities construction project of Dali Mount Cangshan UNESCO Global Geopark, Yunnan province during the 13th Five-Year Plan period was successfully listed in the "National Cultural and Natural Heritage Protection Facilities Construction Project reserve Bank" of the National Development and Reform Commission.

      August 2018, Dali Mount Cangshan UNESCO Global Geopark uccessfully passed the first re-evaluation and was awarded a green card.

      October 2018, established friendly cooperation with Dunhuang UNESCO Global Geopark.

      October 2018, established friendly cooperation with Guangwushan-Nuoshuihe UNESCO Global Geopark.

      September 2020, established friendly cooperation with Zhangye UNESCO Global Geopark.

      September 2020, the Administration of Mount Cangshan and Erhai Lake National Nature Reserve (Administration of Dali Mount Cangshan Global Geopark) was established, and the       2022 re-evaluation work of Dali Mount Cangshan UNESCO Global Geopark was launched.

      March 2021, established friendly cooperation with Tianzhu UNESCO Global Geopark.

      March 2021, established friendly cooperation with Lushan UNESCO Global Geopark.

      April 2021, established friendly cooperation with Sanqingshan UNESCO Global Geopark.

      April 2021, established friendly cooperation with Yandangshan UNESCO Global Geopark.

      June 2021, established friendly cooperation with Shennongjia UNESCO Global Geopark.

      June 2021, established friendly cooperation with Alxa Desert UNESCO Global Geopark.

      June 2021, established friendly cooperation with Dunhuang UNESCO Global Geopark.

      December 2021, participate in the 9th International Congress on UNESCO Global Geoparks (Online conference in Korea)

      April 2022, participate in the 3rd Asia-Pacific Geopark Week and the 53rd Earth Day--Friendly Sister Geoparks Interactive Exhibition (online conference)”