Assessment of the World Heritage Committee

The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas refer to Jinsha River, Lancang River and Nujiang River, which originate from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and run over 170 kilometers in Yunnan Province from north to south. They flow through the Dandanglika Mountain, the Gaoligong Mountain, the Nushan Mountain and the Yunling Mountain, forming a rare and peculiar geography landscape in the world—three parallel rivers without meeting. The shortest straight line distance between the Lancang River and Jinsha River is 66 kilometers and that between the Lancang River and Nujiang River is less than 19 kilometers.

Chinese Name: San Jiang Bing Liu

English Name: Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas

According to cultural and natural heritage selection criteria V, the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas were included in the World Heritage List in July 2003.

Three Parallel Rivers

The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, which has a total area of more than 3,500 square kilometers, is located in Yunnan Province, China, running through nine nature reserves and 10 scenic spots in Lijiang City of Yunnan, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture. The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas are composed of the Nujiang River, Lancang River, Jinsha River and other mountain ranges, covering an area of 1.7 million hectares. The main landscapes include the three parallel rivers, high snowy mountain peaks, gorges and dangerous shoals, immense forests, and glacial erosion lakes. It is the scenic spot with largest area, the most abundant and spectacular sceneries, as well as the most colorful ethnic customs in Yunnan, but is also a scenic spot that has not yet been developed. It lies at the convergence of East Asia, South Asia and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and is the representative area of rare mountain landscapes and their evolution in the world, as well as one of the regions with most biological species.

The key feature of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas is that the Jinsha River, Lancang River and Nujiang River originate from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and run over 170 kilometers in Yunnan Province from north to south. They flow through the Dandanglika Mountain, the Gaoligong Mountain, the Nushan Mountain and the Yunling Mountain, forming the world's rare and peculiar geography landscape of three parallel rivers without meeting. Among the three parallel rivers, the Jinsha River is the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and eventually flows into the East China Sea.

The Lancang River is the upper reaches of the Mekong River and flows into the South China Sea, and the Nujiang River is the upper reaches of the Salween River and flows into the Andaman Sea. The Lancang River and Nujiang River are two international rivers, with the Lancang River flowing through six countries (China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam) and is also known as the "Oriental Danube." The shortest straight line distance between the Lancang River and Jinsha River is 66 kilometers and that between the Lancang River and Nujiang River is less than 19 kilometers.

Controlled by the geological structure conditions, the three rivers run through the whole region from north to south and are limited in a narrow zone of 60 to 100 kilometers, forming the only wonder of three parallel rivers in the world and generating the Nujiang Grand Canyon, the Meili Snow Mountain and the Grand Canyon of the Lancang River and the Tiger Leaping Gorge of the Jinsha River. In the three parallel rivers region, the rivers and mountains stand at intervals, which are the Gaoligong Mountain, Nujiang River, Nushan Mountain (Biluo Snow Mountain), Lancang River, Yunling Mountain, Jinsha River and Shaluli Mountain from east to west. Looking from the air, the three rivers run through the whole region from north to south, flowing through 170 kilometers and creating the unique geological wonders of "four abreast mountains and three parallel rivers" in the world.

In addition to the unique wonders of three parallel rivers, the region also gathers natural landscapes including snowy mountains, valleys, lakes on mountains, glaciers, meadows and the Danxia landforms, and is the museum with the richest geological landforms in the world. The landforms of the mountains have a vertical distribution according to different altitudes, including mountain valleys, snowy mountain peaks, wetlands on plateaus, forests and meadows and freshwater lakes from the 760-meter-high dry-hot valley of Nujiang River to the 6,740-meter-high Kawagebo Peak. There are 118 snowy mountains of over 5,000 meters above sea level in the region. Kawagebo Peak, the main peak of Meili Snow Mountain which extends from the summit until the forest zone of Mingyong Village, is covered with glaciers from 10,000 years ago, which are currently the world's most spectacular and rare modern glaciers with a low-latitude, low altitude maritime monsoon climate.

Moreover, the largest and most complete Danxia landforms in China are distributed on Laojun Mountain of Lijiang City. There are dozens of well-known mountain lakes in the region including Tingming Lake on the Gaoligong Mountain in Lushui County, the Gandiyibi Lake, Enreyibi Lake and Nianboyibi Lake nearby the Peak of Biluo Snow Mountain in Fugong County and the Bita Lake and Shudu Lake in Zhongdian County. There also are many mountain lakes such as the lakes of the Thousand Lake Mountain, the Laojun Mountain, the Red Mountain and the Laowo Mountain. According to surveys, there are almost 100 distinctive scenic spots with an area larger than 50 square kilometers and the other scenic spots are even more numerous. Therefore, the region can be called the miniature of natural landscapes in the Northern Hemisphere, except for desert landscapes.

The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas is known as “the world’s biological gene bank.” As it was not covered by the continental glacier from the quaternary ice age, and the ranges in this area go from south to north, it consequently has become the main channel and refuge of biological species in Eurasia, and also the area where biological groups in Eurasia are mostly distributed. The area experiences many kinds of climate types, such as the Northern Hemisphere’s south subtropical zone, middle subtropical zone, north subtropical zone, warm temperate zone, temperate zone, cold temperate zone, and frigid zone. The area has more than 20 ecosystems, and accounts for 80 percent of the ecosystem-types in the Northern Hemisphere. The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas is the epitome of the biological environment of Eurasia, and the area with the most abundant ecosystem-types within the unit area in the world.

Furthermore, it is the area where biological species and groups are most clearly differentiated. The fauna and floristic compositions in the area are complex and diverse, including 10 animal distribution types and 21 subtypes, 10 vegetation types and 23 vegetation subtypes, and more than 90 formations. It is unique that there are so many animal distribution types and vegetation types in such a small area. In the area, there are more than 6,000 species of higher plants, belonging to more than 1,200 genera and more than 210 families, and there are 44 genera and 2,700 families endemic to China including 600 families endemic to the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas. Moreover, there are 33 species of national rare and endangered plants and 37 species of provincial rare and endangered plants, and the area is also the most famous herbarium type locality. The area occupies less than 0.4 percent of China’s land but has more than 20 percent of higher plants and 25 percent of animal species in the country. The rare and endangered animals living in this area are the Yunnan Golden Monkey, Tibetan Antelope, Snow Panther, Bengal Tiger, and the Black-necked Crane, and plants include the Flousiana, Cyathea and Taxus chinensis.

Heritage value

According to the first point of the second item in the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, “landforms and geological structures that have prominent universal value as well as the natural habitats of endangered plant and animal species are worthy of good protection. The Three Parallel Rivers does not only have peculiar natural sceneries, but also has various kinds of landforms. Furthermore, it has a high level of natural and scientific value in its diversity of endangered wildlife, thus it fits the definition of natural heritage outlined in the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage perfectly. The phenomenon that the rivers flow parallel to each other but do not ever meet is unique and rare in the world.

Furthermore, the rivers are located at the convergence of East Asia, South Asia and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, so there are diverse landscapes as well as animal and plant species, which is rare in China’s and even the world’s nature reserves. Therefore, the Three Parallel Rivers is in line with the standards of natural heritage in terms of authenticity. In addition, the Three Parallel Rivers, as an independent nature reserve, has all kinds of geographic and ecologic elements, and has a relatively complete and high grade composition in terms of both quality and quantity. For thousands of years, people had seldom entered the Three Parallel Rivers, so it is extremely well-preserved. The Meili Snow Mountain for example, has been regarded as a holy mountain by the Tibetan people for thousands of years, and they have prohibited climbers from entering the mountain grounds. Therefore, the Three Parallel Rivers is in line with the standards of natural heritage in terms of completeness. Because of its special geographical location, the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas is very unique and peculiar compared to other nature reserves. Therefore, it has a high value in terms of ecology, nature, and scientific research, and should be strictly protected as precious heritage.