Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County
On the southern flank of Wuzhi Mountain, this Li and Miao upland county has hot springs beneath the seven spires of Qixianling and misty rainforest valleys.
A place shaped through time
Baoting Li and Miao Autonomous County lies inland in southern Hainan, a basin of valleys sheltered by the southern slopes of Wuzhi Mountain. It was created in 1935 together with Le'an and Baisha, the three counties of the Li uplands of that time. Wuzhi Mountain blocks winter cold from the north, so the county stays warm and wet all year, with more than two thousand millimetres of rain. The seven spires of Qixianling rise abruptly above a valley of hot springs, wrapped in tropical rainforest from crest to floor. Li and Miao villages are scattered through the hills, where brocade, bamboo-pole dancing and upland rice wine still mark every festival.