Sanqiao Natural Bridges, Wulong Karst UNESCO World Heritage area
Below is a video clip that the Chinese have posted on You Tube. It is part of a much longer DVD promoting tourism in the area around Wulong, but is a spectacular introduction to the Sanqiao Three Natural Bridges, part of the newly-designated Wulong Karst UNESCO World Heritage area. There has been some tourism to the area, mostly from Chinese and Korean tour groups. Focused Tours will be one of the first Western groups to visit when we go in October 2010.
Sanqiao was designated a National Geopark in 2003, and in 2006 a full-sized movie set was built in the bottom for the filming of Curse of the Golden Flower. The size of this unroofed cave system is enormous and the movie set provides scale in the promotional video. The video clip ends with a Chinese tour guide explaining the movie set, followed by two quick clips from the movie showing black-clad warriors sliding down ropes from the canyon rim to attack the folks below. The movie is actually quite good, a lavish production of a classic Chinese folk tale. We found it available from NetFlix.
