The same grotto was purportedly used as a prison for insurgents during a Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) uprising, when rebels made the Stone Forest their base.

Few were caught, although imperial soldiers scaled the peaks－the highest is 1,769 meters high－to get panoramic views.

People still get lost every day. A major part of guides' job, like the Qing soldiers', is hunting for them.

Cracks between the stone spires are fleeced with lichen and moss.

Many are clasped by "10,000-year vines". Locals slice them and use the "bloodlike" sap as a cure-all. (It's said Ashima and Ahei swung on these vines when dating.)

Traditional medicinal herbs poke from the soil, and wild grapes used to make wine dangle like gemstones.

The floral treasure trove is fully displayed during China's National Day Golden Week, when constellations of cosmos flowers bloom throughout the universe of rock formations.

Also everywhere: fist-sized spiders that scuttle over their webs, and the flittering butterflies they gobble.

Also fluttering through the stone spires are gray herons, Eurasian eagle-owls, common hoopoes and crested finch-bills.

It really is the perfect place to set a fairy tale.

The site has become the showpiece of Silk Road tours through Yunnan, since Kunming was the principal passageway for goods to and from today's Sichuan province, the Tibet autonomous region, India and Myanmar.

An ancient saying from that era goes: "You're wasting your time if you visit Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest."

It's still true.

About this series

China Daily explores Silk Road destinations every Monday