Explore China - Underground forest in NE China Explore in China - Attractions

Mudanjiang (牡丹江) is a major tourist city in northeast China in the south of Heilongjiang province, and is known for its beautiful mountains, lakes and luxuriant forests. Mudanjiang is one of the best-known tourist cities in northeast China.

Mudanjiang is a prefecture-level city in southernmost Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. It was called Botankou when it was under Japanese occupation. It serves as a regional communications hub with a railway junction and an international airport connecting with several major Chinese cities as well as Seoul, Korea. Mudanjiang is also an important border city, located only 248 km (154 mi) from Vladivostok, Russia.

In 2007, the city is named China's top ten livable cities by Chinese Cities Brand Value Report, which was released at 2007 Beijing Summit of China Cities Forum.

The below photos taken on Aug 2 shows the beautiful landscape of the underground forest in Mudanjiang, northeast China's Heilongjiang province. A lot of tourists come here to enjoy the fresh air and cool sensation in hot summer. (People's Daily Online/Huang Jin)

The underground forest is also known as the "crater forest". According to scientists, the volcanic eruptions about 10,000 years ago form the rare sunken terrain of the "underground forest".