What is the name of the stunning area north of Wu Tai Shan, Shanxi Province, China?

I went to WuTaiShan several years ago, which was amazing in itself, but on the long journey down from the mountains, I fell asleep, only to wake up in the most unusual and stunning scenery I've seen for a while. The taxi was weaving it's way between hills shaped like green lava fields- large 'splodges', with verdant rifts and cracks causing a weird contrast with the rounded shape of the hills. I've never seen anything like this in Natural History documentaries... can anyone help me? What is this area called? Are there any images of it online?

What is the name of the stunning area north of Wu Tai Shan, Shanxi Province, China?
I've been to Wutaishan - taken local buses in from Datong and out to Taiyuan. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what you're talking about - however, what I think you're talking about is just the ordinary Chinese countryside in that area. While much of the countryside is, to be frank, ugly; there are places where the green and the shape of the soil and small hills combines to be quite stunning to western eyes who have never seen it before.





When I first came to China and saw the countryside, I was really surprised and impressed because coming from Australia all I really knew was flat dry land. I later came to realize that much of that area of middle-north-eastern China looks like that. Nowadays, it almost seems routine - it doesn't seem special... in much the same way that the Australian bushland is routine to me, but could be surprising and stunning to somebody who wasn't expecting it.





I don't know exactly why it looks like that, but my theory is that it is caused by loose soil, rain, and people who dig up the soil for farms and bricks.

gina