Situated near Libo County in the south of Guizhou Province, the Maolan Nature Reserve, 20, 000 hectares in area, was created in 1988. With rich and varied forms of typical karst landforms, the Reserve is located in China's subtropical region. Karst can appear both above and below ground in the forms of pinnacles, sinks, and caves, which can be combined into a rugged landscape. On the karst landforms, there are dense forests both in low — lying lands and on mountain peaks. The forest coverage there amounts to 92 percent.

There are abundant biotic resources in this karst forest region. According to a preliminary survey, there are up to 1, 000 species of collected higher plants and over 40 species of plants newly found, such as Libo large node bamboo, short leaf spike fir, etc. The peculiar nature scenery shows the mysterious karst areas and forms a unique forest landscape of karst funnel. The Reserve houses rich resources of wild animals including such species under key national protection as j leopard, wood musk deer, rhesus monkey, tufted deer, silver pheasant, etc.
The unique karst forest community preserved in the Reserve provides a valuable nature laboratory for us to realize the formation and growing history of karst landforms and the development and variation of flora and fauna in karst forests.