At 3:00 a.m. September 21st, heartening news came from the 11th European Geoparks Conference held in Arouca, Portugal that Sanqingshan UNESCO Global Geopark passed the appraisal by UNESCO Global Geoparks Executive Board and was included in the UNESCO GGN and was officially named the “Sanqingshan UNESCO Global Geopark”.

Among the 11 applicants worldwide, 7 were approved by the conference. Sanqingshan was the only successful applicant in China in and was awarded the title of Global Geopark.