Sanhanba Forest Park [Photo:
china.org.cn] |
The Sanhanba National
Forest Park in Bashang, Hebei Province is the largest forested park in China,
with scenic forests, dots of larches and white birches, and grassland.
Lakes, brooks and ponds saturate the prairies and the woods, which have
become home to a very rich biodiversity.
The 94,000-hectare park used to be a part of the off-limits hunting grounds
of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) emperors. Afterwards, it was reduced to a barren
land. Luckily the dogged reforestation effort since 1962 led by local people and
college students who volunteered to settle there changed the area for the better
and restored its former glamour.
Located 420 kilometers north of Beijing, the park has become one of China's
top tourist locations and a major photographic destination for Chinese and
international landscape photographers alike.
After six hours of driving from downtown Beijing, tourists will instantly
leap with joy when they hear birds chirping and seeing multiple flowers
blooming.
Purple, crimson, yellow, white, deep or light blue flowers in different sizes
and shapes all stand proudly in the pure sunlight.
Even on meadows where few flowers grow, the grass has a fragrance that no
perfume can rival.
Seeing the whole forest park make one feel like a long-lost child finally
coming home, savoring the joy of being in Mother's arms again.
In addition to the clear sky, white clouds, refreshing breeze, streams,
lakes, hills and flowers, Sanhanba also offers dense woods.
Driving up the mountainside, tourists might marvel at trees that have won the
struggle for survival against soil erosion over the last few decades.
This is a world so untouched by urbanization that you might find it an
eyesore to spot a city right in the centre of the park. The sight of cement
roads and concrete buildings with glass walls instead of natural wooden huts may
make your heart sink.
Yet the upside of this ugly urbanization is that you can find comfortable
lodging in the middle of the forests, enabling you to enjoy a starry night with
a bonfire party featuring roasted lamb and folk dancing. Moreover, local people
explain that wooden huts are not feasible because of the humid weather. Such
huts would become breeding grounds for parasites and would be detrimental to the
surrounding forest.
