IN BRIEF (Page 20)
Volcanic attractions
Haikou Shishan Volcano Group Geopark launched a range of tourism activities themed on the volcano to promote volcanic and geological awareness during the Spring Festival.
The activities included discovery of volcanic secrets, display of volcanic culture, folk customs and performance, as well as a gourmet week.
The volcanic geopark in Hainan Province, along with Zhanjiang Huguangyan Geopark in Guangdong Province, both in South China, became a world geopark under the name of Leiqiong Geopark last year.
Tourism boom
During the golden week of the Spring Festival (February 18-25), the city of Jiyuan in Central China's Henan Province saw tourism revenue jump 30 percent from the previous year to reach 22.98 million yuan. The number of tourists reached 130,000, an increase of 31 percent on a yearly basis, the local government said.
The comparatively pleasant weather during the holiday in relation to previous years and more convenient transportation facilities contributed to the tourism boom, according to sources with the local government.
Besides, the inclusion of the city's Wangwu Mountain Geopark in the world geoparks list last September considerably enhanced Jiyuan's appeal as a tourist spot, leading to a surge of visitors from home and abroad.
A variety of cultural activities were the highlight of tourist attractions, which included sacrifice-offering ceremonies for Heaven held in Wangwu Mountain and for the God of Water at the Jidu Temple, as well as temple fairs and other folk performances at Century Square.
Self-driven tourists visiting Jiyuan were mainly from the neighboring Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei and Shaanxi provinces.
There were no reports of accidents involving tourists or any complaints from them during the seven-day holiday.
Yandang Mountain face-lift
After a thorough overhaul, the Yandang Mountain World Geopark in East China's Zhejiang Province will be ready to be opened to the public in May or June.
The park administrative committee said the construction of a 25-million-yuan tourism center and the revamping of the Dalongqiu resort in the park have been completed, while the park's museum is now ready to present a series of shows popularizing new scientific wonders, themed on lava, geological samples and the ecology.
The geopark also invited experts to investigate its waters and geological resources, in order to map out guidelines for its future management and development. The park has now set up a complete geological information system. Further, more than 1,000 square meters of unauthorized construction within its boundaries has been demolished.
Geopark aspiration
Zigong Dinosaur Park in the city of Zigong in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, which gained national geopark status in 2001, aims to apply for the title of World Geopark for its celebrated geological resources of dinosaur fossil and a salt mine.
More than 200 dinosaur and other paleo-vertebrate fossils have so far been found in the city. More than 20 dinosaur varieties were detected in the 160-odd dinosaur fossil relic sites. This is more than half of the known dinosaur varieties to have inhabited the Sichuan Basin and hence Zigong is hailed as the "Home of Dinosaurs".
Zigong Dinosaur Park, built around the Dashanpu Dinosaur Fossil Coenosis Relics in 1984, has the first dinosaur relics site museum to be set up in China. It is also the largest specialized dinosaur museum in Asia, and among the top three museums of its kind in the world.
(China Daily 03/30/2007 page20)
