Tapestry of colors

"Panjin is laid out in five colors," say Huang Yong, director of the coastal city's information center. There's the aquamarine blue of the shallow waters of Liaohe River, pouring into Bohai Sea. And miles of carmine red Suaeda salsa, a kind of grass, growing on the mud flat jutting into the waters. The intense growth of reeds on the marshes girdling the city comes in various shades of a balmy forest green.