Geopark embraces worldwide visitors
A year after it became a national geopark, Fengkai National Geopark in South China's Guangdong Province opened to the public recently and beckoned visitors from all over the world.
Officials from central and local governments participate in the opening ceremony of the Fengkai National Geopark in South China's Guangdong Province. From left to right: Yang Lin'an, general engineer of the Guangdong Department of Land and Resources; Jiang Jianjun, director of the Geological Environment Department of the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR); Dong Daohua, deputy director of the advisory department of MLR; Tan Weidong, secretary of the Zhaoqing Party Committee; Liang Zhiqiang, secretary of the Fengkai County Party Committee. |
"The opening of the park is a milestone for the tourism development and resources protection of Zhaoqing, where the park is located, adding a new spotlight to the city," sources with the local government said.
Located in the eastern part of Fengkai County, under the jurisdiction of the city of Zhaoqing, the geopark has an overall area of 1,326 square kilometers and a core area of 117 square kilometers.
Surrounded by the West Mountain and Langling Mountain to the north, Dangshan Mountain and Qixingyan Mountain to the east, Huanggang Mountain, Fengshou Mountain and Qilin Mountain to the south, and embraced by Hejiang River, Fengkai park is the most famous geological park in the Pearl River Valley with abundant geological resources, such as Karst landforms, granite landforms, human fossils (from the Old Stone Age) and geological disaster relics.
"The geopark is of great value in culture, science and aesthetics," said Zhang Chengbo, associate professor with the Earth Environment and Resources Research Center of Zhongshan University.
The most remarkable site in the park is a huge rock called "Daban Rock," the largest single rock in the world. With multi-coloured stripes, the single rock forms a hill itself and looks like a colourful waterfall from afar.
The Karst landform in the park is representative of the sub-tropical Karst landforms and is very similar to that of Guilin in Guangxi.
The fossils and relics of ancient people in the park date back to 150,000 years ago, providing a unique and systematic record of human evolution in South China.
"Fengkai witnessed the earth's evolution and environmental changes over the past 500 million years," said Jiang Jianjun, director of the Geological Environment Department of the Ministry of Land and Resources. "The sand-shale, for instance, represented by Qiancengfeng Mountain in the park, was formed 400 million years ago, and the 'Daban' rock, a granite rock, has a history of 150 million years."
"The variety of landforms, complete materials and records of ancient human beings, as well as a long and splendid history of the geopark impressed the evaluation panel during the application process," the official said. Thus, the Fengkai Geopark earned the national title with the ranking of 12 out of 53 candidates.
The local government has invested more than 30 million yuan for the planning and construction of the park. The geological museum, a critical facility to spread geological knowledge, has been set up and already opened its doors to public.
Liang Zhiqiang, secretary of the county's Party committee, said the establishment of the geopark injects great momentum into the local tourism and restaurant industries, as well as the entertainment and trade sectors.
"We strive to develop an environmentally friendly climate and ecological economy to better protect the cultural relics," Liang said.
Liang also revealed the ambitious goal of local government to help the park obtain the title of world geopark in the future.
(China Daily 01/25/2007 page16)
