Located in northern Hunan Province, Dongting Lake is the second largest fresh water lake in China, which is usually praised as \\\\\\\"the picturesque Dongting Lake with 400 kilometer span.\\\\\\\" The lakeside Yueyang Tower is one of the four famous Chinese towers.There is an island located right in the lake named Junshan where, or so legend has it, two wives of the ancient Shun Di Emperor, Ehuang and Nuying, died to become goddesses of the Xiangjiang River after searching thousands of miles for their husband.The vast lake, the famous tower, the mysterious island and the legend, all these have made the lake a popular site throughout the decades.Source:china.org.cn

2013-03-22 01:05 View：5667

A huge project to protect and develop an ancient merchant town in Central China is expected to start in October, a senior local official said.The project involves the Hongjiang ancient commercial town in Huaihua city, Hunan province.Li Hui, mayor of Huaihua, said in an interview on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, which ended on Sunday, that preliminary estimated investment of 1 billion to 1.5 billion yuan ($161 million to $241 million) will carefully balance cultural preservation and commercial development.Hongjiang took shape in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) and flourished in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.It once served as the assembly and distribution center for various commodities - including oil, logs, opium and white wax - for seven nearby provinces and regions due to its location at the confluence of the Wushui and Yuanshui rivers.Li said many of the historic towns in the region have given way to modernization, but Hongjiang, with its labyrinth of narrow streets and more than 380 ancient buildings, still conjures up an image of ancient China."Once you're in Hongjiang, you'll find time flows back hundreds of years," she said.The first phase of the project, set to start in October, involves checking buildings in the old town, and the relocation of some residents, Li said.A new residential area outside the old town will be ready before the relocation starts so that every resident who moves out will have better accommodation, Li said.Some illegal riverside structures will also be demolished to restore the original image of the old town, she said.The mayor said the Huaihua government is working with Unitenix, a culture and tourism investment company based in the Hunan capital of Changsha, on the development of Hongjiang, and an overall plan has just been worked out.She said the government decided to cooperate with the company because it gained rich experience in operating a similar project in Fenghuang, another well-preserved ancient town in western Hunan."More important, they've also learned lessons while handling the Fenghuang project, and know how to balance commercial development with heritage preservation," Li said.As cultural preservation is extremely costly, and many basic facilities need to be built or installed in Hongjiang, Li said the overall investment might reach 1.5 billion yuan in the long run.With Hongjiang ancient town better protected and more developed, Huaihua expects to attract more domestic and overseas tourists in coming years, she said.Huaihua received 17 million tourists last year, up 13 percent year-on-year, and the growth rate is likely to accelerate in following years, according to the city government.Apart from the ancient town, tourists to Huaihua can experience the culture and custom of many ethnic groups, particularly the Dong, with a population of more than 1 million in Huaihua."China has 56 ethnic groups and you can find 51 of them in Huaihua," Li said. "We have a big family of different peoples."However, Li acknowledged that the travel industry in Huaihua is still in its early stages and many things remain to be done.She said the government plans to train more tourism professionals and tighten supervision of misbehavior to offer tourists a better experience.Ancient merchant town to get new lease on lifeSource: china.org.cn

2013-03-20 01:01 View：1251

Fenghuang Town, Praised as “The Most Beautiful Town of China” by famous New Zealand writer Rewi Alley, is a small county renowned for its natural beauty, rich history and culture as well as colorful ethnic customs, located at south Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture of Hunan province, China.Zhangjiajie to fenghuang highway will be opened in 2013,You can have 4-5 days tour in zhangjiajie and fenghuang town.This trip will make you enjoy the beauty of the nature, relax from your work, as well as taking you to explore the culture of hunan xiangxi.By shuire#gallery-1 {margin: auto;}#gallery-1 .gallery-item {float: left;margin-top: 10px;text-align: center;width: 33%;}#gallery-1 img {border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;}#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {margin-left: 0;}

2013-03-19 23:11 View：1344

Zhangjiajie spring is a mountain, is a green sea. Forest coverage rate of 97%, everywhere is full of precious ancient trees, let person have infinite thought.Zhangjiajie spring, is full of vibrant flowers. And even the pillar is full of green life, everywhere, all the voice of kingfisher with rich flavor of forest, immediately can make people feel relaxed, breathe easier. Special lobster flowers are in full bloom. Tianmen fog is a great beauty, but we can not all the time to see it. Warm spring, is the most frequent season of tianmen to see fog.Zhangjiajie spring, is a piece of transparent green. Entering into zhangjiajie, it seems to see a pair of quiet picture scroll.Zhangjiajie spring, is a peach garden of surprise.Translated by Sophiayuanjiajietianzi mountainwulingyuan(suoxiyu)over bridge in yuanjiajiebaofeng lakehuangshizhaitianmen mountain cave

2013-03-17 23:10 View：2640

High temperature goes on since early march, green willows in huanglong hole square of wulingyuan, follow with colorful flowers, welcoming the outing of the young men and women. According to statistics, March 8th to 10th, in zhangjiajie huanglong hole square, it has a tourism break of 10000 person-time, with the year-on-year growth of twenty percent.The sun is bright, with 30 acres of yellow rape flowers, attracting bees and visitors to see the flowers from time to time. In the pond of the square, green willows are blowing, swaying posture to welcome the tourists from home and abroad. On both sides, the blooming colourful peach, plum, camellia, not only dress up the culture square, but also enchants visitors.Translated by Sophia

2013-03-18 23:10 View：949

It is acknowledged that from Mar. 18 of this year to the end of March in 2016,ZJJ Yellow Dragon Cave and Baofeng Lake are to implement new ticket price policy.The new ticket price in Yellow Dragon Cave and Baofeng Lake has adjusted as follow: ordinary ticket prices in Yellow Dragon Cave and Baofeng Lake are CNY100/person and CNY96/person while preferential prices are CNY60/person and CNY58/person. People who are able to enjoy preferential ticket price are juveniles, under 24-year-old students with full-time university bachelor degree and below, senior citizens with age between 60 and 70, enlisted men (military officers, nonmilitary personnel, and noncommissioned officer), retired army cadres, Martyr’s immediate family, people who hold Urban and Rural Residents’ Minimum Living Allowance Claim Tags issued by Civil Administration Department.In addition,children with height below 1.3 meters,soldiers in active service,the disabled and elderly over 70 are free to tour in Yellow Dragon Cave and Baofeng Lake.By Patricia

2013-03-17 23:08 View：2653

At the conference, Yao Shaowu, Propaganda Minister of District Committee, expressed his confidence in building the Poem Town in Wulingyuan for numerous domestic and foreign excellent work having been handed down in this miraculousl and of Wulingyuan. What’s important most for this Poetry Association remains in taking full advantage of preponderant resources of their own by on the one hand providing indigenous poets good environment to create and produce, and on the other hand improving communication with poet’s fraternity, aiming to attract more poetry lovers to Wulingyuan for better propaganda.Established 2005, Poetry Association of Wulingyuan District now possesses over 30 members.So far,nearly 2000 poems have been published including poetry collection of “The Weight of Hometown” composed by Li Yizhong,and “Poetic Journey” by Hu Shaocong and so on. With joint endeavor of all related parties, Wulingyuan is expected to become a Poem Town at an early date.By Patricia

2013-03-19 23:08 View：1183

In Zhangjiajie Wulingyuan Tianzishan Mountain, Winter, with an altitude of 1000 meters, a lot of tourists will have a problem. Because of the low temperature, water tap not only can’t flush the toilet, but also can’t wash your hands. Wulingyuan scenic area core infrastructure project construction headquarters said,tianzishan mountain cableway station is going to build floor heating tourism toilet,to solve the problem effectively.In order to ensure enough water supply, they will also build a large underground reservoir during the construction of the toilet, and keep the water temperature above 0 ℃. The whole investment will about hundreds of thousands of yuan, it will be open to tourists before the “11″ golden week.The toilets in the tianzi mountain cableway station tourism will become zhangjiajie and even hunan first floor heating toilet.Translated by Sophia

2013-03-18 23:07 View：2797

The weather gets warmer, everywhere is full of breath of spring. Zhangjiajie national forest park is filled with green mountains. The airport road and traffic green island reflect with green trees and fresh flowers. Elegant vibrant spring figure appears in front of people.Zhangjiajie works actively to promote ecological construction, the “green” today not only stay in the rural mountain, the core scenic area, is also goes into the city streets, public life.In 2012, zhangjiajie regards ecological construction as the center, overall implementation of the “mountain greening, city greening, road greening, drainage greening, villages and towns greening”, thus building a harmonious development of ecological system in urban and rural area. A low carbon livable urban and rural living environment.Translated by Sophia

2013-03-17 23:06 View：1100

Ahead of the 2013 Spring Festival, travel agencies in Taiwan launched a tour program called "Explore Hunan", featuring China's first ancient commercial town Hongjiang, as well as other tourist spots like Zhangjiajie, Fenghuang, and Changde. The first tour group sent by Taiwan Hsi Hung Travel Agency on March 14 arrived at Hongjiang Ancient Commercial Town the next day on March 15.According to the tour guide, the eight-day Hunan tour program is extremely popular in Taiwan. The program, open every four days, has been already fully booked for the coming half month.The route for "Explore Hunan" starts and ends in Changsha. Along the way, tourists can successively tour the hometown of late Chairman Mao Zedong in Shaoshan, experience the archaic charm of ancient town in Ming and Qing dynasties at Hongjiang Ancient Commercial Town, see the country's most beautiful town Fenghuang, enjoy the fairyland on earth at the world natural heritage site Wulingyuan, fell the tranquility of a "retreat away from the world" at Changde’s Taohuayuan scenic area.Translator: Liu FenSource: Hunan Official Web Portal

2013-03-18 22:50 View：1070