Jiuzhaigou National Park
Jiuzhai Valley or Jiuzhaigou National Park is located in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China’s Sichuan Province. It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992. Jiuzhai Valley literally means “Nine Village Valley” and is named after the nine Tibetan villages scattered throughout the park. There is evidence of people living in this area up to 3,000 years and the local people still hold onto many of their traditional ways of life.
Jiuzhai Valley is famous for its superb landscapes of narrow conic karst landforms and spectacular waterfalls and lakes.
Water is the spirit of Jiuzhai Valley. There are 114 individual lakes in the park that span over 1,000 metres in altitude. An ancient legend goes that these lakes were formed when a young boy presented the goddess Woluo Semo with a mirror made of wind. The goddess breaks the mirror and 114 pieces fall to the earth and the sparkling gem-like lakes of Jiuzhai Valley are formed. “The Fairyland of Earth” was created.
The Five Flower Lake (Wu Hua Hai) is regarded as one of the wonders of Jiuzhai Valley due to its breathtaking colours which are a result of its lake-bottom travertine and colourful algae. The colours are formed by unevenly distributed submerged plants. The intense colour combinations are one reason why
Jiuzhai Valley is often referred to as a photographer’s heaven and a painter’s nightmareff
There are five major waterfalls and numerous smaller waterfalls throughout the park. The main attraction of the “Winter Wonderland” scenery is the magnificent, frozen waterfalls.
Forests cover more than half of the scenic area and much of the area not covered is above the tree line. As seasons alternate, the colours of the deciduous species change the face of Jiuzhai Valley. There are over 220 bird species found in Jiuzhai Valley as well as a number of endangered plant and animal species, including the giant panda, Sichuan golden monkey and the Sichuan takin.