The peak of popularity
Fanjing Mountain nature reserve attracts visitors with its stunning scenery, upgraded facilities
Editor’s note: China is home to 56 UNESCO World Heritage sites. To find out how these natural and cultural gems still shine and continue to inspire the nation in this new era of development, China Daily is running a series of reports covering 10 groups of selected sites from across the country. In this installment, we wander deep into the mountains of Guizhou province to explore its diverse landscapes and ethnic traditions.
With troops of naughty monkeys, imposing bears, coiled snakes, precious flora and fauna, and vertiginously placed ancient architecture, the amazing beauty of Fanjing Mountain in Tongren city, Southwest China’s Guizhou province, which resembles a wonderland, is an internet sensation.
The area’s fame reached its peak, literally, in 2018, when Fanjing Mountain, or Fanjingshan in Chinese, was added to UNESCO’s Natural World Heritage List due to its rich biodiversity, with the locale boasting more than 7,100 species of wild animals and plants.
“It’s important to cultivate a region’s unique value from a global perspective to apply for the list, and Fanjing Mountain meets that standard,” said Rong Li, a professor from the School of Geography and Environmental Science, Guizhou Normal University, one of the experts who participated in the site’s application.
In 1978, Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve was established to protect the area’s precious wild animals and plant species, along with the virgin forest ecosystem in which they thrive.
To balance ecological protection and tourism development is an issue for such a nature reserve. It cannot be achieved without input from locals, the authorities and experts.
“The successful entry into the list saw tourism to the mountain hit record numbers in 2019,” said Tao Huayuan, head of Wuling Scenic Area Management company, which is in charge of the Fanjing Mountain scenic area. “Due to the sporadic cases of COVID-19, tourism is recovering slowly.”
The number of tourists in 2019 was about 1.45 million, but this July — usually peak season — the figure was only about 217,000.
Tao said the development of the mountain’s tourism is based on strict protection of the ecosystem. He is looking forward to the establishment of Fanjing Mountain National Park, which was approved by the authorities in May.
“Our next plan is to build an all-inone destination with Fanjing Mountain as the center, together with its surrounding scenic areas. It means that tourists are more likely to prolong their stays to three or five days,” he said.
To meet the diversified demands of visitors, they plan to produce creative cultural products and develop health and wellness tourism. They will also construct an exhibition hall centered on local wildlife.
The local residents have moved out of the core area of the nature reserve and settled down in homes built by the government.
To develop communities, the scenic area’s job opportunities prioritize locals, so they do not have to go to work in big cities.
They can also stay in their hometown and start tourism-related businesses, such as opening homestays.
Among them is 50-year-old Yang Yuanju, from Zhaisha Dong village at the foot of the mountain. In 2011, she opened a homestay aided by an interest-free loan from the local government, a debt she was able to pay back within two years.
The boom in tourism has brought a steady flow of customers who want to stay in the village’s traditional stilted buildings and experience the local ethnic culture. Yang enjoys rubbing shoulders with tourists from all walks of life, learning about the world beyond the remote mountain area.
“The whole village has seen great changes due to tourism, and our lives have changed, too. We lead a comfortable life and can stay with our families,” she said.
Although she has traveled to other cities, such as Shanghai, for leisure, she finds that her mountainous home has a magnetic pull.
When she was 17, her parents opened a small food stall halfway up the mountain. From the family’s home, she would walk for four hours, carrying ingredients to the stall. At that time, there was no tarmac pathway or cable car.
Yang recalled that before opening the homestay the family planted rice and raised pigs, but could barely make ends meet. To supplement their income, her husband used to carry visitors up the mountain in a bamboo sedan chair, known as a huagan.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, there have been fewer tourists in recent months, so she and her husband are using the downtime to decorate their homestay.
The Fanjingshan nature reserve is the only habitat of the Guizhou snubnosed monkey, an endangered primate species. There are six of them at the nature reserve’s wildlife rescue center, four of which were born there.
Two monkeys, Xiaotian and Xiaofan, have lived in the center for about a decade since they were brought in by forest rangers. Xiaotian arrived after being expelled from the troop, while Xiaofan was brought into the center for an emergency amputation after sustaining a serious injury by falling from a height.
“That’s why the duo stay in the center. Also, we can do breeding research for better preservation of
the primate species. The Guizhou snub-nosed monkeys live in troops. It’s necessary to release a group of them into the wild to ensure their survival,” explained Yang Wei, 29, deputy director of the rescue center.
A bond has been forged between him and the monkeys at the rescue center. At first, they were suspicious and did not allow him to come close, but after a lengthy period of interaction, they started to trust him and sometimes climbed onto his body.
In April, a monkey cub was born in the center, and Yang Wei was excited to cut its umbilical cord. “It’s my first time witnessing the birth and development of a Guizhou snub-nosed monkey. I’m proud to be part of the process,” he said.
A supervision platform to monitor the monkeys was established in 2018, with a network of 48 high-definition cameras to enable real-time monitoring.
The monkey population has increased from about 750 in 1992 to more than 800 now, and the area of their habitat has expanded from 200 to 350 square kilometers over the period.
Zhang Hong, 51, deputy head of Taiping town management station, which administers the nature reserve, leads a team of forest rangers to do routine fire prevention work.
“Fire prevention is paramount. Forest fire poses great danger to the mountain’s wildlife,” Zhang said.
He said that for the past three months there has been barely any rain in the region.
Fire engines broadcast fire prevention regulations via a loudspeaker along the road, and forest rangers patrol and promote the importance of fire prevention among local villagers.
“While forest fire in the north is sometimes caused by lightning, in the south it’s often due to people’s actions. Therefore, we take precise preventive measures,” he said.
During the harvest time, they have to prevent locals from burning straw, supervising via a monitor system installed along the major roads.
During Tomb Sweeping Day they purchase fresh flowers at the station’s expense and distribute them to the locals, encouraging them to replace the traditional way of offering sacrifices to ancestors, such as burning “money” made from joss paper.
The station also provides villagers with induction cookers free of charge, to decrease the use of firewood stoves.
Every month, Zhang and other forest rangers spend at least 22 days at the station. He has developed deep ties with the nature reserve after working there for over 30 years.
He said poaching is rare, as locals are aware of the importance of wildlife protection. As the core area of the nature reserve is not open to tourists, they persuade backpackers who try to enter the region to visit the Fanjing Mountain scenic area for climbing.