August Festival to Hail Jingbo Success Story
By admin on 2015-01-16

Maogongshan Mountain in Heilongjiang province

Jingbo Lake, one of China's leading tourist attractions, is set to be showcased in a high-profile Summer festival. Tourism bosses in the region plan to launch the stunning beauty spot to global travelers with a celebratory inaugural event, scheduled to take place in August of this year.

Located some 80 km from Mudanjiang city in the northern province of Heilongjiang, Jingbo Lake has long been held in high regard for its natural beauty and historical significance. Now tourism bosses in the region plan to market its appeal to a truly global audience.

Stunning views

Jingbo Lake is one of only three naturally-formed lava-barrier lakes in the world. Set high in the province's mountainous zone and some 350 m above sea level, the lake was originally formed more than 10,000 years ago following a series of momentous tectonic shifts. The lake, known locally, since the time of the fourteenth century Ming Dynasty, as "Mirror Lake", spans a total of 80 sq km and is some 45 km in length.

The lake, formed when a naturally-occuring lava dam trapped water from the Mudan River, is the centerpiece of one of Heilongjiang's most-visited tourist spots. In total, the specially designated Jingbo Lake Scenic Spot covers some 1,726 sq m and offers visitors three distinct attractions.

The lake itself obviously draws many annual visitors, but its adjacent "Volcanic Crater Forest Scenic Spot", set some 50 km north of the lake, is also hugely popular. Here visitors can explore a series of unique underground forests hidden in a series of 10 craters, varying in depth from 40 to 145 m.

The volcanically-formed craters stretch across a 40 km strip and are home to many rare species of plant and animal life, including rare red pine trees and exotic ginseng specimens. More familiar species, such as rabbits and squirrels, also thrive in this remarkable underground refuge.

For visitors with a more historical agenda in mind, the area's third strength lies in the ruins of the ancient walled city of Huining, the capital city of the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234 AD) and the chance to visit the remains of the Longquan Palace, once the seat of government for the Bohai people during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907). The area is now a designated historical reserve and features a specially set-up museum dedicated to preserving and exhibiting relics and artifacts from its historic past.

Scientific significance

As well as showcasing the area's regal past, the Jingbo Park area has continued to attract the interest of the international scientific community. Back in 2006, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) dispatched a term of high-profile German geologists to the area to review its application to be considered a world geopark - a status reserved only for those few international sites that can demonstrate both a geological heritage of rare value and a contemporary sustainable development platform. Their verdict, in distinctly unscientific terms, was that they had "never seen such a beautiful landscape." The area's application was swiftly fast-tracked and saw the region designated as one of only 18 of the world's UNESCO-designated geoparks.

Many of the areas natural features have continued to attract both scientific and tourist interest. Few visitors leave the Jingbo Lake area without first visiting the majestic Diaoshuilou waterfall, dubbed a "mini-Niagara" by many of its North American visitors.

In the summer, spectators are regularly awed by the rush of the waters over its 40 m wide waterfall and its impressive 25 m-drop. In winter the waterfall has a different appeal - its frozen waters become an immense ice curtain, temporarily suspended until the spring thaw.

Naturally resourced

As well as the rushing waters of the Diaoshuilou waterfall, the area is also rich in other natural phenomena. Its verdant foliage abounds across more than 90 per cent of the area's terrain - with rare specimens, such as the seldom-seen Korean Pine and Dahurian Larch, nestling alongside the more common junipers, China ash trees and Mongolian oaks.

Interspersed among these mighty boughs, curious visitors will also find fine examples of ginseng, local mushrooms, edible tree fungi and rhizoma gastrodiae, a frequently used herb in traditional Chinese remedies.

As well as plant life, the area has proved a natural reserve for animals - with spotted deer, red deer, roe deer, leopards, black bears, lynx, mandarin ducks, heron, and pheasants all thriving within its bounds. It's unpolluted waters also teem with life with its resident colonies of whitefish and carp still as fine as the days when they were staple dishes at the tables of the Qing Court (1644-1910).

Visiting time

Jingbo Lake is most popular between June and September each year, when its cool 20 degree C temperatures provide a welcome respite from the summer heat of much of China. Its close proximity to Suifenhe, a city bordering Russia, Jilin's ever-popular Tianchi resort and, to the West, the provincial capital of Harbin, has seen it attract a growing number of visitors every year.

Its popularity has also seen it secure special recognition by many national and international tourism bodies. In 1982 it was among the first sites to be approved by the State Council as an area of outstanding natural beauty. Twenty years later, in 2003, the National Tourism Administration designated it as a Grade AAAA National Tourism Spot. As well as its 2006 UNESCO endorsement, it was also recognized as one of the Top Ten tourist destinations in China by the International Leisure Industry Association, International Eco-Safety Cooperation Organization and China International Famous Brand Association.

It now regularly attracts more than 60,000 visitors a year and lists some of China's leading politicians and dignitaries among its admirers, both past and present - including Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Ye Jianying, Dong Biwu, He Long, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, Li Ruihuan, Qiao Shi, Li Xiannian and Zhu Rongji.

Its popularity has seen it attract inward investment of more than 2.5 billion yuan and allowed the area to develop an impressive tourist infrastructure. Some 77 hotels and health-care centers - including 10 with three-stars or above - now thrive in the area, along with more than 150 pleasure cruisers and 60 specially-provided tourist excursion buses.