A Sketch of Changxing
2 min readChangxing County lies to the southwest of Tai Lake and covers an area of 1,472 square kilometers with a population of 650,000 at present. It is the northen entrance to Zhejiang Province and borders upon the territories of Jiangsu and Anhui Provinces. Changxing County has land and water communication lines and good transport facilities. No.104 and No.318 National Highways, Xuanzhou-Hangzhou Railway, Hangzhou-Nanjing Expressway, Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Anhui Expressway, Changxing-Huzhou-Shanghai Waterway, Xingyi-Changxing Railway all run through or pass by the County. Four international airports in neighbouring cities are respectively located within the distance of three hours by car. Situated at the center of the Yangtze Delta Region, it has been a famous tourist place for its long history, excellent tea-culture and unique geographical sights.
Changxing is rich in resources, and it is endowed by Tianmu Mountain and Tai Lake with plenty of specialities. The well-known four aquatic products are silver fish, anchovy fish, white-shell shrimps, and crabs from Tai Lake. Changxing has another three famous economic plants, namely ginkgo, chestnut and plum. Changxing has abundant tourist resources, such as the sight along the long shoreline of Tai Lake and the ancient ecological scenic sites. The 34 kilometer shoreline of Tai Lake provides tourists a broad space. The ancient ecological scenic sites are characterized by three major ancient wonders of “Golden Nail Sight”,”Great Ancient Ginkgo Forest”and “Yangtze Alligator Village”. They are extremely rare in the world.
As the original site of tea culture, Changxing has renowned for its tea culture since the time of the Tang Dynasty. Zisun Cha was listed as a tribute in the Tang Dynasty. Zisun Cha(purple bamboo-tip tea) and Jinsha Quan (gold-sand spring water) produced from here were delivered to the imperial palace to serve emperors and officials in history. As is known to all, thepurple bamboo-tip tea on Guzhu Mountain, the water from gold-sand spring, and the tea-set made of purple clay are three excellent materials in making tea. Guzhu Mountain and Great Tang Tributary Tea Courtyard represent the tea culture, and become the best destinations of tea-cultural tourism.
Golden Nail Geological Protection Area, Yangtze Alligator Village and Ten-mile Gingko Forest stand for the ancient ecological sights in Changxing, and become the hottest spots of the ancient ecological tourism. There are many historical relics, temples and sceneries with different characteristics in Changxing boundaries. Scenic Area of Celestial Mountain and Lake, Scenic Area of Chengshan Ravine, Siming Mountains, Natural Science Exploration Garden, Emperor Chen Wu Imperial Palace, the Zhu Ancestral Hall, Shousheng Temple, Tai Lake Vacation Scenic Site, and others are all good attractions.
Recent years, Changxing’s tourist industry has been vigorouslydeveloping. The number of arrivals from home and broad goes up constantly, and the income of entrance tickets to scenery spots, and the total revenues of tourism increase year after year. Changxing is being built into aregional tourist centre, and the potential market will give an impetus to its development of tourism.
