Dongjiao Coconut Grove and Wenchang Coconut Park
5 min readin Wenchang take up the half of the total in Hainan while the coconuts in Dongjiao are the best and most charming. Coming to Dongjiao Town, Wenchang City, you’ II feel like coming into a paradise of coconuts. Dongjiao Coconut Grove is located on the coast of Dongjiao Town. It is ranked as 3A-rated tourism scenic spot which is about 80km far from Haikou City. No matter where you look, you’ ll always see tall coconut trees with plentiful fruits all year Lying on the coastline of 10km-long Jianhua Mountain, Dongjiao Coconut Grove takes the shape of an endless belt, which looks like a green shield stretching on the beach. It is listed as one of the ten most popular seashore resorts in China and the longest seashore coconut corridor in China. Coconut Village cultivates a rich coconut culture. Before the Han Dynasty, people called coconut as king of Yue’s head(Yue people were ancestors of Li people). Anold story says, the king of Yue people celebrated the victory of a battle. Unfortunately, he was murdered by a spy because of his drunkenness. The spy hanged his head up to notify the enemy. At the beginning of the attack, the enemy’s arrows aimed at the defenders all flew to the flagpole which hanged the king’s head. Magically, the flagpole grew higher and thicker and finally became a coconut tree with the arrows as leaves and the king’s head as coconut fruits. Seeing that, the enemy were too frightened to attack, and ranaway. Because of this, coconut trees became the symbol of Li people. Peel the fiber outside, you’ ll see three black holes on each coconut, which were said be the king’s glaring eyes and mouth. From the old legend we can learn that the coconut represents upright and indomitable national spirit of Li people.
Talking about the origin of coconut, the most scientific explanation is thatcoconut trees grew in Malaysia in ancient times. Coconut fruits dropped into the sea water and flowed all the way up to Hainan. The coconut took root here and finally became the wonder of Hainan Island. According to statistics, coconut has more than 400 functions. The coconut wood can be processed into good furniture and handicrafts. Coconut fruits can be processed into many kinds ofdifferent food, beverages and medicines. Coconut husks are great materials fot carvings, which were regarded as “Southern Tributes”. Meanwhile, coconut grove is the best windbreak of seashore. Every part of the coconut is treasure and its spirit of selflessness truly is the symbol of the Hainan people!
Dear friends, seeing is believing. With so much I’ ve talked,I believe everyone can’t wait to pay a visit to Dongjiao Coconut Grove. Please get off the bus with me. Here we are at Qinglan Harbor at present. Next, we shall take a ferry across the sea in 20 minutes, and then we’ ll arrive at Dongjiao Coconut Grove Scenic Spot upon Jianhua Mountain. Sailing on the sea, we can overlook the magnificent view of “Forest on the Sea”-mangrove from afar. Wenchang mangrove is an unspoiled land without any damage, and relevant departments are planning how to develop it.
At present, we have arrived at Dongjiao Coconut Grove Scenic Spot, whichcovers an area of 26.5km. The planting area and volume of production of coconuts in Wenchang City take up more than 50% of the total in Hainan, and those of Dongjiao Town take up more than 50% of the total in Wenchang. There are more than 500,000 coconut trees of different kinds such as red coconut, green coconut, improved dwarf coconut, tall coconut and juicy coconut. Because of that, people always say the coconuts in Wenchang take up half of the total in Hainan while the coconuts in Dongjiao are the best and most charming. Here guests can enjoy typical oceanic scenery with pleasant palm breeze, coconut-characterized dishes and varieties of seafood. Walking into thegrove, you can see abundant coconut trees with different size, height and shape everywhere. Roaming in the shadow of the trees with the road winding across the grove, all you would like to do is feel the pleasant coolness with the gentle sound of rubbing leaves.
Dear friends, follow me please. Now here we are at Bai Lai-ma Holiday Resort. Have you seen that sculpture? Do you know who those ladies are? Let me tell you, they are the “Three Queens of Wenchang”-Sun Yat-sen’s wifeSong Ching-ling, Chiang Kai-shek’s wife Song Meiling and Liu Shao-chi’ sformer wife Xie Fei and Wenchang is their hometown. Wenchang absolutely deserves to be called the precious land with lots of outstanding people. In Bai Lai-ma Holiday Resort, you can stay in the unique wood house to enjoy the magnificent sea view and the special dish Wenchang Chicken, which is the top of the four most famous dishes in Hainan. It’s so delicious that everyone here would not like to miss.
After traveling Dongjiao Coconut Grove, we have arrived at its neighbor land-Wenchang Coconut Park. This park started being built in 1980 and covers an area of 54.4 hectares. It’s a unique eco-tourism scenic spot with richcoconut culture, which gathers scientific research, education, tourist sightseeing and entertainment together. There are more than 200 kinds of palms, over 130 kinds of local trees and all 17 coconut species from all over the world in this park, which is the only park in China with so many palm trees. Here, we can taste coconut fruits, watch the performance of picking coconuts by monkeys, enjoy the fun of fishing and barbecuing. This park is divided into 7 sections which are presentation section, coconut grove sightseeing section, palm plants sightseeing section, gardening section, lakeside recreational area, product development section and technological research area. The charming scenery with green coconut trees, fragrant flowers and twittered birds will make you fully relaxed and forget to leave.
People here always live a longer life. Everybody wants to figure it out. Actually the secret recipes are fresh air and nutritious coconuts. The content of negative oxygen icons in coconut groves is more than 400 times the content in urban area. So it’s a natural oxygen bar here. Walking in the forests and breathing the pure air, everything is so clear and so refreshed. Another secret of longevity is coconut fruits. Coconut fruits are abundant in useful vitamins and trace elements especially zinc, which make women more beautiful, children more healthy.
The reason why there are so many coconut trees here is because the locals have the habit of growing coconuts. They take coconuts as the symbol of luck. People get used to planting coconut trees in commemoration of weddings, babies’ first month of life and removals. Hundreds of years have passed and, people have made Wenchang a kingdom of coconut. Maybe you’ ve heard something strange that the old can climb coconut trees faster than monkeys. Here we can enjoy the funny climbing competition while drinking coconut juice. That’s really wonderful!
