“Cultural Exchange Activities of Presenting China to the World”——“The Most Beautiful China” Series Activities of Visiting Jiangnan in Gansu-Holy Land of Culture——China·Longnan.
Longnan, one of the birthplaces of the Chinese nation and the place where the humanity ancestor of China Fu Xi was born, is a city with many nationalities. It is the place where farming culture, animal husbandry culture, and fishing and hunting culture in ancient China interacted and accumulated, so it is with colorful folk traditions and rich intangible cultural heritage resources. Cultural Exchange Organization of Presenting China to the World chooses Longnan as a place for exchanges and visits aiming to let more people in the world know excellent traditional Chinese culture, and to show to the world the richness of Lonnan in culture, tourism, and economic resources !
Longnan is located in the southeast of Gansu Province, where Qin-Ba mountain, Min mountains, and the Loess Plateau met. As the only region in the province where the Yangtze River passes, Longnan neighbors Shaanxi in the east and Sichuan in the south, where it belongs to a transitional region from subtropical zone to warm temperate zone. Longnan has a population of about 2.8 million, covering an area of 27,900 square kilometers with one district and eight counties. Longnan was given a charming name of “Jiangnan in Gansu” for its beautiful topography, comfortable climate, abundant rainfalls and sunshine, and large areas covered with forest. Besides, Longnan is also rich with natural resources like living things, minerals, water power, and tourist resources, which lay a good foundation for its development.
Firstly, Longnan is with abundant living resources. It is the region with the most types of wild animals in Gansu Province. The complicated landscape and abundant sunlight provide natural living conditions for various plants and animals. The whole region has 175,836 acres of forest land, with more than 1300 types of trees including 51 rare trees, and it is the only region in Gansu Province where subtropical plants such as olive, tea and gingko grow. There are no less than 300 categories of wild animals living there, including the worldly rare Chinese“national treasure”and “living fossil”giant pandas,“Monkey King”or golden monkeys, takins, brown eared pheasants, chirus, deers, tufted deers, snow leopard, giant salamander, tragopan, blue eared pheasant, white eared pheasant, snow cock, Chinese monal, and so on. The number of giant pandas in this region accounts for one tenth of the total number in China.
As one of the main producing bases of traditional Chinese medicine materials in China, Longnan is with varied types of wild traditional Chinese medicine materials, and those materials has a one thousand year of artificial cultivation. Longnan enjoys a good reputation as a “natural pharmacy store”. There are over 1200 types of traditional Chinese medicine materials in this region, of which more than 350 types are rare ones. Of all the five kinds of fist medical herbs produced in Gansu Province, four of them are mainly produced in Longnan. Its production of “Micang red stilbazolium”, “Wen county stria”, “Tuochang Chinese angelica”, and “Quanshui rhubarb”ranks the first in China for its quantity and quality. In addition, Longnan is well-known for large production of traditional Chinese medicine materials like tall gastrodia tuber, coptis root, pinellia, Chinese thorowax root, eucommia, fritillary, cornus officinalis, and manyprickle acathopanax root. The yearly production of medical materials in Longnan is over 15 million kg, which accounts for over 70% of that in Gansu Province and about 90% of export amount. Some medical herbs produced in this area have received the national export certificate, those herbs include Chinese angelica, red stilbazolium, stria, rhubarb, radix codonopsis, and wild radix codonopsis.
Secondly, Longnan is loaded with a great variety of mineral resources. There are 34 kinds of metal or non-metal minerals there including lead, zinc, antimony, copper, manganese, gold, silicon, barite and coal. The Xi(Xihe county)-Cheng(Cheng county) lead, zinc,and minerals belt extends an area of 300 km, where over 13 million tons of lead and zinc storage amount has been confirmed. It has been predicted that its potential storage amount may reach 25 million tons,which will make it one of the extra large ore fields as well as the second largest ore body in China. This year, its production amount of lead and zinc are 30,800 ton and 129,500 ton respectively. Its storage of antimony is 149,000 ton, which makes it the third largest ore body. It has a confirmed gold storage amount of 190 ton, and its potential storage amount is above 300 ton. More than 20 large and medium -size mineral deposits with storage capacity above 400 kg have been found in this region. It is possible that this place may become the largest gold mine in Asia.
Currently, there are three large mineral belts under exploration in Longnan. The first one is Xi-Cheng lead and zinc mineral belt, with a east-west length of 85 km and a south-north width of 7 to 22 km, covering counties like Xihe, Cheng, Hui and so on. The Xi-Cheng lead and zinc mineral belt covers an area of 20 square kilometers, with its lead and zinc storage reaches 12 million ton and potential storage amount reaches 20 million ton, which makes it a large lead and zinc mineral belt and rank the second in China. The second one is Yawan antimony belt in Xihe county, which has a metal storage amount of 149,000 ton, accounting for 8% of the nation, ranking the third in China. The third one is a gold belt along the region of Pai-lung River and Baishuijiang, with a gold storage of above 70 ton.This belt lies at the core part of Gansu-Shaanxi-Sichuan “golden triangle” mineral area, and is an important gold-mining base in Gansu Province.
Thirdly, Longnan is with plenty of water power resources. There are numerous rivers within this region, with abundant water level, concentrated drops, and small seasonal changes. The four water systems in this region are Jialing River, Pai-lung River, Baishuijiang, and Xihanshui. And the total number of rivers in this region is over 3900, with an annual runoff of 27.9 billion cubic meters, and water resource occupation per person is far above national and provincial average levels. So this place is with high potential and high development efficiency for water and electricity usage. Also, there are favorable conditions for water resources and hydropower engineering development with broad prospect.
Fourthly, Longnan embraces unique tourist resources. Longnan is with gorgeous mountains and bright water, splendid cultures, and time-honored history. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, Fu Xi, the humanity ancestor of the Chinese nation was born in CHOUCHI and grown up in Chengji. CHOUCHI is the now Xihe county, and Fuxi Cliff stands on CHOUCHI mountains till today. It is in Longnan where the first feudal emperor of China started the building of his Kingdom, the Qin Dynasty. Emperor Qin Shi Huang and his descendants lived in Li county, Longnan city for hundreds of years, during which they created historical events like “Taking Control of Guanzhong”, “Establishing a Power Center in China Central Plain”, and “Unifying the Six Kingdoms”. The “Xixiasong” stone carves locates in Cheng county, Longnan city is the most perfectly preserved calligraphy treasure among the “Three Odes” from Han Dynasty. Hadapu in Tuochang is a“gas station” for the red army as well as a turning point for the destiny of the Chinese revolution. The Tuochang Hadapu Long March of the Red Army Memorial is in the list of China national cultural relics protection units. Some other significant human scenic spots here include Du Fu Thatched Cottage in Cheng county, pre-Qin cultural relics in Li county, Qi Shan ancient battlefield of the three Kingdoms, CHOUCHI state relics in Xihe county, and Yin Ping ancient gallery road of the three kingdoms. There are also plenty of natural ecological tourist resources in Longnan like Wanxiang karst cave which is the largest in northeast China, Chengxian jifeng mountain----a national level forest park, Wenxian heaven lake, Hui county three beaches, Kangxian Yangba, and Tanchang Guanegou. These unique natural and human scenic spots answers the breathtaking beauties of Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan Province and Maiji mountain in Tianshui, Gansu Province. Its special geographical location gives Longnan a diversified culture. Here you can see the integration of ethnic cultures between Han and ancient Di, Qiang, and Zang as well as the great interaction between Qin-Long culture and Ba-Shu culture. The distinctive traditions here draw a picture scroll with vivid and evergreen views.