By Li Xing (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-10-25 07:14

The cold front that swept through Beijing last Thursday turned the Fragrant Hills in the western part of Beijing into the splendid fall colors of yellow, orange and crimson.

The hills will be ablaze, almost fully red, as another chilly wind heads from the north this weekend.

But Fragrant Hills is not the only place to enjoy the crimson leaves in Beijing.

The municipal government launched a project called "Colorful Leaves" seven years ago. Under the project, maple and two different species of smoke trees have been planted at more than 10 sites in the mountainous areas in Beijing, covering about 20,000 hectares of slopes.

These days, the popular scenic sites, such as the Badaling and Mutianyu sections of the Great Wall, the Ming Tombs area, the Miyun Reservoir and the Yunju and Hongluo Buddhist temples, are also naturally decorated with the autumn colors of bright yellow, orange and red.

People who drive along the highways between Beijing and Zhangjiakou, along the Huaifeng and Migu roads will also be surprised by the colorful leaves all over the hills.

However, many people still go to the Western Hills as they make it an annual ritual to pay homage to the flaming smoke trees there.

No wonder the park management is hosting a cultural festival, expecting thousands of visitors to turn up.

To avoid possible traffic jams, the Beijing traffic management authority has made public a detailed temporary traffic control scheme, restricting the number of trucks and vans entering the park roads leading up to the hills. Some of the roads will be turned into one-way drives.

The authority has also declared that the parking lots in the vicinity will only accommodate fewer than 3,900 cars at one time, while between 4,000 and 5,000 vehicles on average are expected to arrive at the foot of the hills daily during this late autumn season.

They advise that it is better for travelers to go to the hills by bus or by chartered tourist buses.

The idea of a cultural festival is wonderful in attracting visitors while the provisional traffic management scheme will make it easier to visit the hills.

What is missing, however, is a stricter but practical ecological scheme to protect the trees from harm, despite the signs everywhere asking visitors to be civil and not to pick the leaves.

Some people have complained in their blogs that they were dismayed to see hikers picking leaves and even cutting twigs over the weekend. Some trees by the hilly roads have been stripped of almost half of their leaves.

One blogger wrote that an elderly man told him the trees in the Fragrant Hills suffer such damage almost every day at this time of the year.

I believe there is a lot more the park management should do to protect and preserve the trees. They should limit the number of visitors. They should also enlist the help of volunteers - college students for instance - to patrol along the mountainous paths, reminding people that it is not civil to pick the colorful leaves.

I do not think it would be enjoyable to see damaged trees and people who do not genuinely love the trees.

E-mail: lixing@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/25/2007 page10)