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Tianxingshan National Forest Park

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2011-03-31 16:15

Physical Features:

Emerald Pools

The landscape of the park is steep, majestic and distinctive. The park is located to the east of Zhenghe Dapu Fracture Zone and lies in Yanshan Volcanic Rock Zone of the eastern Fujian. The park features towering mountains, numerous cliffs, jagged rocks, many rock peaks and deep valleys. The exposed rocks have been carved by millions of years of natural history into numerous grotesque rock scenes. “Flying Horse Cliff,” “Monkey Stone” and “Tiger Looks in the Mirror” are vividly depicted in the stones. What’s more, the canyon riverbed is generously speckled with stones in various shapes and worthy of the name of “Natural Stone Sculpture Museum.”

The park is full of biological resources and attractions: 104 families, 130 genera and 181 species of wild vertebrates and 21 species of animals under state key protection, such as: mandarin duck, ape, pangolin, silver pheasant and serow. In addition to the ample faunal resources, the park also boasts a large variety of floral resources. The regional plants are well-preserved in an evergreen broad-leaved forest.

It features 8 vegetation types, 150 families, 431 genera and 745 species of plants and 16 species of plants under state key protection, such as the fascinating laxus malrel, glamorous gingko, sultry ormosia henryi, mysterious camptotheca acuminata decne, inscrutable phoebe bournei, sassy fokienia hodginsii, irrepressible torreya jackii chun and everyone’s favorite, the eurycorymbus cavaleriei. The park also includes a water pine forest, the only one in the world at present. In the forest, the water pines are lush and straight. Their diameter at breast height is 20-50cm. Experts favorably call them “living fossils of plants.” “Rocks are everywhere, pines grow on every rock and every pine looks fabulous,” exclaimed the experts. The natural pinus taiwanensis forest of above 700ha is rare in Fujian.