Nanjing's cole fields lure tourists

Gaochun offers visitors some of China's most scenic countryside in spring. [Photo by Yu Ren/China Daily]

Tourism, as a result, has become an important part of the local economy. In 2016, tourism income reached 8.29 billion yuan ($1.2 billion), up 26 percent year-on-year.

Through May 6, the district is celebrating the ninth Golden Flower Festival, with various kinds of promotional activities.

Children can enjoy drawing colorful paintings and making them into kites, together with their parents. Flying their kites between the endless rows of colefields will be a great moment for them to remember.

They can also make colorful dumplings with the flour and vegetable juices provided by farms in the district.

Tourists can choose among 170 rural homestays to enjoy the "family hours". They can also pick strawberries, plant trees and go fishing in nearby ponds, rivers and lakes. Many domestic animals, such as sheep, cows and chickens, are waiting to be fed by youngsters' little hands.

The Youzi Mountain National Forest Park, which covers an area of 8,436 hectares, is called the "green lung" of the district. For people who have to live with smog on working days, the park provides an ideal place for them to breathe fresh air and please their eyes with green trees and numerous flowers.

By the shore of Gaochun's Gucheng Lake, a "waterside slow city" has been under construction since 2013. Covering an area of more than 530 hectares, it has cultivated almost 100 kinds of lotus flowers and offers many kinds of boats, some only existing in East China, for people to experience.