Why we love Guangdong | Qingyuan, a garden city

Qingyuan is a garden city in the north-central part of Guangdong province. Owing to its abundance of natural resources, it is praised as the Home of Hot Springs and the Home of Rafting in China.

As the prefectural city with the largest land area in Guangdong, Qingyuan has numerous mountains and hills, and its forest coverage rate has reached nearly 70%. Unique geographical conditions such as karst caves, underground rivers and karst landforms are well preserved. Lianzhou Underground River, the best underground river in Guangdong, is a popular tourist attraction in Qingyuan. Visitors will see beautiful landscapes as they explore the cave through the stalactites that hang from the ceilings.

One of Qingyuan's best-known pastimes is rafting. Gulong Gorge and Huangteng Gorge, two of Qingyuan's famous rafting spots, are fatigue killers. They have steep canyons and high waterfalls. After a few back and forths, you will be as fresh as a daisy.

As the Home of Hot Springs, Qingyuan has a variety of holiday resorts and hot spring pools with different characteristics, including a milk pool, ginseng pool, rice wine pool, angelica pool and honeysuckle pool.

At the rear of the city, there is a thousand-year-old Yao village hidden on the slope of Liannan Mountain at an altitude of 800 meters. The Yao people, an ethnic group in China, have become an important cultural symbol of Qingyuan. During traditional festivals, they sing, dance and drink homemade rice wine. There will also be folk cultural performances, including singing halls, lion dances and long drum dances. The Pan Wang Festival, held annually around the 16th day of the 10th lunar month, is a typical example.

The Pan Wang Festival enjoys a history of over 1,700 years and is also a day for the Yao people to thank King Pan for his blessings. On that day, all Yao people dress in their finest attire to honour the birthday of their ancestors by singing, dancing, consuming copious amounts of alcohol and burning incense. In 2006, the festival was included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage.

In Qingyuan, there are 16 national geographic indication products. A shining example is the mouth-watering Qingyuan chicken. They are raised in bamboo forests, drink dew, and feed on grains, grasses, insects and ants. As a result, they are gifted with golden skin and tight, tender meat. In 1972, when former US president Richard Nixon visited China, Qingyuan chicken was listed on the menu of the state banquet.

Qingyuan's Yingde Black Tea, Yunnan's Dian Black Tea and Anhui's Qi Black Tea, are collectively known as China's three major black tea brands. The No. 9 Yingde Black Tea is also exported to the British royal family.

Urban rail, high-speed rail, maglev trains, motorways, the Beijiang Bridge, and other facilities have all been vigorously constructed in Qingyuan in recent years. It takes only about 30 minutes to reach the GBA cities from the southern region of Qingyuan. And it also takes about 40 minutes to arrive at downtown Guangzhou from the central region. With more convenient transportation, Qingyuan will have infinite possibilities for the future.