Gaoyi Ridge Scenic Spot
2022-05-05
Gaoyi Ridge Scenic Spot in Suxian District, Chenzhou City, China’s Central Hunan Province, is now a hot tourist destination for tourists around the world to check out the stunning Danxia landform, drawing thousands of tourists every day.
This is a gift from nature as well as attributed to the efforts the district government has made to advance the construction of a national innovation demonstration zone for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, implement ecological protection and improve the environmental governance system since 2019. Over the past few years, the Gaoyi Ridge Scenic Spot has endeavored to promote ecological conservation by focusing on such problems as tailing removal, soil erosion and garbage treatment, and conducted “tourism + environmental protection” initiatives, allowing more tourists to enjoy the benefits of green ecology.
Gaoyi Ridge Scenic Spot
Watercourse restoration for better environment
Gaoyi Ridge Scenic Spot is located at the junction of Chenzhou City and Zixing City, which is famous for its stunning Danxia landform and also an important part of Feitian Mountain Scenic Area. Gaoyi, which literally means “a high chair”, is a chair for the Immortal to rest. There are many sights, historic attractions and legends.
In 2016, the Goayi Ridge, which covers a total area of 11 square kilometers, came into public view with the construction of Chenzhou-Yongzhou Highway. In the past, the China Resource Power Hunan Co., Ltd. built a medium-sized ash yard dam for tailing emission at the foot of Gaoyi Ridge, which took a toll on the environment of the ridge.
As Chenzhou was approved by the State Council as a key city in building national innovation demonstration zones for sustainable development agenda in May 2019, the Suxian District marched on the road of developing the Gaoyi Ridge and restoring its environment.
Guided by the principle of ecological and natural restoration, the district introduced the Shunfeng Investment Industry Co., Ltd with an investment of 300 million yuan for cleaning up tailing and floating garbage in water pools, planting reeds to fix dust, restoring vegetation and installing safety facilities. It took more than three years to restore the polluted watercourses to the original appearance due to the complex geographic situations.
A bridge in the Gaoyi Ridge Scenic Spot
Vegetation planted to prevent soil erosion
The landform of Gaoyi Ridge belongs to Danxia landform in the maturity stage. The erosion caused by rain water at a speed of 0.8 meter every ten thousand years has resulted in the loss of water and soil at the top and sides of the ridge.
When developing the Gaoyi Ridge Scenic Spot, the local government has spent a large amount of money covering new soil, transplanting trees around the spot and restoring its vegetation.
Once the vegetation takes roots, it can intercept the rainfall, slow down the flow rate of rain water, distribute rain flows and consolidate the soil, while improving the barren landscape of Danxia landform and reducing soil erosion.
Now, the whole spot is covered in lush green vegetation, presenting pleasant and enchanting scenery.
Beautiful scenery of the Gaoyi Ridge Scenic Spot
Garbage clean-up for green ecology
Before its development in 2019, the Gaoling Ridge had attracted countless tourists for its spectacular scenery, who discarded a large quantity of garbage, leaving the ridge in a mess.
Therefore, the garbage cleaning has become a priority in the development process of the spot, which is full of difficulties due to the complex geographic situations. The garbage on the ridge needs to be cleaned manually and hauled to the ridge foot by trucks.
While those floating on water surface must be cleaned by skilled personnel, who tie safety ropes and descend slowly from the top of the ridge to collect floating garbage. After the opening of the spot in October 2021, many garbage collection sites have been set up for tourists to throw their rubbish, and cleaners have been arranged to do daily cleaning and transport collected garbage to a designated site for disposal.
“What I see today is not what I saw yesterday. That’s how I feel when I come to the Gaoyi Ridge,” said Ouyang Bo, an official of the Suxian District.
Under the guidance of philosophies of new and sustainable development, the district has been adhering to the construction of Suxian into a demonstration district on sustainable utilization of water resources and green development over the previous years.
It has also been attaching great importance to the protection, treatment, utilization and conservation of water, scientific and technological innovation, green development and carbon emission reduction. It has been advocating “low-carbon life boosting sustainable development” to further improve the environmental awareness of its citizens and advance the high-quality construction of the demonstration zone.
With the help of its “ecology + tourism” development pattern, the district has scored great achievements in its environmental protection while developing its tourist resources in a smooth manner.
The first phase of the Gaoyi Ridge Scenic Spot project has an open area of 3 square kilometers, with red steep cliffs surrounded by green water pools.
