Shaoguan City, in northern Guangdong Province, borders Hunan Province in the north and Jiangxi Province in the east. Shaoguan governs two county-level cities, three districts, and six counties and covers an area of 18,000 square kilometers inhabited by three million people.
Shaoguan is a promising industrial, commercial, and tourist city. With an age-old history, a brilliant culture, wonderful scenery, and an excellent ecological environment, Shaoguan has great potential for developing the tourist industry. The Danxia Mountains in Shaoguan gave their name to the danxia landform, special topographical features-mesas, grotesque pinnacles, and steep cliffs and stacks-in China's laterite basins.
Shaoguan has a national geological park, a national scenic area, a 4-A tourist area, the Nanling National Forest Park, and the Chebaling National Nature Reserve. There are the Jinji (Golden Pheasant) Ridge; the Ruyuan Grand Canyon; the ancient Zhuji Lane; houses of the Hakkas in Shixing; Xiongguan Pass on an ancient post road on Meiling Ridge; the Nanhua Temple, the first temple of Chan (Zen) Buddhism in China; Shizi Mountain, the home of primitive Maba Man, in Maba Town where fossil remains of human beings and objects of the Paleolithic Age have been discovered; the paleontological zone of dinosaur fossils in Nanxiong; and the Nine Rapids and Eighteen Shoals, the No.1 drifting area in China. The wonderful landscapes and the customs of the local ethnic groups attract a great number of tourists every year.
Over the past years, the municipal government of Shaoguan has formulated a strategy of developing tertiary industry with an emphasis on tourism and has made efforts to improve tourist facilities and services. In January 2002, the State Tourism Administration designated Shaoguan as one of China's Excellent Tourist Cities.
(China Pictorial February 19, 2003)
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