Aa a satellite launch site in the remote interiors of vast China, Xichang city in southwestern Sichuan gained popularity along with the country’s fast-growing aerospace industry. While it also has great potentials to realize as a resort destination, which is not known to many yet.

Located in the Anning River Valley, the second largest flatland in the province, the city enjoys warm winters and cool summers thanks to the subtropical monsoon climate with plateau landscape characteristics.

In and around the city, there are a plethora of natural and cultural attractions available, including the Qionghai Lake and Lushan Mountain scenic area that merges with the urban area.

Qionghai Lake is the second largest freshwater lake in Sichuan, formed around 1.8 million years ago. It expands 11.5 kilometers from north to south and offers breathtaking views around its 35 kilometers banks.

While the Lushan Mountain, just across a provincial highway, comprises a large repository of rare animal and plant species among beautiful or grotesque peaks, the highest of which juts 2,300 meters above sea level and overlooks the Qionghai Lake from an 800 meters height difference.

Hidden in the lush green on the hillside, many cultural relics are preserved at the building complex of Guangfu Temple, including Buddhist architecture, metal sculptures and poem inscriptions accumulated over the centuries.

About 30 kilometers south of Xichang sits the Luoji Mountain scenic site, another fairytale place. Here more than 50 peaks rise 4,000 meters above sea level, piercing an ocean of white mist. It is near provincial highway S212, the same one that runs across the Qionghai Lake and Lushan Mountain scenic area.

Along national highway G108 locates another geomorphic wonder – an earth forest found in Huanglianguan town, to the southwest of Xichang.

At 1,500 meters above sea level, the Huanglian Tulin earth forest covers an area of 1.3 square kilometers with towering columns shaped out of earth movement and erosion dating back to prehistoric times.