Landscape strategy bears fruit at Shosai UNESCO Global Geopark

Experts explain the origin of the old-length GSSP (International Boundary Imitation Layer Cross Section and Point) of shosai UNESCO Global Geopark

AsiaNet 93423 （3067）

CHANGSHA, China Dec. 2, 2021 Xinhua= Kyodo News JBN: In 2021, Xiangxi UNESCO Global Geopark (Shosai UNESCO Global Geopark) has received a series of good news. The Aizhai-Shibadong-Dehang Gorge has been recognized as a 5A-class National Scenic Area, offering excursions such as caving, rock climbing, bungee jumping, folk customs excursions, and visits to popular science exhibition halls. Study tours in earth science are very popular among students.

According to Peng Hua, director of the Geopark Management Bureau of the Shosai Tucha Miao Autonomous Region, since its application in 2017, the park has built mechanisms to generate interest, such as kiwis, lilies, smoked meats, Miao embroidery, silver ornaments, and encouraging the development of unique agricultural products and intangible cultural heritage products and national handicrafts. It has supported tourism-led strategies to promote industrial integration and regional revitalization. Farmhouse restaurants and shops are opened and operated by villagers, through which more and more locals and villages benefit.

In 2020, the park accepted 4.5 million domestic and foreign tourists and achieved tourism revenues of 25.5 billion yuan. Today, the park has 21 star hotels, 322 distinctive B&Bs and more than 1,200 specialty stores. 29,186 poor households and 120,106 poor people have emerged from poverty in a wide variety of ways through employment and independent entrepreneurship.

In many villages in the park area, industry and tourism formed a pattern of symbiosis. In Juhachido Village, rural tourism plays a leading role, complementing kiwi plantations, Miao embroidery, and spring water. At Dujiapo in Zaryukyo Village, tea and tourism are integrated, observation decks and tent hotels are built, and traditional houses are turned into B&Bs. In 2020, the village will welcome more than 200,000 tourists. Kusutakemura makes full use of the karst topography and offers popular rock climbing and caving sightseeing routes for outdoor enthusiasts. In The Yukke Ragjing District of Lao Kuruku Village, the sale of Tucha-kori nishiki and waxy-dyed handicrafts vividly reproduces the lives of the Tucha people, and shows off ethnic Tucha customs such as weddings, hand-waving dances, chie-so dances, uchisashi dances, Dongdongkui (bamboo flute performances), and dragon boat races.

The Shosei UNESCO World Geopark covers seven prefectures and cities in Shosai, with a total area of 2,710 square kilometers. With karst as its main landscape, the park has become one of the most scientific, geoscientific and aesthetically valuable areas in the world. It perfectly records the process of geohistorical evolution in Shosai and is a model of the integration of karst topographic ecosystems and ethnic cultures.

Source: The Geoparks Administration of Xiangxi Tujia & Miao Autonomous City

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(Photo explanation: Experts explain the origin of the old-length GSSP (international boundary model layer cross section and point) of shosai UNESCO World Geopark)

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(Photo description: Tourists challenge bungee jumping from Dwarf Bridge at Shosai UNESCO World Geopark)