Sanmenxia embraces bright future

Updated: Oct 13, 2017 chinadaily.com.cn Print

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Sanmenxia is an emerging industrial city near the Sanmenxia Dam, a large water-conservation project on the Yellow River.

With a population of 2.26 million across an area of 10,496 square kilometers, the city has become an important juncture along the Belt and Road for its bountiful resources, beautiful scenery and deep culture.

A crucial strategic entranceway to the central Shaanxi plain in ancient times, the city is now a traffic hub comprised of national highways, railways and expressways.

Known as the "Treasure Bowl" in Henan province, Sanmenxia is blessed with 66 types of mineral resources. With a gold reserve of 450 tons, the city is the second largest gold production base in China.

Sanmenxia boasts a sound ecology with a forest coverage rate of 50.7 percent, the highest in Henan province. Four national forest parks and six provincial forest parks mark Sanmenxia as an ecological tourist city.

With a total area of 666.7 hectares, Swan Lake Wetland Park at the city's center ranks the largest city garden in northern China. The 200-hectare water area provides the largest natural habitat for white swans in the Yellow River basin.

Sanmenxia's natural environment continues to improve. The region's wetlands have won the city the title "city of swans", as Sanmenxia's nature reserves attract over 10,000 white swans annually during their winter migration, more than half of the national total number.

A team of thousands of amateur photographers has formed, capturing excellent works of white swans and inspiring photo exhibitions held through the efforts of Sanmenxia's publicity department and photography associations to raise awareness for the protection of the water fowl.

"We will seize opportunities to strengthen exchanges with photographers around the world and make Sanmenxia a hot spot for wildlife photography," said Lyu Tinglin, director of Sanmenxia publicity department.