Xinghu Scenic Area, Guangdong province

Xinghu Scenic Area, Guangdong province
（星湖旅游景区xīng hú lǚ yóu jǐng qū）

Address:1 Wenming North Road, Zhaoqing city, Guangdong province
Websites: gw.xhglj.com.cn/index.shtml (Cn)
gw.xhglj.com.cn/en/index.shtml (En)
Scenic Spot Level: AAAAA
Opening Hours: 8:00-18:00
Ticket Price:
Seven Star Peaks:70 yuan ($9.89)/person
Dinghu Mountain: 70 yuan/person
Seven Star Peaks and Dinghu Mountain: 120 yuan/person

Note:
Shuttle bus service with 20 to 30-minute intervals is available from Seven Star Peaks to Dinghu Mountain in the scenic area.

The Xinghu Scenic Area in South China's Guangdong province consists of two scenic spots centered around the Seven Star Peaks and Dinghu Mountain. Covering an area of nearly 20 square kilometers and with mesmerizing scenery, it has long been a calling card of the province to the world.

The area of the Seven Star Peaks, covering 8.23 sq km, consists of seven limestone peaks arranged like the "big dipper", as well as Xinghu National Wetland Park and the Xinghu Tour-lake Greenway. Boasting a karst topography, the area has established its reputation with peak forests, caves, lakes, stone steles and Taoist temples, and has been a place of interest since the sixth century.

The Xinghu National Wetland Park consists of karst caves, lakes, and shoals, and is known as the "kidney of Zhaoqing”. It has Fairy Lake atits center, and over 20 small islands scattered on the clear water like pearls, including Flamingo Island, Red-Crowned Crane Island and Wild Egret Island. It is the habitat of 163 species of birds, such as flamingo and egret. Red-crowned cranes that live in North China settle in the park to nest, making it the largest wild breeding base for red-crowned cranes in South China.

The Dinghu Mountain area is slightly larger, with an area of 11.3 sq km. It is a lush secondary forest featuring woodland and waterfalls. Since it rests on the Tropic of Cancer, the Dinghu Mountain area became the first natural reserve of China in 1979 and was included in UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves. Such honorary titles as “Oasis on the Tropic of Cancer”, the "living museum of natural history", and the "natural oxygen bar"have all been bestowed upon it.

The 20-km-long Xinghu Tour-lake Greenway is the starting point of Line One of the Guangdong Greenway. It starts from Bohai Parkin Zhaoqing city, runs around Seven Star Peaks Scenic Area - the Top Spectacle in the Region South of the Five Ridges - and connects a series of parks and public venues. A walk or a ride along the greenway will definitely be a pleasant journey, during which one can enjoy sailing boats, flying birds, blooming flowers and blossoms, and the classic spectacle of "a gleaming pearl swallowed by an open-mouthed lying Buddha" (a distant view in which the setting sun falls on top of the Seven Star Peaks, which resemble a lying Buddha).