Nanxijiang Scenic Area
Nanxijiang Scenic Area, a major national place of interest, is located in Yongjia County of South Zhejiang Province. It is twenty-three kilometers away from Wenzhou City, with Yandang Mountain in the east, Xiandu Scenic Area in the west and Xianju Scenic Area in the north. The 300-kilometer-long Nanxijiang River is characterized by its beautiful water, exotic rocks, various waterfalls, ancient villages and charming reaches. The upper reaches are famous for deep streams, lush trees and various waterfalls. In the middle reaches, pebbles are shining under the sun, fish swimming in the clean water and trees lining on the sides of the river. In the lower reaches, people are rowing boats on the winding water, enjoying the picturesque scenery. Covering an area of six hundred and twenty-five square kilometers, the scenic area is divided into seven spots, including more than eight hundred attractions. There are the Peace Rock facing the River, the Lion Rock (like a natural potted landscape in the river), the Triangle Rock Staring at the Deep and Green Pool, the Tortoise Rock on a High Peak, the Mast Rock, the Twelve Peaks Reaching the Sky, the Triangle Cave(symbolizing good fortunes)and various waterfall clusters. In particular, rafting down the river can give people unmatched opportunities “to get away from it all”, to escape from the worries and hectic life of the modern urban world.
The unique Nanxijiang River enjoys abundant cultural heritages. There are still cultural relics of the New Stone Age, the ancient pagodas, pavilions, memorial archways, decorated archways, battlefields of the Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties, the original style and features of ancient villages, large numbers of well-preserved records of family trees, the hand writings and poems by ancient calligraphers and poets such as Xie lingyun, Wang Xizhi and Su dongpo. Xie lingyun, a pioneer of Landscape Poems . “Floating Clouds Lingering over misty forest, meandering river running into sunset”.
Nanxijiang River is featured by mild climate, cool in summer and warm in winter, with an average temperature of 18.2 degrees centigrade. The area abounds in such local specialties as yantao, chestnuts, shaddocks, persimmons, grapes, red bayberries, fragrant fish and Wuniu Tea.
Middle Yandang Mountain
The national major scenic place, Yandang Mountains (composed of North Yandang, Middle Yandang and South Yandan) which is historically called “the first mountains in the south-east” and favourably known as “the famous mountains out of the sea” is a world-famous tourist attraction and holiday resort with special scenes and rich culture.
Nanji Islands Marine Preserve
As one of the first five marine preserves of China, Nanji islands Marine Preserve was established in 1990 with the approval of the State Council.
The preserve is mainly of marine erosion landforms. Along the winding coastline there are numerous capes and bays as well as various beaches and rocks. It is the confluence of the alongshore current of Zhejiang and the warm current of Taiwan. The area enjoys a mild climate with an average temperature of 16.5 degrees centigrade, never too hot in summer or too cold in winter.
403 varieties of shellfishes and 174 algae have been identified in the preserve, which is more than 20% of the total varieties of shellfishes and algae in the seas of China. So it is often referred to as'’ the kingdom of shellfishes and algae'’.