Full-day tour to Guiyang Huaxi National Wetland Park and Qingyan

Guiyang is situated in the central part of Guizhou on the Nanming River, a headstream of the Wu River, which eventually joins the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) at Fuling in Chongqing municipality. Guiyang is a natural route centre, with comparatively easy access northward to both Chongqing and Sichuan province and northeast to Hunan province. The city is the cultural centre of Guizhou province and has a number of colleges and universities. Guiyang is a marvelous tourist site with beautiful scenery. Contributed by its pleasant climate, Guiyang is reputed to be "the Capital of Summer Resorts in China”. Apart from the world-famous Huangguoshu Waterfall and Qianling Mountain, renowned for being “the First Mountain in Southern Guizhou”, scenic spots such as Jiaxiu Pavilion, Tianhetan and Nanjiang Grand Canyon etc. are also as attractive as a gleaming gem. Hundreds of thousands of tourists are captivated by the climatically comfortable environment, splendid natural scenery and colourful minority cultures here.

The Huaxi National Wetland Park is described as a magnificent “diamond” inlaid in Huaxi, the “brilliant pearl plateau”. In December 2009, Huaxi Wetland Park was formally approved as the first National Wetland Park in southwest China. Located in Huaxi, in Guiyang, the Park mainly boasts such scenic spots as Huaxi Park, Huaxi Shilihe Beach, and Dajiangshan Park, and so on. It was built in March 2010, and has been open to the public since September 6, 2011. The wetland park, featuring rivers, farmlands and ponds, provides a safe place for animals to eat, live and breed. It also creates favorable conditions for carrying out scientific research activities in the wetland park. According to statistics, there are 495 kinds of vascular plants, two of which are the second-class national protection category (cultivated species are excluded), and three kinds of precious animals protected by the state.

Based on a huge stone in Nanming River in the south of Guiyang City, Jiaxiu Tower was originally built in 1597 in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Firstly destroyed in 1621, and rebuilt later and renamed as Laifeng Pavilion, the Jiaxiu Building was destroyed again afterwards but regained its previous name when it was rebuilt another time in 1689 in Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Having been repaired for six times, the existing Jiaxiu Tower was built in 1909. As witness of Guiyang history as well as the symbol of the Guiyang culture, it was inscribed as a national key protected site in 2006.

Qingyan Ancient Town, one of the most famous historical and cultural towns in Guizhou Province, lies in the southern suburb of Guiyang. As an ancient town, covering an area of 300 hectares (740 acres), Qingyan Town was originally built in 1378. Nowadays, because of its long history and strong cultural atmosphere, the town has become an attractive destination for numerous domestic and foreign tourists. Dating back to the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368--1644), Qingyan town was built for military reasons. Because of its geographical location, Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of Ming Dynasty, established it as a station for transferring military messages and to house a standing army. Through years of modification and repeated restoration, Qingyan Ancient Town has gradually become a distinctive ancient town with cultural features of Ming and Qing Dynasties (1644 - 1911).