Qianling Mountain Park opens to public for free

Tourists enjoy boating on Qianling Lake during the New Year's Day holiday. [Photo/Guiyang Daily]

Since Jan 1, Qianling Mountain Park, China's largest urban comprehensive natural mountain park located in Guiyang, capital of Southwest China's Guizhou province, has been open to the public for free. On the first day, nearly 40,000 people visited the park.

The decision to offer free admission is a result of Qianling Mountain Park's transition into a public welfare park. The move is expected to boost the development of the park and allow people to deeply explore its ecological and cultural value.

With a history of over half a century, the park covers a management area of 3.32 million square meters, with a forest coverage rate of 88 percent. It is home to around 1,200 wild macaques and 102 species of birds, and water bodies, like Qianling Lake and Qixing Pond, covering a total area of approximately 188,000 square meters. Renowned cultural sites within the park, such as Hongfu Temple and Qilin Cave, are essential viewing for out-of-town visitors.

After Qianling Mountain Park, which receives over 10 million visitors per year, opened to the public for free, it received positive feedback from tourists both from within the province and outside, as well as local residents.

Fei'er, a visitor from Beijing, has been taking photos since arriving at Qianling Mountain Park. She said that the park remains beautiful in winter, and visitors have the chance to see giant pandas and wild macaques. As a mental health worker, she said she believes that the excellent ecology and environment of the park can help heal the body as well as the mind.