A national park complex named "Greater Shangri-La" is now under
construction near the Three Parallel Rivers in Yunnan. The
complex includes Potatso National Park, Meili Snow Mountain, Tiger
Leaping Gorge, Shangri-La Gorge, Tacheng National Park for the
Yunnan Golden Monkey and many other scenic sites.
Awa, director of the Tourism Bureau of Diqing Tibetan Autonomous
Prefecture, explained that the Three Parallel Rivers was a World
Natural Heritage site inscribed by UNESCO. In the high mountains,
three of China's great rivers -- the Yangtze, Nujiang and
Lancangjiang -- run roughly parallel from north to south for
170 km. The Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture accounts for 49.2
percent of the total area. Blessed with rare alpine landscapes, it
harbors a rich repository of animal and plant species.
The construction of the "Greater Shangri-la" National Park
Complex is now in full swing, said Awa, adding that the Diqing
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture was working hard to build the Greater
Shangri-La into a world famous national park with all kinds of
accommodations, financial packages and entertainment
facilities.
Presently, the Potatso National Park is mapping out its second
phase of construction. The road construction up into Meili Snow
Mountain will begin soon. By the end of this year, several projects
start equipping the Tacheng National Park for the Yunnan Golden
Monkey with a security system and Damo Cave with an asphalt
road.
To include the formerly independent Bitahai Lake and Shuduhu
Lake into the complex, a 69-km environmental-friendly asphalt road
and a 10-km plank road constructed with advanced Finnish technology
have been put into use. All the nearby snow-capped mountains, steep
gorges, rippling lakes and vast forests are thus linked into a
whole.
"Meili Snow Mountain, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Shangri-La Gorge and
Tacheng City all operate using advanced methods.
In addition to five national parks, the complex also includes
Dukezong Ancient City, Songtsanling Monastery, Napahai Lake,
Thousand Lake Mountain and Blue Moon Valley.
(China.org.cn by Chen Xia, September 16, 2007)