This Place in Ningde, Fujian: 54km of Highway Costing 4.6 Billion to Open, Yet Rarely Visited for Tourism
When people think of travel in Fujian, they often think of popular destinations such as Xiamen, Quanzhou, and Fuzhou. Few people pay attention to the other regions of Fujian, but Fujian is a diverse province with diverse tourism resources, especially Ningde in the northeastern part of Fujian, which is often overlooked. It is known as the ‘Home of Big Yellow Grouper’ and a National Garden City, with beautiful scenery. It is known as ‘Sea Lake Heaven, Buddhist Paradise, and Hundred-Mile Gallery’.
Among Ningde’s tourist attractions, Big Zhaishan Island, Bai Shui Yang Scenic Area, Tai Lao Shan, Xiapu Beach, and the cities where they are located are all of interest to visitors. However, there is only one city in Ningde that has remained relatively unknown due to transportation factors. It is Shunxing, which is located at the junction of Fujian and Zhejiang provinces and is known as ‘The Portal of Two Provinces, the Five Frontiers.’
Shunxing has remained unnoticed for one reason: it is not very convenient in terms of transportation, with no direct high-speed train. However, the Fuzhou-Shunxing Expressway opened smoothly in 2015, with a total length of 54.5 kilometers and a cost of 46.8 billion yuan. This smooth opening of the highway made self-driving the best way to travel to Shunxing. Another reason is that Shunxing’s tourist attractions are not particularly outstanding compared to other areas of Ningde. The most prominent is the spectacular and magnificent Yangmei County Big Canyon, as well as Xipu Village, ‘The Hometown of Scholars,’ and Sanfeng Temple, Feng Menglong’s Relics.
Actually, Shunxing also has a unique feature: it has 19 well-preserved Ming and Qing Dynasty wooden arch bridges. It ranks first among county-level areas in China and even the world in terms of this type of bridge, and is known as ‘The Home of the World’s Wooden Arch Bridges.’ Such as the longest single-arch wooden arch bridge – Dandong Luangen Bridge, the most beautiful wooden arch bridge – Yangmei County Bridge, the smallest wooden arch bridge – Wengang Bridge, and the most magnificent wooden arch bridge – Zhangkang Bridge, all of which are representative.
More importantly, Shunxing’s tourist attractions basically don’t require admission fees. Shunxing can be a very cost-effective leisure and vacation destination.
When traveling to Shunxing, you can go to Xipu to experience this beautiful ancient town; you can get lost in the Tai Lao Mountain tea gardens, Shunxing tea has a long history, especially with a cultivation and production history of over 100 years, such as ‘Shunxing Oolong Tea,’ which once flourished in the Fujinortheast region; you can also find local specialties in the streets and alleys, such as Shunxing’s lotus root dried snacks, light cakes, rice cakes, rat cakes, Xia Sha Hu, lotus powder with chicken, bitter greens stewed with pork ribs, and watercress stewed with small intestines – all of which can’t be eaten anywhere else.
