"Refreshing Fujian. Green Ningde" Tourism Promotion Meeting was ceremoniously held in Beijing and Jinan on November 8 and 11 respectively. Organized by the Ningde Tourism Administration (Fujian), this promotion meeting aims to further expand the recognition and reputation of Ningde in major cities along the Beijing-Fuzhou High-speed Railway. So, what features of Fuding have been exhibited in this meeting? 

Taimushan 

Located on the coast of the East China Sea, Taimushan faces the sea on three sides and backs on the mountain, with the sea and mountain stretching endlessly and majestically. The scenery of a mountainous coast as well as a coastal mountain city creates the Taimushan's "spectacle of mountains and sea" under the complementary beauty of rivers and mountains. Legend has it that celestials in the East China Sea would gather here frequently, and that's why it is honored as "celestial city in the sea". 

Most famous mountains are endowed with their own distinctive landscapes, so is the Taimushan. As a national key scenic spot and national geological park, it is characterized by granite & hoodoo grottos, integrating the mountains, sea, rivers and islands as well as the cultural landscape. Holding four scenic areas (the Taimushan Mountain Peak, Fuyao Qingchuan Bay Seashore, Fuyao Archipelago, Jiulixi and Waterfall) and three independent scenic spots (the Ruiyun Stockade of She Ethnic Group, Lengcheng Ancient Castle, Cuijiao Ancient Dwelling), it has a sightseeing area of 92.02 square kilometers and a protection area of 200 square kilometers. What are the highlights of Taimushan? Why is it beautiful? 

Among the numerous mountains and rivers which are spectacular and majestic in various scenic spots nationwide, the sea view is always absent; similarly, out of so many well-known coastal resorts, it's hard to see mountains with a certain taste; luckily, the Taimushan Scenic Area integrates mountains, sea, rivers and islands properly, gathering natural and cultural landscapes to a satisfactory degree which is rare among famous mountains and rivers nationwide. 

During the tour, you will get to feel the Taimushan's spirit resembling landscapes on Mount Wuyi and Yandangshan, its fantasy resembling mists on Mount Huang and Mount Tai; also, you can enjoy its view of coastal beaches reminiscent of Mount Lao and Hainan, as well as its traces of Buddhism and Taoism reminiscent of Mount Putuo and Mount Wudang. Regardless of your hobbies, there is always one out of the tourism items (e.g. climbing, grotto exploration, paddling, rafting, visiting of islands and ancient relics) that can attract you to participate in or arouse your interest.

YuShan Island

Shining like a gorgeous pearl in the East China Sea, YuShan Island is the largest one out of twelve islands in Fuyao Archipelago and also one of the four scenic areas of Taimushan. These twelve islands are respectively Dayushan, Xiaoyushan, Yuanyang Island, Silver Island, etc. Legend has it that long time ago, the Queen of Heaven was convening a Festival of Immortal Peach when the Dragon King was celebrating his birthday. The Dragon King presented his treasures to the Queen, and the Queen sent twelve fairies to deliver twelve immortal peaches to the Dragon King as a return gift. The Dragon King placed such peaches on a fish shed to let everyone have a taste. After the birthday feast, the shed was removed, with twelve immortal peaches left and turning into twelve islands known as the Fuyao Archipelago (having a moral that the well-being was endowed from the Jade Pool). 

The Chinese character "嵛" out of 嵛山 (Yushan) has a top radical resembling a mountain and a bottom character of "俞", and it is also known as "余山" in Chinese legend. Residents in Yushan are basically fishermen working at sea. 

As early as in the Song Dynasty, some fishermen migrated to Yushan successively, and that was also when pirates emerged. In the Qing Dynasty, a situation of "civil revolt driven by misgovernment" occurred due to the endless banditry and hard times suffered by residents in Yushan. Many fishermen gathered around Yushan to repel the Qing Government in order to earn a living. That was also when the Empress Dowager Cixi reigned. One day, she heard about a submitted memorial telling the "rebellion of southeast coastal fishermen against the imperial court" and got furious, asking officials to show her the map. At a glance, Cixi found that Yushan was nothing but a small island, so she felt a sense of relief and laughed, saying "No need to worry about such a tiny area! It is totally redundant". Then she painted two circles in red to mark Yushan Island on the map. Since then, it was called as "Yushan Island". 

Chixi Village 

Seated in the middle of the alpine and gorge regions of the Taimushan's southwest foot is an administrative village of a minority (She minority), which administers 14 natural villages overall and is resided by kind-hearted, friendly, honest as well as hardworking villagers.

In April 2009, the State Council's Poverty-relief Office notified to deliver those textual and graphic files on the Benefit Project in China's No. 1 Poverty-relief Village of Chixi (Xiashanxi, Fuding) to participate in the exhibition of poverty-relief & development achievements on the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the P. R. China held in Beijing. Since then, Chixi Village has gotten its title as "China's No. 1 Poverty-relief Village". In 2015, Chixi Village was selected as a national pilot village to relieve poverty via tourism, with its efforts spent on poverty relief & development approved and affirmed by General Secretary Xi as well as other central leaders, making it a gilded signboard for poverty relief via tourism citywide. On February 19, 2016, General Secretary Xi contacted villagers via a video connection on People.cn, who highly affirmed their efforts spent on poverty relief to achieve prosperity and also wished them better lives.

Chixi Village is rich in tourism resources, like the water scenery zone of Jiulixi, canyon-like water scenery of the Xiashanxi section, Dujiabao ancient dwelling, and natural rural scenery. Since 2005, Chixi Village has spent efforts on developing village tourism relying on scenic areas while keeping a foothold on ecology, depending on the Taimushan scenic area and making full use of Jiulixi tourism resources. Many tourism items have been developed, such as the bamboo rafting, canyon sport park, live CS battle base, butterfly ecological park, colorful farm, art expo park, etc.; Chixi Village is welcoming tourists worldwide with its greater variety. 

Fuding white tea 

Surrounded by sea and mountains, Fuding is a rich land. In addition to a wealth of marine and native products, Fuding white tea deserves to be the first choice. "The best white tea is produced in China worldwide and in Fuding nationwide". In this promotion meeting, an on-site tea art show was presented with Fuding white tea, which caught the eyes of local tourism practitioners immediately. 

Processed under special fine procedures (without knead-frying) of the choice big-leaf white tea and Hao tea, the Fuding white tea has retained nutrients like tea polyphenols, amino acids and active enzymes in tea to the largest extent, thus playing its special role in reducing blood pressure/blood glucose/blood lipid and resisting radiation/oxidation/cancers ("three reductions and three resistances"); besides, it can also nourish the skin and body (via nourishing the heart, liver, eyes and spirit), known as the "blue blood" of China's six major tea varieties as well as the most ancient, natural and healthy tea type. 

Fuding's presence in this promotion meeting was unanimously praised by audiences. It was reported that, with adherence to the win-win principle of mutual communication/cooperation/benefit among peers via establishing a friendly platform, this promotion meeting has organized nearly one hundred personnel (including principals of tourism bureaus of various counties (cities, districts) in Ningde, principals of scenic areas above Level 4A, principals of key travel agencies and the press representatives) to visit Beijing and Jinan for popularizing Ningde tourism resources, and also invited over 80 local personnel respectively (including leaders of local tourism bureaus/tourism committees, principals of market departments, principals of local key travel agencies and the mainstream press) to participate in the meeting. 

In this early winter, Ningde Tourism has "gone outside" to visit Beijing and Jinan, bringing its freshness and warmness to both cities. Local peers have expressed that via this promotion meeting, they have got a genuine view of this distinctive southeast coastal land, and would promote Ningde's resources energetically in the future, with more tourist groups organized to visit Ningde and to experience the beautiful scenery of its mountains, sea, rivers and islands. As a place rich in both beautiful scenery and delicacy, Fuding has gorgeously impressed you in this promotion meeting, hasn't it?