Zhanggutai National Sandy Forest Park

Zhanggutai National Sandy Forest Park

Zhanggutai Sandy Forest Park is located in Zhanggutai Town, Zhangwu County, and is the only national sandy forest park in Northeast China. It is an ecological landscape that skillfully combines desert wonders with man-made forests.

Zhanggutai Sandy Forest Park was established in the 1950s, covering a total area of 11,341 hectares. The vast plantation on a hundred-meter-deep sand layer is hailed as a world wonder. The sand control educational films *Green Dream* and *Call of the Green*, as well as the TV series *Romance of the Desert*, were filmed here. The “Green Great Wall,” produced by Japan’s Iwahara Picture Production, was featured in the TV series *Greatest Wonders of the World*. Visitors can enjoy activities such as sand lake bathing, forest bathing, and sunbathing amidst the vast forests, collect red mushrooms, yellow mushrooms, and grass mushrooms, pick green agricultural products in the sandy ecological garden, and savor local delicacies, immersing themselves in the wild charm of nature.

Yangximu Ranch, one of the three major ranches outside the Shanhai Pass, supplied its products directly to Shengjing (now Shenyang). It is a blessed land abundant in forests and grass. According to *Qing Wenxian Tongkao* (Comprehensive Examination of Qing Documents), “With lush woods and thick grass, suitable for resting and grazing, the herds of horses, camels, cattle, and sheep multiplied by the tens of millions each year… The place is in Zhanggutai.”

In modern times, due to frequent and irrational human economic activities, the ecology was damaged, and the desert shifted southward. Zhanggutai happened to be right at the forefront of this southern movement, essentially the forehead of the Horqin Sandy Land. The formation of the Zhanggutai Sandy Land was mainly due to erosion from the Horqin Sandy Land in Inner Mongolia to the north, as well as flooding and wind deposition from the Liu River. It is divided into shifting sand land, semi-fixed, and fixed sand land. Among these, shifting and semi-shifting sands account for about 20%, while fixed sands make up about 80%, primarily composed of quartz sand. Winds blowing at speeds of 30 meters per second occur more than 240 times a year, and sand dunes three to four meters high move forward three to four meters annually. It was common for residents to relocate every two or three years, and even “sand-eye disease” became a local affliction in Zhangwu County. Zhanggutai Sandy National Forest Park

Although sandstorms are a scourge to farmland, they are closely intertwined with the lives of local people. Sweet potatoes, watermelons, millet, and other small grains produced in the sandy land are well-known green foods. Newborn babies here are often laid on mattresses filled with fine sand, serving as a natural alternative to diapers. Peanuts and melon seeds stir-fried in fine sand cook evenly, offering a unique flavor.

Zhanggutai has three treasures: silica sand, peat, and pine seedlings. Silica sand reserves amount to 600 billion cubic meters and are widely used in casting, glass, and glass products. Peat reserves exceed 100 million tons and can be used for bio-fertilizer, nutrient soil, industrial fuel, medical preservatives, food preservation, and heavy metal treatment. Zhanggutai is also a United Nations seedling base and has been cultivating Korean pine seedlings for decades. Korean pine is an excellent windbreak and sand-fixing tree species, exported to over 10 provinces and autonomous regions including Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei. Additionally, Zhanggutai is the nearest desert expanse to the urban area of Shenyang, offering visitors a distinctive landscape to experience desolation, reconnect with nature, participate in afforestation, and enhance their sense of social responsibility.