Songxi Gaoping Mountain Scenic Area

Songxi Gaoping Mountain Scenic Area

The Songxi Gaoping Mountain Scenic Area is a national AAA-level tourist attraction.

The Songxi County Gaoping Mountain Scenic Area is a mountain villa-style leisure agriculture tourism destination. Located to the northwest of Songxi County, it is just 3.5 kilometers from the county seat, covering an area of several thousand acres. Gaoping Mountain itself spans 580 acres and features Danxia landform, with beautiful peaks and grotesque rocks. Its forestry ecological resources—including 32 families and 64 genera of rare timber species and hundreds of species of vines—are well preserved, all marked with information plaques. There are also dozens of small and elegant cultural and natural landscapes. The scenic area receives over 7,300 visitors annually, mainly serving guests from twelve counties across four regions in neighboring Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces as well as the local province. Students make up over 30% of the visitors. It has now become a new pillar, highlight, and growth point for Songxi’s environmental education, cultural science outreach, and leisure agriculture tourism industry.

In 2003, Liu Rendong, a villager from Qianqiao Village in Songyuan Town, developed the area with two major tourism themes: ecological forestry and traditional agriculture. He personally invested over three million yuan to develop scenic spots, build roads, construct pavilions, erect "Forest Homes," and install amusement facilities. This innovation, extension, and exploration of tourism services at Gaoping Mountain brought the development and utilization of its tourism resources onto a standardized and sustainable track. Currently, the Gaoping Mountain Scenic Area centers around distinctive science education and ecological themes, showcases a prominent suburban style, and offers comprehensive services including “planting, breeding, processing, tourism, and recreation.” Its educational brand advantage is clear—blending education with leisure and learning with fitness—which has earned widespread praise from all sectors of society.

The charm of the Gaoping Mountain Scenic Area lies in its unique natural landscape. Although the highest peak, Jinping Peak, stands only 630 meters above sea level, it takes less than two hours to reach the summit from the Forest Homes starting point by walking through pristine woodlands, identifying tree species along the way, and listening to birds and wildlife. The climb not only provides exercise but also invigorates both body and mind.

The charm of the Gaoping Mountain Scenic Area also comes from its beautiful cultural landscapes. The Fairy Tea Garden and the Strongmen Cliff—each site holds either a beautiful legend or serves as a testament to Chinese history. The scenic area highlights local characteristics of leisure agriculture and Forest Homes, focusing on the twin themes of “youth science education” and “environmental education,” striving to build a new tourism brand for Songxi.

The charm of the Gaoping Mountain Scenic Area is further enriched by its distinctive local farmhouse cuisine. Poultry such as chickens, ducks, and geese are all locally raised—either through traditional farming methods or free-range in orchards and bamboo forests near the Forest Homes. Seasonal vegetables are grown on-site, and ingredients such as bitter greens, bitter bamboo shoots, winter bamboo shoots, bitter chestnuts, black fungus, fiddlehead ferns, Chinese toon sprouts, and rock moss are all harvested from nature. At the Gaoping Mountain Scenic Area, you can enjoy a range of dishes featuring bitter greens, bamboo, and even edible and medicinal fungi such as black fungus.

Featured Tourist Activities: ① Climb high for panoramic views of rivers and mountains; ② Explore the Song Dynasty wild tea plantation of Songxi; ③ Experience the joy of rural life.

Source: People's Government of Nanping City