Ancient Sandy Island Forest Park

Ancient Sandy Island Forest Park

Ancient Sandy Island Forest Park is a national AA-level tourist attraction.

The planned area of the park includes the Linqing Ginkgo Grand View Garden and the ancient pear, apricot, and old apple orchards in the surrounding Yingzi, Yaopo, and Xuedian villages, which are concentrated collective forest areas along the old course of the Yellow River in Linqing City. The park is located 10 kilometers southwest of Linqing’s urban area, situated between LinGuan Highway (S260) and LinGuan Highway (S315), covering an area of over 3,000 hectares. The planned premium scenic area spans 800 hectares, with a forest coverage rate of 82% in this region. The self-drive sightseeing route within the premium garden extends 21 kilometers, and the walking trails cover 32 kilometers.

The premium scenic area features concentrated distributions of ginkgo, ancient pear trees, ancient apricot trees, and old apple orchards from the Linqing Yellow River Old Course Ginkgo Grand View Garden. The area retains a large number of ancient tree resources, including ancient pear and apricot trees. According to a preliminary survey by the Linqing Forestry Bureau, there are eight ancient tree clusters within the planned park area, preserving over 40,000 ancient trees in total. Among them: there are 400 ancient pear trees and 210 ancient apricot trees over 500 years old, 3,500 ancient pear trees and 614 ancient apricot trees over 300 years old, and 19,500 ancient pear trees and 17,110 ancient apricot trees over 100 years old spread throughout the park. The flowering period (dogwood — ancient apricot — peach — pear — apple) lasts up to 60 days, while the fruit-picking season (wheat-yellow apricot — May-fresh peach — Red Gala apple — honey peach — golden pear — Fuji apple — ginkgo — persimmon — dogwood, etc.) extends for 180 days, making it a rare hundred-fruit park in the plains with such a concentrated distribution of ancient trees.

To further protect and utilize forest landscape resources such as ancient pear and apricot trees, prevent spontaneous visitor entry and the impact of various constructions on the development of the forest park, promote healthy and sustainable forest tourism, and provide a favorable environment for Linqing’s economic development and investment attraction, Linqing XinXing Ginkgo Grand View Garden Forest Farm, together with the surrounding Yingzi, Yaopo, and Xuedian village committees, jointly established Linqing Ancient Sandy Island Forest Park Tourism Co., Ltd. In July 2010, they engaged a renowned domestic expert group from the provincial planning department to complete the overall planning of the forest park.

The overall plan for Linqing Ancient Sandy Island Forest Park follows a “one park, one belt, four zones” tourism layout. “One park” refers to the unified management of the entire planned park area, forming an integrated fruit-tree-focused park. “One belt” denotes the self-drive touring route formed by the Yellow River Old Course Scenic Highway. “Four zones” indicate the Ginkgo Grand View Garden, Sandy Island Pear Garden Scenic Area, Yaopo Apricot Grove Scenic Area, and the Comprehensive Service and Management Zone, all set along the Yellow River Old Course Scenic Highway.

After eight years of construction, the Ginkgo Grand View Garden has taken initial shape, forming a landscape forest mainly composed of ginkgo, dogwood, and pear trees, now possessing leisure and sightseeing tourism value. The plan integrates the ginkgo industry, utilizing understory space to plant specialty plants for additional income and to enhance the tourist landscape. Participatory tour activities are set up under the ginkgo canopy to increase visitor engagement. Idle land resources are used to create water features and build leisure and resort facilities, strengthening sustainable development capacity. The park’s entrance and road touring system have been uniformly planned and adjusted to establish a closed-themed park integrating leisure, sightseeing, vacation, and technology demonstration. This serves as the main scenic area for the park’s near-term development and drives the overall construction of the forest park.

Pear trees are one of the characteristic plants of Linqing Ancient Sandy Island Forest Park. The park has a total pear orchard area of 320 hectares, with over 23,000 ancient pear trees, mainly concentrated around Yingzi Village. Among these, the ancient pear grove is located on the sand dunes southeast of Yingzi Village, covering approximately 40 hectares. There are over 20 varieties of pear trees, including Duck Pear, Fragrant Crisp, Hongwanjiu, Jiuwu Xiang, and Wansanjii. Remnants of ancient military camps and command platforms still exist within the park area, allowing for the utilization of ancient military culture in tourism.

The apricot groves in Yaopo Apricot Grove Scenic Area are also one of the characteristic plants of Linqing Ancient Sandy Island Forest Park. The ancient apricot trees are mainly concentrated in the southwest of Yaopo Village. An old school site remains within the ancient apricot grove. Zhang Donghuai from Yaopo Village is the founder of Zhou Quan (elbow boxing), which offers great potential for tourism development. The scenic area primarily features functions such as viewing ancient apricot trees, exploring the “Apricot Grove Martial Arts School,” picking apricots, and experiencing the “Zhou Quan” martial arts.