The World's No.1 Fir — The King of Metasequoia

The World's No.1 Fir — The King of Metasequoia

In Moudao Town, Lichuan, stands an ancient, majestic metasequoia tree with gnarled branches and a towering stature. It reaches a height of 35 meters, has a trunk diameter of 2.5 meters, a crown spread of 22 meters, and is over 500 years old. It is the oldest and thickest-trunked mother tree of metasequoia in the world. Over 130 million years ago, the metasequoia originated in the Arctic Circle and gradually spread to Europe, Asia, and North America. After the Quaternary Ice Age, people only found metasequoia fossils excavated from the earth’s strata, leading the botanical community to declare that the metasequoia had gone extinct on Earth. In 1941, Professor Yu Duo from Central University was the first to discover this ancient tree. Later, botanists Professor Hu Xiansu and Professor Zheng Wanjun identified it as a metasequoia and published the paper "A New Family of Metasequoia and a Newly Discovered Living Species of Metasequoia" in 1948, overturning the assertion that "the metasequoia had long been extinct." This caused a sensation in the global botanical community. This ancient tree came to be known as the “World's No.1 Fir,” “Living Fossil of Plants,” “Grandfather of the World’s Metasequoias,” and “King of Metasequoia,” among other titles. The discovery of the Moudao metasequoia was hailed as the greatest botanical find of the 20th century, and Lichuan became widely recognized both domestically and internationally as the “Hometown of Metasequoia.” Today, Lichuan is home to 5,740 metasequoia mother trees, yielding around 1,000 kilograms of seeds annually—considered a rare treasure in the world. Botanists from over 80 countries and regions have traveled to Lichuan to study and collect samples. The metasequoia tree has become an ambassador of friendship between China and other countries around the world. In 1972, [a high-ranking official] gifted 2 kilograms of metasequoia seeds to Kim Il-sung as a token of the friendship between China and North Korea; in February 1978, [another official] gave two metasequoia saplings to the people of Nepal and personally planted them in the Royal Botanical Garden. The Nepalese people chose it as the “Tree of Friendship between Nepal and China”; after U.S. President Richard Nixon’s first visit to China in 1972, he named his beloved yacht the “Metasequoia” to commemorate the beginning of friendly China-U.S. relations; during his southern tour in early spring 1992, [a Chinese leader] remarked while visiting the Xianhu Botanical Garden in Shenzhen: “There is an ancient tree species called metasequoia. It can now be found all over the country, and there is one very large one near the Three Gorges.” That same year, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications issued a metasequoia-themed postage stamp. This “King of Metasequoia” is not only a national treasure of China but also a treasure of the world. In the past 50 years, more than 700 papers and works have been published by researchers worldwide studying this tree, with 76 experts earning doctoral degrees based on their research. Every year, numerous domestic and international tourists visit to sightsee and study.

Moudao Town: A township under the jurisdiction of Lichuan City. In 1950, it belonged to Moudao Township, Luotian District, Wanxian County, Sichuan Province; in 1955, it was placed under Lichuan County, Hubei Province; in 1996, Moudao Township was established. Located in the northwest of the city, it is 62 kilometers from the city center. It covers an area of 312.6 square kilometers and has a population of 62,000. The township administers the following villages and areas: Gengxin, Minsheng, Tiefeng, Nanpu, Fengzhu, Lizyuan, Shangci, Zhongtai, Guihuaping, Wanli, Xiangshuidong, Hetaoyuan, Xinglong, Xinjin, Zhaibaoliang, Dongxi, Xiangyuan, Desheng, Tuanjie, Niujiaodong, Dongfeng, Baiyangping, Dazhuang, Guangming, Erhe Yaocai Chang (Second United Medicinal Materials Factory), Chuantou, Longshui, Chaoyangsi... More detailed information about Moudao Town++