Inner Lingding-Futian Nature Reserve

Inner Lingding-Futian Nature Reserve

The Inner Lingding-Futian Nature Reserve is a national-level nature reserve and a science education base.

The Guangdong Inner Lingding-Futian Nature Reserve was established in October 1984 and was upgraded to a national nature reserve in May 1988. Covering a total area of 921.64 hectares, it consists of two areas: Inner Lingding Island and Futian Mangrove Forest, which are separated by the sea and form two relatively independent ecosystems.

(1) Inner Lingding Island

Inner Lingding Island is located on the eastern side of Lingdingyang in the Pearl River Estuary, situated between the four cities of Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Hong Kong, and Macau. It is 9 kilometers east of Hong Kong, 30 kilometers west of Zhuhai, and 17 kilometers north of Shekou in Shenzhen. Its geographical coordinates are between 113°47′–113°49′ east longitude and 22°24′–22°26′ north latitude, with an area of 554 hectares at low tide and 480 hectares at high tide. The island’s highest peak, Jianfeng Mountain, stands at 340.9 meters above sea level.

Originally named Lingding Mountain or Zero Mountain, Inner Lingding Island gained fame due to the line “Alone, I sigh amid the lonely sea” from the patriotic poet Wen Tianxiang.

In January 1951, Inner Lingding Island was liberated. In 1952, the military and local government cooperated to relocate over 100 resident households from the island to Bao’an, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, and Dongguan. Starting in 1954, the military built barracks, roads, tunnels, docks, and other defense facilities on the island, and planted fruit trees such as lychee. In 1962, to support the development needs of the garrison, the People’s Committee of Bao’an County reassigned 18 farming households under the jurisdiction of Shekou Commune to the military leadership on the island, with production arrangements managed by the troops. After the military reduction in 1985, the island’s barracks and land were handed over to the Guangzhou Military Region, managed and used by the Zhuhai Real Estate Administration Bureau. In August 1995, the Guangzhou Military Region Zhuhai Real Estate Management Office transferred the military real estate, barracks facilities, and related documents on Inner Lingding Island to Poly Southern Corporation for development. Currently, the military garrison on Inner Lingding Island is the Inner Lingding Island Guard Unit of the Shenzhen Garrison, consisting of 8 personnel, with barracks located in East Bay.

From the founding of New China until 1990, the island was under Shenzhen’s jurisdiction. In 1990, Zhuhai claimed jurisdiction based on a State Council document from December 1952 approving the establishment of Yuemin County (later renamed Zhuhai County), arguing that control of Inner Lingding Island should belong to Zhuhai. This sparked a dispute over the island’s jurisdiction. In 1992, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Civil Affairs issued the "Ruling on the Administrative Boundary Demarcation of Tidal Flats Between Shenzhen and Zhuhai," assigning Inner Lingding Island to Zhuhai. On September 25, 2009, the Guangdong Provincial Government clarified that Inner Lingding Island belonged to Shenzhen, ending the 19-year jurisdictional dispute between Shenzhen and Zhuhai.

Inner Lingding Island features verdant peaks, layered greenery, and flowing streams, preserving a relatively intact South Asian tropical evergreen broadleaf forest. The island is mostly covered by vegetation, primarily secondary forests. It boasts a rich diversity of plant species, including 569 species of wild vascular plants, accounting for about 10.2% of Guangdong’s total vascular plant species. Among them, white rosewood, wild lychee, and wild longan are key protected wild plants, with wild lychee and wild longan being important germplasm resources.

The island also has abundant wildlife resources, with the main protected species being the macaque, a Class II nationally protected mammal, numbering over 1,200. Other protected animals include otters, pangolins, black-eared kites, pythons, and tiger frogs.

The core area of Inner Lingding Island covers approximately 178 hectares, located south and southwest of the mountain ridge line from Nanfeng’ao to Jianfeng Mountain to Dongjiao Mountain, bounded by the island’s ring road. With ample water sources, this area is a concentrated habitat for macaques.

Inner Lingding Island is an ideal site for studying ecosystem patterns and nature conservation. It holds special protective value for monitoring ecological changes and warning of ecological and natural disasters. Coupled with the patriotic historical background of Wen Tianxiang on the island, it helps raise public awareness of environmental protection and patriotism, making it an important base for science and patriotic education.

(2) Futian Mangrove Forest

The Futian Mangrove Forest is located in the northeastern part of Shenzhen Bay, stretching from the mouth of Xinzhou River in the east to Shenzhen Bay Park in the west, reaching the tidal flats and the mouth of the Shenzhen River in the south, and extending to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway in the north. Along the coastline, it spans approximately 9 kilometers, with geographical coordinates at 113°45′ east longitude and 22°32′ north latitude. Covering a total area of 367.64 hectares, it is the smallest national-level reserve situated in an urban hinterland.

The Futian Mangrove Forest faces the Mai Po Nature Reserve in Hong Kong, a Ramsar internationally important wetland, across the water (with the closest distance being about 300 meters). Together, they form the Shenzhen Bay mangrove wetland ecosystem, one of the important wetlands in southern China. Here, freshwater and seawater mix due to the convergence of river and sea, accompanied by tidal phenomena. The abundant organic matter and fertile water quality provide an excellent geomorphological and material environment for the development of mangrove wetlands. The mangroves in the area are distributed in belts, with simple communities. The widest part of the forest is about 50 meters, mainly consisting of three native communities (Kandelia obovata, Aegiceras corniculatum, and Avicennia marina) and one introduced artificial community (Sonneratia caseolaris and Sonneratia apetala).

The mangrove area within the Futian Reserve covers approximately 100 hectares and boasts rich biodiversity, with 175 species of higher plants, including 16 mangrove plant species—12 of which are naturally growing locally, such as Excoecaria agallocha, Kandelia obovata, Aegiceras corniculatum, Avicennia marina, Acanthus ilicifolius, and Bruguiera gymnorhiza.

The mangrove reserve is also an important bird habitat, home to about 200 bird species, including 23 that are nationally protected, such as the greater adjutant, pelagic cormorant, Eurasian spoonbill, black-faced spoonbill, Chinese egret, osprey, Saunders’s gull, and Eurasian coot. The black-faced spoonbill, a globally critically endangered bird, accounts for about 15% of its global population here. According to surveys, in 2012 there were 2,693 black-faced spoonbills globally, with 390 in Shenzhen Bay. Every year, hundreds of thousands of migratory birds stop over in Shenzhen Bay, making it a crucial “transit station,” “resting place,” and “refueling spot” on the East Hemisphere’s international migratory bird route.

The Futian Mangrove Forest ecosystem is an oasis between Shenzhen and Hong Kong, a natural treasure bestowed upon the people of Shenzhen. It plays a vital role in maintaining regional ecological balance and is hailed as a green Great Wall beside Shenzhen Bay, possessing irreplaceable ecological, cultural, and social value. The reserve features flat and open terrain, with various natural landscapes such as marshes, shallow waters, and woodlands. The natural beauty of “sunset clouds flying with thousands of birds, still waters blending with the boundless sky” showcases the harmonious coexistence of city and environment, humans and nature. The Futian Mangrove Forest is a showcase of the city’s ecological civilization achievements and an ecological calling card of Shenzhen.