Tianlu Lake Forest Park

Tianlu Lake Forest Park

Tianlu Lake Forest Park is located in the northeastern part of Guangzhou. The park features lush forests, beautiful scenery, and a rich diversity of plant species, including the precious plant fossil Alsophila spinulosa and the rare large woody vine flower — the Sparrow Flower. It is a rare ecological park in Guangzhou. Built in 1958, Tianlu Lake Reservoir has a normal water level area of 1,280 mu and a total storage capacity of 7.3 million cubic meters. With its serene lake and mountain views, it is the largest and highest-altitude reservoir in the suburbs of Guangzhou, often referred to as the “Lung of the East” of the city. It is an ideal destination for leisure, summer retreats, and escaping the heat.

The park's terrain is mainly hilly, with Niutou Mountain in the south being the highest point at an elevation of 362 meters. It is home to Guangzhou’s relay station, with an iron tower standing 120 meters tall. Climbing to the top of the tower offers a panoramic view of Guangzhou. The park has well-preserved vegetation and diverse forest landscapes. The area around Ma Ying Ridge features a monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest with a wide variety of tree species. The park’s vegetation is mainly secondary broad-leaved forest and mixed coniferous-broadleaf forest, with a relatively rich variety of plants. Major tree species include fir, Masson pine, lychee, eucalyptus, acacia, ekki, mixed coniferous-broadleaf trees, bamboo, and fruit-bearing woody plants, as well as a small amount of ancient plant fossils — Alsophila. Below the ridge stands an olive tree that strikingly resembles a “plum blossom peak.” Legend has it that a celestial deer once came here to drink and, enchanted by the lake and mountain scenery, chose to stay and transform into a deer tree guarding the area. Hence, Tianlu Lake is also known as the “Deer of Heaven Lake,” making this a rare cultural and natural landmark in the park. It is a scarce example of zonal natural secondary forest within the Guangzhou urban area. Among its highlights is the “Thousand Mu Sparrow Flowers” at Tianlu Lake, which attract tens of thousands of visitors daily during the blooming season.

The park boasts lush forests, beautiful scenery, and a pleasant environment. Within its dense woods grows the rare large woody vine flower in the Guangzhou area — the Sparrow Flower. Also known as the Hundred-Flower Oil Vine or Sparrow Vine, its flowers have four petals, with the calyx resembling a sparrow’s head and two tiny black dots on either side like eyes. The central petal curves like a sparrow’s back, while a cluster of slender, slightly curved stamens inside represents its “innards.” From late February to early March, the mountains are covered with blooming Sparrow Flowers. Thick, round vines as sturdy as pythons and slender ones as flexible as sashes climb rocks, creep along the ground, wind up trees, and hang between trunks or weave through the forest canopy. Flower clusters, each with 20 to 30 blossoms, hang from the vines. From afar, they look like flocks of sparrows perched or playing in the dense woods — truly a scene where “one vine creates a view, a thousand vines celebrate spring, birds return to their nests, and ten thousand birds roost on branches.” The Sparrow Flower blooming period lasts over a month, with flowers in tender green and light yellow hues. Within two to three hours after picking, they turn brown, resembling wooden walkways. If the petals are damaged, red sap oozes out, as if the injured sparrow is bleeding — adding to the flower’s mystique.

Tianlu Lake Forest Park features well-preserved vegetation, deep valleys and gorges, cascading waterfalls and streams, dense forests, and orderly forest landscapes — a rarity even among major metropolitan areas across the country.