Qinba Mountain Area Scenic Zone

　　  The Qinba Mountain Area Scenic Zone features numerous small basins and mountain valleys interconnected, among which the Hanzhong Basin, Xixiang Basin, Ankang Basin, Hanyin Basin, Shangdan Basin, and Luonan Basin are the most renowned. The Han Chuan Plain and the Yuehe Valley of the Ankang Basin enjoy unique advantages over northern Shaanxi and the Guanzhong region. The land here is fertile, the climate mild, rivers crisscross the landscape, and fields are neatly arranged, making it the main grain-producing area in southern Shaanxi. When spring arrives and flowers bloom, streams begin to swell, irrigation channels and ponds dot the landscape, while lush forests and bamboo groves surround farmhouses—peach blossoms and willows green, butterflies fluttering and swallows darting—offering a charm reminiscent of the water towns in southern China. The Qinba Mountain Area also serves as an important ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

　　  This area is extremely rich in natural resources such as water, heat, forests, grasslands, local specialties, and mineral deposits. In the southern Bashan foothills, mountains are continuous and undulating, with long-flowing rivers; in the northern Qinling range remnants, the mountains are gently sloped, valleys broad and slopes mild, with murmuring streams. Here, irrigation channels meander through terraced fields, making it not only a major grain-producing zone but also an area with great potential for diversified agriculture. According to expert surveys, this region is home to more than 3,000 species of seed plants and over 400 types of wild animals. Particularly noteworthy is that southern Shaanxi’s landscapes abound in dozens of local specialties such as silk, ramie, tea, raw lacquer, tung oil, and palm fiber, as well as precious medicinal herbs like eucommia bark, gastrodia elata, musk, and gallnut, which have enjoyed fame along the Yangtze River since the mid-Qing Dynasty and have been exported both domestically and internationally. The underground treasures of the Qinba Mountain Area are also abundant. In addition to minerals such as gold, silver, copper, iron, and sulfur, reserves of mercury, antimony, lead, zinc, and others rank among the highest in the country, making it an important region for non-ferrous and precious metal mineral resources in China. Furthermore, southern Shaanxi possesses substantial and well-distributed hydropower resources, providing highly favorable conditions for the development of industrial and agricultural production and indicating vast prospects for comprehensive resource development in the mountainous region. Thus, it is a largely undeveloped area with tremendous latent potential.