The 5th Luofu Mountain Hiking Festival — 2018 BOLUO Rural Commercial Bank Cup — Was Successfully Held

     In November, much of China has entered deep autumn, with many northern cities already shedding their leaves or even seeing snowfall. Yet Luofu Mountain in Huizhou, Guangdong — located near the Tropic of Cancer — remains lush and vibrant, brimming with spring-like energy.

On November 25, Luofu Mountain in Huizhou, Guangdong — renowned as a natural oxygen bar — welcomed over 2,400 hiking enthusiasts as the 5th Luofu Mountain Hiking Festival 2018, under the “BOLUO Rural Commercial Bank Cup,” officially commenced.

This event is a cross-sector extravaganza spanning sports, fitness, and entertainment, and is also a widely participatory hiking and fitness activity for all.

According to reports, the 5th Luofu Mountain Hiking Festival 2018, under the BOLUO Rural Commercial Bank Cup, was organized by Guangdong Luofu Mountain Tourism Development Co., Ltd., hosted by Beijing Shizhi Shanshui Culture Communication Co., Ltd., and sponsored by BOLUO Rural Commercial Bank. The Luofu Mountain Hiking Festival has been held for five consecutive years, attracting numerous outdoor enthusiasts from the Pearl River Delta region each time.

The starting point of the 5th Luofu Mountain Hiking Festival 2018, under the BOLUO Rural Commercial Bank Cup, was set at the new Luofu Mountain Visitor Service Center. The route passed through scenic spots such as Fairyland on Earth, Plum Mountain Dreams, White Lotus Lake, the Dongjiang Column Memorial Hall, Chongxu Ancient Temple, Cave Heaven Medicine Market, and Lion Peak. The total race distance was 7.4 kilometers. The event was divided into a Family Group and a Fitness Group. The Family Group awarded the top three places, while the Fitness Group awarded the top six male and female participants. There were also awards for Best Effort, Best Organization, and Best Style. In the end, Zheng Minchun from Dongguan, Guangdong, won first place in the Men’s Fitness Group with a time of 43 minutes and 15 seconds, while Fan Fengjuan from Shenzhen claimed first place in the Women’s Fitness Group with a time of 45 minutes and 17 seconds.

     In recent years, the Luofu Mountain Scenic Area has leveraged the advantages of “tourism + sports,” offering a rich variety of activities and content. It has actively developed experiential outdoor sports tourism events such as hiking, slacklining, and cycling, aiming to integrate the healthy concepts of public fitness and national sports into the tourism and leisure industry. This allows visitors to enjoy the unique appeal of sports tourism. These sports tourism products have not only brought increasing popularity and brand attention to Luofu Mountain but have also added new momentum to the development of high-quality tourism in Luofu and injected fresh vitality into the growth of all-for-one tourism.

The successful hosting of this event received strong support from various brands, including Baishui Mountain Mineral Water, Hakka Po Tofu Pudding, Pocari Sweat, Ge Xiantang Ginger Tea, Luofu Mountain National Medicine, Hepintang, Luofu No.1 Mineral Water, KAILAS, and Montane Multi-functional Photography & Hiking Poles.

According to Wang Jiabin, Vice President of event operator Shizhi Sports, Luofu Mountain Scenic Area is a national AAAAA-level tourist attraction, covering an area of 260 square kilometers. It features 432 peaks of varying sizes, 980 famous waterfalls and springs, 18 cave wonders, and 72 secluded rocky caves. The mountain boasts majestic and magnificent landscapes with enchanting natural scenery. Known as the “Number One Mountain of Lingnan,” Luofu Mountain has been regarded as an immortal mountain since the Qin and Han dynasties. Historian Sima Qian compared Luofu Mountain to the “Yue Yue” (Guangdong’s Mount Tai), making it one of China’s Top Ten Famous Mountains. It is also a renowned Taoist mountain in China, referred to in Taoism as the Seventh Grotto-Heaven and the Thirty-Fourth Blessed Land. Along with Xiqiao Mountain in Nanhai County, it is known as the “Two Qiaos of Southern Guangdong,” hence it is also called “Dongqiao Mountain” (East Qiao Mountain). It is recognized as a “National Key Scenic Spot” and a summer resort in China, celebrated as the “Number One Mountain of Lingnan.” The Northern Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo once wrote the famous lines, “Under Luofu Mountain, spring reigns all year round; loquats and bayberries ripen in succession. Eating three hundred lychees a day, I’d gladly remain a man of Lingnan forever,” which helped make Luofu Mountain world-famous.