On the 17th, a hiking competition was held in the Gangxi Spruce Forest (also known as Gang Spruce Forest) of Bomi County, Nyingchi Prefecture, Tibet. Over 70 participants trekked through the primitive forest and crossed pristine oases, promoting low-carbon environmentalism.
The Gang Spruce Forest gets its name from its location near Gang in Bomi County. When reporters arrived at Guxiang Bakha Village, one of the starting points for the hike, early in the morning, the rain and dew that had fallen overnight still clung to the colorful flowers, grass, and leaves. Standing at the entrance of the village, one instantly felt as if they had entered a highland “natural oxygen bar.”
The Gang Spruce Forest hiking competition is one of the main events at the Bomi sub-venue of this year’s Nyingchi Prefecture Grand Canyon Cultural Tourism Festival. Participants included local government officials and employees, stationed military and police personnel, as well as representatives of farmers and herders. They were divided into four groups, with two groups each starting from Gang Village and Bakha Village and hiking toward each other along a 13-kilometer route.
Li Yu, head of the event and from the Bomi County Sports Bureau, told China News Service that in 2005, the Gangxi Spruce Forest was named one of the top ten “Most Beautiful Forests in China.” Holding a hiking event here not only enriches the cultural lives of the public but also promotes low-carbon travel and raises environmental awareness.
“That’s our home,” said Tibetan girl Gongji, pointing to a small Tibetan-style “villa” in the forest. She has lived in such a primitive forest since childhood but never thought about how special her hometown was until she attended university in the city and realized she had been “living in blessing without knowing it.”
Gongji’s home is located within the Gang Spruce Forest, which nurtures the magical Gang Spruce Forest. The trees here are tall and straight, dense and thick, with the highest timber volume per hectare in the world. At the head of Bakha Village, one of the hiking starting points, stands a poplar tree. According to local villager Renqing, this tree is over 600 years old, and countless similar towering trees are preserved in this primeval forest.
The Fifth Central Tibet Work Forum clearly stated that to promote leapfrog development in Tibet, greater emphasis must be placed on protecting the plateau’s ecological environment, making Tibet an important national ecological security barrier. The southeastern part of Tibet, where Nyingchi Prefecture is located, has a forest coverage rate of 46.1%, making it China’s third-largest forested area.
At the sound of the starting gun, the hiking participants instantly “disappeared” into the dense primeval forest. After more than an hour of trekking, Tsering Dorje, Nyima Dorje, and Sengdrak Tsering successively reached the finish line. Tsering Dorje, a farmer and herder representative and winner from Gang Village, said it was his first time crossing the primitive forest near his home in the form of a hiking competition. He said he would better advocate for and protect the oasis that nurtures him.