There is a new plan to develop the southern part of Anhui province that a provincial economic research institute came up with, in answer to a State Council call for an international culture and tourism site in the region for demonstration purposes.

The plans suggest that Anhui apply for a Huizhou eco-cultural national park, so, the cities of Huangshan, Xuancheng and Chizhou got their heads together and decided to apply for a permit to build the national park there. They say it could cover Huangshan's Tunxi, Huizhou, and Huangshan districts and its Shexian, Xiuning, Qimen and Yixian counties; Xuancheng's Jixi and Jingde counties; and Chizhou's Shitai county. This would give it a more than 70 percent forest coverage rate and some of China's best air quality, in an outstanding environment. The area is also rich in tourism resources, with Huangshan Mountain, a world cultural and natural heritage site, and Xidi and Hongcun as world cultural heritage sites.

The Huizhou area is known for its culture and impressive landscape and, if successful in applying for the national park, it could resuscitate the idea of old Huizhou and introduce it to the world in a newer, more popular form and promote environmental conservation.

Some people say the key to a successful application is developing a national park mindset and Huizhou has some advantages in its integration of culture and ecology. But it requires some very good design work and explicit ideas about what to preserve and what to display, careful conservation of the landscape and culture, better infrastructure, and, of course, Innovative thinking, which is indispensable.

With Huangshan Mountain however, some say that a Huizhou eco-cultural national park could be comparable to the United States' Yellowstone National Park, the earliest and best-known national park in the world.

The term national park refers to a natural area set aside by a government with the aim of preserving the integrity of one or more typical ecologic systems and to provide a place for eco-tourism, scientific research, and environmental education for future generations. But, compared to Yellowstone and the earlier Yangtze Gorges parks, it could prove difficult for the three Anhui cities to get together and integrate their ecology, environments, and culture. And, the application requires an inter-region effort, which means a joint, highly thought-out effort by the three.

By Guo Chang

Edited by Roger Bradshaw