Langshan Mountain-World Natural Heritage

On November 27th, the ancient ginkgo tree clusters in Yangqiao Village, Huilongsi Town, Xinning county welcomed many tourists to enjoy its beautiful scenery.

It is reported that the largest tree in the ancient ginkgo tree clusters in Yangqiao Village has been over 1000 years old, with a height of 28 meters, a circumference of 9.42 meters, and a diameter of 3 meters. It is known as the “King of Ginkgo”. The branches of the ginkgo tree spread out like a big umbrella, and the leaves look like little fans, which is really fantastic.

Tourist Lan Xiaoyan: I saw a friend posting the ancient ginkgo tree here on my moments. It is said that it has a history of thousands of years, so we drive here and have a look together today. It’s really stunning and beautiful!

Wu Xianyong(Secretary of Yang Qiao Village): The ancient tree themed park built here by the Hunan Provincial Forestry Department is about to be completed by the end of the year. Our village will take this opportunity to protect the ancient and famous trees, promote rural tourism and economic development in our village.

Recently, the Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism released the list of five-star and four-star tourism homestays  in Hunan Province for year 2023. The Xinning county’s Langshan Expert Building Homestay and Xinglin Courtyard Homestay were respectively included in the five-star tourism homestay list and the four-star tourism homestay list in Hunan Province.

Langshan Expert Building Homestay is about 3 kilometers away from the Bajiao Stronghold scenic area. It is a featured boutique homestay that integrates accommodation, dining, and leisure experience.

The Xinglin Courtyard Homestay is located within the Langshan scenic area. The homestay is 12 kilometers away from Xinning county, 4 kilometers away from Chili Peak scenic spot, 3 kilometers away from Tianyi Lane & Zixia Cave scenic area, and 15 kilometers away from Baijiao Stronghold scenic spot, with very convenient transportation.

On December 2nd, the first export ceremony of Langshan navel oranges to Singapore was held at Langshan Fruit Industry Co., Ltd. in Xinning county, marking the first time that Langshan navel oranges enters the international market. Liu Xiaoming, the director of Shaoyang Customs, Peng Hongbing, deputy secretary of the Xinning county party committee of CPC and the head of county, and Wen Guohua, deputy director of the Animal and Plant Inspection and Quarantine Department of Changsha Customs, attended the ceremony. Deng Kaili, the deputy head of county, presided over the event.

The 50 tons of Langshan navel oranges exported this time will be transported across the ocean to Singapore, and it is expected to export over 3000 tons to Singapore this year. Next, Xinning county will gradually contact more fruit distributors from southeast Asian countries to export Langshan navel oranges to more countries.

The first export of Langshan navel oranges marks the official journey of Langshan navel oranges to the international market. The Langshan navel orange, nurtured by the high-quality soil and good ecological environment of Langshan, is loved by domestic and foreign consumers for its unique flavor and quality. Xinning county has laid a solid foundation for the export of Langshan navel oranges by actively adjusting the agricultural industry structure and promoting the construction of agricultural product brands.

On November 18th, the first China (Hunan Xinning) Navel Orange Industry Development Forum and the Blue Paper Press Conference of the “Langshan Navel Orange Quality Report” was held in  Xinning county, Huanan province. Dozens of industry leaders and renowned experts and scholars gathered in Xinning county to taste Langshan Navel Orange, discuss the future of the navel orange industry, and exchange academic  achievements.

Chen Guoqing, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Citrus Society, attended forum and announced the release of the blue paper on “Langshan Navel Orange Quality Report”.

Chen Guoqing pointed out that the blue book “Langshan Navel Orange Quality Report” analyzes and summarizes the five major qualities of Langshan Navel Orange, including “appearance, texture, flavor, nutrition, and health”, as well as 94 quality indicators. The blue paper enriches and expands the quality connotation of Langshan Navel Orange, providing scientific basis and data support for the development of the Langshan Navel Orange industry to achieve standardized production and brand marketing.

On November 18th, the opening ceremony of the 9th China Langshan Navel Orange Cultural Tourism Festival was held at the Performance Center of Shunhuangli Cultural Industry Park in Xinning county, Hunan province.

At the opening ceremony, rich and colorful performances such as the national intangible cultural heritage “Rock Eagle Fist” and “Hundred Miles of Navel Orange Connecting Langshan Mountain” were held. With distinct characteristics of the times and full of regional characteristics of Langshan, these performances brought everyone to the beautiful picture of Langshan Mountain, winning applause from the audience present. 

Interactive interviews were also conducted with representatives of the navel orange industry from Taohua Village, Longfeng Fruit Industry and Shanzhiliang Technology Co., Ltd.

Before the opening ceremony, attending leaders and tourists visited the “Navel Orange Museum ” and “Langshan Museum”, and toured the “Orange” Carnival Night held in Shunhuangli Cultural Industry Park.

Recently, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People’s Republic of China announced the results of the seventh national evaluation and grading of public libraries at or above the county level. The list of first, second, and third class libraries has been determined and made public. The Xinning County Library is honored as the “National First Class Library”, which lays a solid foundation for the rapid development of Xinning county’s library industry, the establishment of a civilized city, and the implementation of the cultural revitalization strategy.

Covering an area of 7268 square meters (including its branch area), the Xinning County Library  has 410000 books（among which, 276800 are paper books, 138000 are electronic books, 2600 are ancient books, 16500 are journals），one newspaper & journal reader, two Goethe readers, 36 computers , and two digital cultural engineering readers. It also has comprehensive reading rooms, children’s reading rooms, lending rooms, self-study rooms, electronic reading rooms, ancient books and local literature rooms, multimedia rooms, celebrity halls, calligraphy and painting halls, traditional Chinese culture halls, reading activity centers, 24-hour self-service libraries and city book houses.

In recent years, Xinning County Library has steadily promoted the cultural resource sharing project of digital library and the construction of reading promotion brand, established 45 branch libraries, and opened the library’s WeChat official account and website which has been integrated into the public cultural tourism cloud of Hunan Province. Its activity has ranked first or before fifth among all provincial labraries’ websites. 

As a reading promotion brand, the “Jincheng Classroom” initiated by the Jincheng Academy branch library has gained popularity among the readers. The cultural publication “Langshan Discoveries” (Xinning Discoveries) with the title inscribed by by Comrade Wen Xuande, former Deputy Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, has been published for 150 issues, which is the first brand in the library industry in Hunan province and expands reading services.

On November 2, 2023, the Shaoyang Public Resource Trading Center released the “Bidding Announcement for the Rebuilding of Langshan Bajiao Stronghold’s Cableway and Its Supporting Facilities”. 

According to the bidding, the construction includes the main project of the cableway, the upper and lower stations of the cableway, as well as other supporting utilities ranging from the general layout engineering, power supply and distribution to water supply and drainage. The total investment of the project is 21.496867 million yuan. 

On November 3rd, the press conference of the 2023 China Langshan 9th Navel Orange Cultural Tourism Festival was held at the Yuehan Village Observatory in Jinshi Town, Xinning County. Deng Tao, the Xinning County Party Secretary,  presided over the press release to introduce the relevant information of this navel orange cultural tourism festival to the attending medias.

It is reported that this navel orange cultural tourism festival will kick off on November 18th in Xinning. Deng Tao said that the Langshan Navel Orange Cultural Tourism Festival, as a brand event in Xinning, has been successfully held for 8 consecutive years. It witnessed the integration and development of Xinning’s culture and tourism, and it has increasingly rich connotations and far-reaching impacts now.

This year’s Langshan Navel Orange Cultural Tourism Festival will have four events: on-site inspection of high-quality agricultural, cultural, biological, and tourism integration routes, navel orange orchard opening ceremony, opening ceremony of the Langshan Navel Orange Cultural Tourism Festival, and the first China (Xining) Navel Orange Industry Development Summit Forum and the Blue Book Press Conference of the “Langshan Navel Orange Quality Report”.