Expert: Tom Carter ~ Travel China Expert - 2/8/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hi, saw your great piece on the Jiuzhaigou National Park. Do you have a list of 3-4 National Parks that are "Must Sees" in China? I saw another piece saying Potatso National Park is China's first National Park. Is this true? Many many thanks for any help on these two questions. All best, Lex Gillespie

ANSWER: Alexis, I have been to northern Yunnan but not to Potatso National Park. The entire Yunnan-Tibetan Shangri-La region is an alpine wonderland of turquoise lakes, grasslands and snow-dusted mountains, so I am not surprised that they have opened an official park there. Nonetheless, I found very little information on that specific park and am curious about its claim as China's "first" national park.

I do highly suggest a visit to northern Yunnan, and while you are there be sure to also check out the 2-day trek above Tiger Leaping Gorge (one of the deepest canyons in the world), and Lugu Hu Lake (home to the Mosu ethnic minority clan).

National parks that I have personally been to that I think you might enjoy include the aforementioned Jiuzhaigou (famed for its teal pools and autumn woodland scene), Emei Shan Mountain also in Sichuan (watch out for the monkeys!), the stunning Huangshan Mountains in Anhui (bring a camera or sketch pad!), the dizzying Zhangjiajie in Hunan, and Mount Tai Shan in Shandong province for the first sunrise of the world (you'll have to camp over night).

For practicality, I am including a link to a list of all Chinese national parks on Wikipedia, so you can research them further. Have fun, and if you are (or still look like) a student remember to bring your school ID to get massive ticket discounts at the door.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:National_parks_of_China


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Tom, Many thanks for the wonderful answer and the tips. I wish I could pass as a student but am afraid too many grey hairs have filled in. Anyway, here is where I found out about the "first" national park in China. I too saw the wikipedia list and was confused about this whole question. It seems there have been many parks in China for about 20 years or so, yet the Nature Conservancy claims they helped form the first. Any ideas on this? Here is a link:

http://www.nature.org/wherewework/asiapacific/china/work/pudacuo.html

Many thanks again for your help!

Lex

Answer
I am by no means an expert in ecology, and perhaps you can also pose this question to experts in that specific field. But from what I infer, this Nature Conservancy project is attempting to redefine China's national park system by establishing a new park standard under the auspices of the The World Conservation Union (IUCN), thereby hoping to eventually relegate China's official national parks (ie Jiuzhaigou) to a secondary classification as the common "nature reserve."

Their claim that the "Conservancy introduced the national park system to China" is misleading at best in that they might have introduced the first IUCN-sanctioned national park in China though certainly not any of the P.R.C's official national parks (I wonder how the Communist politburo feels about the Nature Conservancy attempting to usurp their national landmarks?).

While the Nature Conservancy's environmentally-conscious park system may ultimately benefit China's dwindling biodiversity (which certainly could stand to use some additional protection and outsourced management), and this Pudacuo National Park might be a really swell place to visit for eco-friendly tourists, I highly doubt it can ever replace the culturally historic and simply breathtaking sites of Huangshan or Mount Tai.