沧桑神农架

Vicissitude of Shennongjia

神农架,撩起你的面纱 神农架自古以来,一直以神山圣水、奇花异草、珍禽异兽而享誉中外。直到近年仍有“九头鸟”、“蛤蟆龙”、“驴头狼”、“棺材兽”、“鸡冠龙”、“野人”的传说,可谓世界上稀奇古怪的东西全部在神农架“大会师”。多年的传说促使人们把暂时得不到科学解释的自然现象、罕见动物全部归结在一个“神”字上,因而引来大批访幽猎奇者,使神农架越传越神,越写越奇。 然而科学是以客观事实为依据的。

Shennongjia has long been famous throughout the world for its mountains, rivers, precious plants, flowers, animals and birds. These assets are closely related to Shennongjia's unique geological location and environment. In the area of about 2,000 km around Shennong Peak, there are many completely different ecological environments, including plateaus, hills, plains, deserts, wetlands, rivers, and lakes. Looking from the perspective of wild animals' migrant changes, Shennongjia is just a 'transportation hub.'The name Shennongjia comes from one of China's ancestors, Shennong, who headed a tribe here and created one of the earliest cultures and civilizations in China.The ecological system and animal and plant colonies have maintained a relatively complete continuity since antiquity, from the Middle Ages to the present. With less influence from the fourth period of the Ice Age, a number of ancient species, including Dove Tree, Manyseeded Euptelea, Henry Emmenopterys, Ginkgo and Chinese Tuliptree, still grow here. Fossils of rhinoceros and gibbons have been unearthed. Human bodies were found buried together with giant apes in a cave, indicating that ancient people once lived with giant apes.There are many kinds of animals in Shennongjia, including South China tigers, leopards, bears, golden monkeys and Mainland serow. There are also many different birds. Most of them are key state protected creatures.The Three Gorges Dam project, a dozen kilometre to the south of Shennongjia, is well into construction. When the reservoir begins to conserve water, great changes will take place in the ecological environment of the area. People hope that Shennongjia will have become a special ecological zone by that time.