Discover Jiangsu

Known as shui xiang, or “the land of water”, China’s coastal province of Jiangsu has all the geographical advantages to give it a starring role in the epic tale of China’s ancient Maritime (海上的) Silk Road. With busy port cities, historic sites and breathtaking natural beauty, Jiangsu is the perfect place to trace the story of this remarkable trade route.

At the dawn of the Ming dynasty the city of Nanjing in Jiangsu was declared capital of China. As well as building one of the longest city walls in history, the emperor ordered the construction of vast “treasure ships” in 1403. Under the command of legendary seafarer Zheng He, the fleet embarked on seven epic ocean voyages, reaching as far as the east coast of Africa.

In Jiangsu’s port city of Nantong, goods have flowed in and out of the province by water for centuries. Today, fleets of hardy fishing boats catch yellow croaker, seabream, sea crabs and more. Beyond Lusi Port Town, a busy seascape of boats travel on the waters of Jiangsu’s coast. It’s a scene that shows how China’s historic Maritime Silk Road continues to thrive and grow to this day.

Salt was one of the commodities that played a key role in the history of trade in Jiangsu, contributing to the wealth and prosperity of the province. A major source was the tidal salt flats of Yancheng, which literally means “salt city”. This remarkable landscape also plays host to the epic migrations of rare bird species like cranes, egrets, and spoonbill sandpipers.

In the Jiangsu city of Yangzhou, a Tang-dynasty monk by the name of Jianzhen set sail to Japan to spread the teachings of Buddhism. Daming Temple, where Jianzhen lived, can still be visited today.

Centuries earlier, Buddhism first settled on Jiangsu’s shores. Kongwang Mountain in Lianyungang has some of China’s earliest examples of Buddhist art. These carvings show how the Maritime Silk Road helped spread religion across China.

Caves (洞穴) have a primary appeal — they hold the secrets to our past and are mysterious in and of themselves.

Kentucky, USA

The longest cave system in the world lies beneath the Green River Valley in Kentucky and while over 400 miles of passageways have been mapped, it has yet to be fully discovered. The complex limestone labyrinth (石灰岩迷宫) was discovered by humans 4,000 years ago.

Capri, Italy

Once used as the personal swimming hole for the Roman Emperor Tiberius, this extremely bright sea cave is almost 200 feet long and 82 feet wide. Its unique glow comes from the light entering the small opening to the outside.

Beit Shemesh, Israel

Also known as the Soreq Cave Nature Reserve, Avshalom is considered to be the Rosetta Stone of climate history in the Eastern Mediterranean through the packed stalactites (钟乳石) found in the cave, some of which are over 13 feet long, and are as old as 300,000 years.

Naica, Mexico

This unique cave system in Mexico contains some of the largest natural crystals (水晶) ever found—the longest of which is 39 feet long and 13 feet thick. However, it is rarely explored due to logistical difficulties: it is extremely hot due to its location above a volcanic vent, and the huge crystals block also block the passage.

Today，there are thousands of national parks all over the world.【小题1】 In that year，the United States government gave a large piece of land to the state of California.They ask the state to create a special park to protect the mountains and forest in the area.The trees in this area are called sequoias.【小题2】 They are the tallest living things in the world and are not found anywhere else on Earth.

Conservationists in other countries saw what happened in California and soon began to do the same.Today Europe has over 350 national parks.The first one in France，Vanoise National Park，was created in 1963 because the government wanted to stop a plan to build a large tourist project there.The idea of creating a national park was first discussed in the 1940s，but people couldn’t agree on what size to make the park.【小题3】 Ecologists worked with the government to finally agree on a plan that protected the animals，while still allowing some tourism.

【小题4】Like the first California park，the Bavarian Forest National Park was created to protect mountains and trees.It is the largest area of protected forest in Europe.The park has shelters where visitors can spend a night close to nature.In some places high up in the mountains，there are steps cut into the rock.【小题5】 Thousands of tourists go to the park each year.They walk through the attractive woods and enjoy the wonderful mountain views.