Dangtu, Anhui: ecological 'scar' turns into theme park

As soon as you enter the Daqingshan Wildlife World, the landmark building in the park, the 15-meter-high Li Bai statue, which holds a wineglass and looks up at the moon, comes into view.

Daqingshan Wildlife World is located in the Daqingshan Scenic Area in Taibai Town, Dangtu County, where the famous poet Li Bai died. The glass trestle, airship, and water slides under the statue of Li Bai perfectly combine with the park's natural landscapes.

Daqingshan Wildlife World

The park opened to the public on January 1, 2020. So far, more than 900,000 tourists have visited the park. It is unimaginable that this unique park was a sand and gravel open-pit two years before it opened and was known as the "ecological scar" in the local area.

"The party committee and government of the county attached great importance to the ecological restoration of the mining pit. In 2017, the mine was closed. We attracted Fujian businessmen to invest in the construction of wildlife park and outdoor amusement projects and used social capital to restore the abandoned mine and develop the cultural tourism industry." Wu Chao, deputy chief of Dangtu County, said in an interview recently.

The total investment of Daqingshan Wildlife World is 730 million yuan, of which 180 million yuan is invested in the environmental remediation of the mine. It was completed in April 2020, with a restoration area of 120 mu (about 8 hectares) and a greening rate of 76%. In addition, a number of large-scale outdoor recreational projects have been built by taking advantage of the original topography of the mine, and it has provided more than 300 jobs for the surrounding people.

Daqingshan Wildlife World is currently the only large-scale comprehensive tourist scenic spot in Anhui with the theme of wildlife viewing, popular science education, research tourism, and outdoor expansion that is transformed from an abandoned mine. There are more than 200 kinds of wild animals in the park, with a number of more than 3,000.

Up to now, the comprehensive tourism income of the park has reached 135 million yuan, and the ecological, economic and social benefits have been achieved well.

The mining pit before the ecological restoration

The mining pit after the ecological restoration

The mining pit after the ecological restoration

The main entrance of the park