Liupanshan
National Forest Park And National Nature Reserve In Southern Ningxia; A Major Long March Red Tourism Site And The Range Mao Zedong Crossed In October 1935 · Guyuan, Ningxia
A green forested range running north to south through southern Ningxia, which is startling in a province that is mostly loess and desert, and the last mountain the Long March had to cross. In October 1935 Mao Zedong came over this ridge with what was left of the First Front Army, knowing that Shaanxi and the end of the march were on the other side, and wrote a short poem about it - Not reaching the Great Wall we are not true men - that every Chinese schoolchild learns. There is a large memorial on the ridge, a museum, and a stretch of reconstructed trail, and the site is one of the most visited red-tourism destinations in the north-west. What gets less attention is that Liupanshan is also a serious nature reserve: the range catches enough moisture to hold real forest, with leopard and a long list of birds, and the gorges on the eastern flank have water and colour that nothing else in Ningxia can offer. Roads over the ridge close in snow, which here can mean most of the winter.
Liupanshan National Forest Park, Jingyuan County, Guyuan, Guyuan, Ningxia, China
Forest park and memorial generally open daily, roughly 8:00-17:30 in season with shorter hours in winter. MOUNTAIN ROADS CLOSE IN SNOW, which in Ningxia can mean much of November to March - check before any winter trip. The Long March memorial and museum are often free or nominally priced; the forest park and gorge zones are ticketed, commonly as a combination. An internal shuttle runs to the ridge and is worth taking.