Thousand-Year Ginkgo Valley 千年银杏谷

About Thousand-Year Ginkgo Valley

Both the Suizhou municipal government and the Hubei provincial culture and tourism department name Luoyang Town in Zengdu District when they describe the valley. The municipal tourism profile counts more than 5.1 million planted ginkgo across the valley, of which more than 17,000 are over a century old and 308 are over a thousand years old; a 2025 account carried by the provincial department gives 5.2 million trees at Luoyang Town with the same counts of old and ancient specimens, and calls the stand one of the densest, largest and best-preserved communities of ancient ginkgo in the world. Local tradition links both the trees and the town's name to people who moved south from the old capital of Luoyang after the upheaval of 311 and named their new home for the city they had left. The scenic area first opened to visitors in 2007.

The groves sit in half-hill, half-mountain country threaded with lakes, watercourses and farmhouses. Well-preserved old buildings stand in the thickest part of the stand, among them the Zhou clan ancestral hall and the Hu clan ancestral hall, whose exteriors are of typical Hubei vernacular form, and at Hujiahe a small stream runs among the old trees. Three medium-to-large reservoirs, Taoyuanhe, Zhengjiahe and Qingshuihe, hold more than 200 million cubic metres of water between them, and the Taoyuanhe reservoir alone spreads a lake surface of about ten square kilometres. The hills around the valley keep eleven ruined hill-fort sites and more than twenty kilometres of broken walling, most of it left by peasant risings at the end of the Western Han and the end of the Yuan; in the year 22 the Pinglin force built stone-walled strongpoints on Qinglinzhai, Gujiling and other heights below.

What to look for

• The 308 ginkgo more than a thousand years old scattered through the groves at Luoyang Town.
• Individually named ancient trees such as the Five Elders and the Supreme Ginkgo at the Zhou clan ancestral hall and the Ginkgo King at Hujiahe.
• The Zhou and Hu clan ancestral halls, well-preserved old buildings of typical Hubei vernacular form in the densest part of the grove.
• Taoyuanhe reservoir, whose lake surface covers about ten square kilometres.
• The ruined hill-forts and stretches of broken walling in the surrounding hills, most of them left by risings at the end of the Western Han and the end of the Yuan.

Location & getting there

Getting to Thousand-Year Ginkgo Valley

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

• Search for 千年银杏谷 with 随州市 and 随县.