Danjiang Grand View Garden 丹江大观苑

About Danjiang Grand View Garden

Danjiang Grand View Garden (丹江大观苑) is a 12 km² tourist area on the Danjiangkou Reservoir (丹江口水库) in Xichuan County (淅川县), Nanyang (南阳), Henan. It lies in Madeng Town (马蹬镇), a township in the southeast of the county on the reservoir's north shore.

The park takes in a row of small islands that reach out into the reservoir. The main four line up from Lovers' Island (情人岛) in the west through the Turtle (龟岛) and Deer (鹿岛) islands to Crane Island (鹤岛) in the east; Lovers' Island runs farthest into the water and, with Turtle Island, encloses a natural half-ring harbour. The reservoir covers more than 800 km² and is the main water source for the middle route of the South-North Water Transfer Project (南水北调). The Fusen Group (福森集团) developed the park around five themes: medicine, water, the Chu state, Buddhism and trade.

Two parts of the park recall what the reservoir drowned. Under the water lies the site of Danyang (丹阳), the earliest Chu capital; setting out from there, the Chu campaigned southward and brought more than fifty small states under their rule. The park's plans include a Chufeng Tower (楚风楼) and a Danyang Tower (丹阳楼) to present that history. Xiangyan Temple (香严寺), by the reservoir's west shore, once had an upper and a lower temple; the lower one went under the water, and the park rebuilt it to its original appearance, with an art gallery and a large Guanyin statue.

The hills around the reservoir are an outlying part of the Funiu Mountains (伏牛山) and rich in medicinal plants. On them the park has opened a medicinal-herb plantation of nearly 10,000 mu (roughly 660 hectares), where a Medicine King Hall (药王殿) and a statue of Li Shizhen (李时珍) were planned. Along the water there are a cable bridge, a shoreline walkway, an artificial waterfall and a fishing garden, with pleasure boats on the water and Danjiang fish banquets (丹江鱼宴) on the table.

What to look for

• Lovers' Island (情人岛), the island reaching farthest into the reservoir
• The natural half-ring harbour enclosed by Lovers' Island and Turtle Island (龟岛)
• The reconstructed lower temple of Xiangyan Temple (香严寺), with its art gallery
• The Guanyin statue called Zhongyuan Shengshi Guanyin (中原盛世观音), listed by Chinese Wikipedia as the second largest in Asia
• The medicinal-herb plantation of nearly 10,000 mu on the hills above the reservoir
• The cable bridge across the water and the shoreline walkway

Location & getting there

Getting to Danjiang Grand View Garden

• Search for 丹江大观苑 with 南阳市 and 淅川县.