Menyuan Rapeseed Flower Sea 门源百里油菜花海

About Menyuan Rapeseed Flower Sea

The provincial portal's 2014 account of the site's awards places rapeseed cultivation in Menyuan in a long tradition, calls the county an ideal breeding base for northern China's small rapeseed and an important green agriculture demonstration base for the province, and describes the July flowering season as filling the whole belt between Qingshizui, Yulongtan, Lenglongling and Daban mountain, close to a hundred li of continuous flower. It reports that the Ministry of Agriculture named the site a 'China beautiful countryside' location, an honour it lists after a national AAAA-grade tourist scenic area designation and a 'China's most beautiful flower sea' title, and that the county was at that time accelerating construction of the flower sea as a national AAAA-grade scenic area and building touring routes and a service system.

The portal's 2015 item describes the site's commercial development at that date: a land-art design in the fields reading 'love you for ten thousand years', a private company from Xunhua Salar Autonomous County contracting to invest in the Guanhuatai viewing-terrace scenic area at the end of 2014, more than 26.9 million yuan spent by then on a gate, timber boardwalks, viewing platforms, a rest corridor, a cafe, a zip line and a European-style mini train, among other facilities, and a further 23.39 million yuan on 2 km of scenic drive with rapeseed-shaped lamps and bicycle and battery-car rental. The contractor is quoted describing the land art as a feature of the July flower sea and a wedding-photography romance brand built with studios and wedding companies. Both items are reports of their own year: the facilities, the investment figures and the contracting arrangement are 2015 statements, and neither page says who runs the site now.

What to look for

• The flower belt itself, which the county's account runs from Qingshizui in the west to Yulongtan in the east and from Lenglongling in the north to Daban mountain in the south
• The Guanhuatai viewing terrace (观花台), the site named in the 2015 report as the one the contractor invested in
• The timber boardwalks, viewing platforms and rest corridor the 2015 report lists among the facilities built at the viewing terrace
• The land-art design in the fields, reported in 2015 as reading 'love you for ten thousand years' (爱你一万年)

Location & getting there

Getting to Menyuan Rapeseed Flower Sea

Check the open visitor route and follow the site’s rules on distance, food and photography. Conservation areas may limit access beyond designated paths.

• Search for 门源百里油菜花海 with 海北藏族自治州 and 门源回族自治县.