THE SIGN HUNTERS

CHINA: A metasequoia forest by the Siminghu reservoir

Written by Laszlo, 30 December 2019

Katie and I joined Etravel Club on the 9th December for a day out. It was only a day trip with a few sites to see, but the main thing was to visit a unique and beautiful metasequoia (or dawn redwood) forest that is situated only a few hours away from Hangzhou (杭州市), spreads across a tiny area by Henglu village (橫路村) next to the Siminghu Reservoir (西明湖) near Yuyao (余姚市), the City of Ningbo (宁波市). But before I carry on with showing you lots of photos, I have to tell you a tiny bit more about metasequoia trees.

Although it was commonly known from fossil records from across the northern hemisphere, the Metasequoia glyptostroboides was, until the mid-20th century, considered extinct until a small patch was discovered in central China around the early 1940s. Since the tree's rediscovery, the dawn redwood has become a popular ornamental tree in parks and gardens worldwide. It is fast-growing and much smaller tree than some other species within the Sequoioideae subfamily (such as the giant sequoias in California - Sequoiadendron giganteum), which helped making their spread, mostly in the USA and in the UK, faster. It is, however, still an endangered species and these beautiful living creatures should be looked after in a protective environment. The metasequia forest that we visited here in China is a popular destination, and during the early December time (the time considered the best to visit) it attracts a large number of visitors, who are let freely into forest to roam all across the forest as they wish. Maybe this should be regulated a bit more...

Besides visiting the metasequoias, we also had extra time to go to a strawberry farm and taste some very fresh fruits, and the group also went to Hemudu (河姆渡) where there is a large open-air museum and was a site to a Neolithic culture that flourished just south of the Hangzhou Bay (杭州湾) around 5500 BC to 3300 BC. So, a long time ago. The site was discovered in 1973. Our group got there late, so we could not see the excavation sites, but we explored the surroundings and tried a short boat trip too. Luckily, we found the Hemudu sign, which was a great conclusion of the trip.