Birds' Paradise
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Native name: 小鳥天堂 | |
|---|---|
  Birds' Paradise Location in Guangdong Province | |
| Geography | |
| Coordinates | 22°46′N 113°05′E / 22.767°N 113.083°E |
| Administration | |
| Province | Guangdong |
| City | Jiangmen |
| Additional information | |
| Time zone | |
| Official website | 小鳥天堂官網 |
Birds' Paradise is located in Tianma Village, Xinhui District, Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, China.[1] It is a unique tourist attraction which is known for its beautiful natural environment and rich bird life. The main body of Birds' Paradise is a small island with a thick banyan tree forest on it. In 1933, Ba Jin (巴金) happened to take a trip here, and was deeply impressed by its wonderful views, so he wrote a famous article, Birds' Heaven to in memory of this special experience. In 1984, Ba Jin (巴金) inscribed the words 小鳥天堂, and since then, this place was named after Birds' Paradise (小鳥天堂). In 2016, the local government decided to make Birds' Paradise a national wetland park.[2]
Its history can date back to the late Ming dynasty and the early Qing dynasty. It is said that a serious drought attacked the village around that time, so the villagers tried their best to dredge a river to water the farmland. However, the rich man in the village and the officers strongly disagreed with this, and they forced the villagers to block the channel, because they thought the river would destroy the geomancy (风水), which might become a threat to them later.[clarification needed] Therefore, the villagers had no choice but to fill the river with soil, and thus a small island was formed. Someone inserted a branch into the small island, and the branch sprouted and grew into a banyan tree in the next year. Many years later that banyan tree had spread and developed into a forest, which gradually covered the island.[citation needed]
Biology and ecology
Animals
There are almost 40 species of birds inhabiting the forest in Birds' Paradise. The black-crowned night heron, Chinese pond heron and the western cattle egret are the most common birds found on the island. In addition, there are also other species of birds like the great egret, white wagtail, oriental magpie-robin, Eurasian blackbird, great tit, light-vented bulbul and the red-whiskered bulbul.[citation needed]
Flora
The thick forest on the island consists of many banyan trees. Among the forest, there is one especially large and ancient banyan tree, and it is so large that even ten people can not hold the tree.[citation needed] Besides, in order to make the environment more suitable for the birds to live, the staffs plant some other plants like Anubias, Salix babylonica, Hedychium coronarium, Nelumbo, Nelumbo nucifera and Argyranthemum frutescens, so that the ecosystem there can be more intact.