National Parks of ChinaOverview
| Designation | National Park of China (fifth batch) |
| Province | Hunan |
| Location | Yongshun County, north-west Hunan |
| Latitude, longitude | 28.9, 109.9 Google Maps |
| Highlights | Rafting, wildlife, Tujia culture |
| Wildlife | Golden snub-nosed monkey, forest musk deer, barn owl, dawn redwood, dove tree |
| Nearby cities | Hunan, Wuhan, Chongqing, Chengdu |
| Nearby sites | Wulingyuan (Zhangjiajie), Fenghuang, Furong River, Wulong, The Three Gorges of the Yangtze, Liye and Wulong Mountain, Dehang |
| Themes | Rivers, Animals, Plants, Culture & history |
About
The Mengdong River scenic area in Yongshun County, north-west Hunan, about 80 km from Zhangjiajie, has five parts: Wangcun, the Mengdong River, the old chieftain’s city of Laosicheng, Bu’ermen and the Xiaoxi primeval secondary forest.
It has more than 190 wild animal species, among them the golden snub-nosed monkey, forest musk deer and barn owl, and rare plants such as the dawn redwood, gingko and dove tree.
The Mengdong region has long been the political, economic and cultural centre of the Tujia people, whose festivals include the Sheba, Tiaonian and Sixth of the Sixth Month festivals. The climate is humid subtropical monsoon, averaging about 16 °C.
The thousand-year old town of Wangcun keeps the Xizhou bronze pillar, a national protected relic, a five-li flagstone street and stilt houses of the Tujia; it became famous as the location of Xie Jin’s film Hibiscus Town.
Rafting on the Mengdong is billed as “the first rafting under heaven”.