A Tourist Train to China's Valley of Dreams: Ganquan Grand Canyon, the World's 'Living Danxia' Awaits You
The sunlit hills are beautiful, the spring breeze carries the scent of flowers and grass. In this vibrant and lively season, we welcome with excitement and joy the first special tourist train to the Ganquan Grand Canyon.
With the rhythmic beat of drums and red silk dancing in the air, on the morning of March 12th, when the "Xi'an—Ganquan Grand Canyon" tourist train carrying over 400 passengers arrived at Ganquan North Railway Station, a lively and spectacular waist drum performance greeted the visitors. As the cultural and tourism market gradually recovers, in order to actively promote the development of Ganquan's cultural tourism economy, the customized "Xi'an—Ganquan Grand Canyon" tourist train, jointly organized by China Railway Xi'an Bureau, Shaanxi Travel Agency Association, and the Ganquan County Party Committee and County Government, arrived in Ganquan that day.
Gong Jianmin, Secretary-General of the Shaanxi Travel Agency Association; Vice President Xi Yunliang; Yu Shangrong, Party Branch Secretary and Executive Director of Xi'an Railway International Travel Service Co., Ltd.; Wang Fabo, Party Leadership Group Member and Deputy Director of the Yan'an Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism; Gao Rui, Deputy County Mayor of Ganquan County; the head of the county's Bureau of Culture and Tourism; and over 400 tourists attended the welcome event.
The Ganquan Grand Canyon, commonly known as a mountain rock canyon, features red sandstone geology and belongs to the gully-type Danxia landform. It was formed over tens of thousands of years by wind erosion, water dissolution, and scouring. It is renowned as the "World's Living Danxia, Valley of Chinese Dream." Since its opening, it has been hailed by industry experts as the most internationally valuable research site, the only buried Danxia landform in China, and a geological wonder with great commercial development potential. It boasts supreme, unique, and monopolistic advantages, comparable to Antelope Canyon in the United States. With over 120 canyons, its overlapping light and shadow, dazzling and dreamlike scenery, it has become a world-class photography paradise and a popular tourist destination.
At the welcome ceremony, Gao Rui, on behalf of the county party committee and government, introduced in detail the natural scenery, cultural heritage, and dreamlike Ganquan Grand Canyon to the travel agencies, tourists, and media friends present, and warmly welcomed their arrival. Gao Rui pointed out that Ganquan is rich in cultural tourism resources. In recent years, Ganquan's tourism industry has achieved high-quality development by "persisting in shaping tourism with culture, promoting culture through tourism, and advancing the deep integration of culture and tourism." The launch of the "Xi'an—Ganquan Grand Canyon" tourist train comes at the right time and is a meaningful innovative activity. She hopes to take advantage of the railway's "tailwind" to better promote Ganquan's superior resources in industry, ecology, culture, and tourism, allowing more tourists to enter Ganquan, understand Ganquan, experience Ganquan, and promote Ganquan. At the same time, she expressed the hope that the county will seize the opportunity of the tourist train launch, vigorously develop the tourism market, continuously expand the source market, and promote the high-quality development of Ganquan's tourism.
Gong Jianmin, Secretary-General of the Shaanxi Travel Agency Association: This Xi'an—Ganquan Grand Canyon special train is a customized train we have organized to revive and revitalize tourism. Through this event, we hope to let more Xi'an citizens understand the magnificent scenery of this world-class grand canyon, and also to let them know that Ganquan not only has the grand canyon but also revolutionary red holy sites.
