Broadcasting Time: 2006-11-24

From your map, you can see the Sichuan province is located in southwest China.

But it doesn't tell you that Sichuan is the home of the Giant Panda.

Or about all the other things the province has to offer— like the heavenly Jiuzhaigou Valley, the Leshan Giant Buddha and the oldest water conservation project still operating in the world, Dujiang Dam.

If you want to learn more about this fascinating province, CRI is the one to turn to.

We're launching a general knowledge quiz on Sichuan based on our five reports that start today.

As usual, there will be two questions about sightseeing in Sichuan in each report. You're invited to submit all 10 answers to us by April 15, 2007.

To take part, send us your answers via email at crieng@crifm.com or yinglian@cri.com.cn or log onto our website at www.crienglish.com.

The winner will get the chance to visit Sichuan for free at the end of the competition!

Now get yourself ready for our first trip to Sichuan by bearing these two questions in mind.

Question

Number 1—Was Jiuzhaigou Valley named after the nine Tibetan ethnic villages in the area?

Number 2—Are Jiuzhaigou Valley and Huanglong Valley both on the World Heritage List?

Listen carefully and you will know both answers soon.

Jiuzhaigou Valley is located in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Ethnic Autonomous Prefecture in western Sichuan Province. If you take a bird's eye view, you'll see it's shaped like the letter Y and stretches more than 40 kilometers. Nine ethnic Tibetan villages are scattered across the valley, so it's called Jiuzhaigou, or the nine-village-valley.

Even for those who have traveled to many places in China, Jiuzhaigou is a pleasant surprise. Nerohem Yam from Israel is one example. The past few years have taken him to quite a few places of interest like Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Sha'anxi. But he fell in love with Jiuzhaigou's astonishing beauty at the very first sight.

"This is the most beautiful place in China. Because the landscape is very unique, the water colors are something exceptional, you don't see that in any other place in China"

The magic of Jiuzhaigou lies in the water, which is also where Jiuzhaigou's spirit resides. More than 100 alpine lakes of different sizes and brilliant colors are scattered in the valley. The local Tibetan people call them "Haizi", meaning son of the sea.

The water is so pure and clear that you can count the pebbles, floating grass and fallen tree branches at the bottom. All the crystal-clear lakes have gorgeous colors, sometimes blue as a sapphire, sometimes green as an emerald and decorated with bright yellow touches. Taken with the mountains on both sides, it's an amazing view!

Morishita Sadamasa, a tourist from Japan, can't help gasping in admiration.

"I have seen some videos of Jiuzhaigou's scenery back in Japan. But now I'm here to see it in person, I find the view even more beautiful. There are lakes of the same kind in Japan, but I think Jiuzhaigou outstrips them all."

Jiuzhaigou's colorful waters come thanks to the conic karst land forms. The calcium, magnesium and carbonate ions abundant in the lake water are good at reflecting blue and green light. They also contain more than 200 types of algae in a variety of colors.

The lakes at Jiuzhaigou are located at different altitudes, creating the perfect environment for waterfalls to form.  The valley has 17 waterfalls, including the 300-meter-wide Nuorilang Fall, the broadest single waterfall in China.

No wonder the Chinese people call Jiuzhaigou Valley a fairyland on earth!

It was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992, but the local people have other reasons to take very good care of it.

A Tibetan girl, YiNaManHong, says the local Tibetans believe that everything inside the valley has been bestowed by divine powers.

"We local Tibetan people believe everything has a spirit, and all those mountains and waters as well as trees and grasses are bestowed by the gods. We humans have every reason to protect them, instead of damaging them. The older people tell their sons and daughters not to wash clothes in the water or dispose anything filthy."

YiNaManHong and her fellow villagers still live in Jiuzhaigou Valley as their ancestors taught them to. They are friends with the natural world and hospitable to the travelers who pass by.

130 kilometers away from Jiuzhaigou Valley is another "Paradise on Earth", the Huanglong Scenic and Historic Interest Area.

It was included on the World Heritage List in 1992, the same year as Jiuzhaigou Valley.

The Huanglong Park sprawls over 700 square kilometers and is surrounded by damp forests, mountains, coniferous woods, grasslands and the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau.

Without a doubt, the region's big attraction is the karst formations that surface in the form of limestone pools, shoals and travertine falls.

People probably call this place Huanglong, or Yellow Dragon, because of the rock formations, which are just like yellow scales on the back of a gigantic dragon.

The water is crystal clear and contains all kinds of minerals, drawn from the limestone mountain behind it. Each small pool displays heartbreakingly beautiful colors that would defy any painter's palette.

If you want to see the most charming of the Huanglong Park, you have to be on the mountain top. It's three thousand meters above sea level and the non-stop walk from the bottom to the top takes about an hour. Altogether, it's seven-kilometer uphill climb. But the exertion can be a problem for many people. The view is breathtaking and it also takes one's breath away.

Kou Yahui, who is in charge of the Huanglong Park, says they've found a solution to the problem.

"We now have the tourist chair lift, so travelers can take them to the mountain top for sightseeing. We've also set up five cost-free oxygen bars for hikers along the way to the peak. We are planning to set up two more. They are totally free for travelers."

Once you get to the very top, you will find yourself at the Five-Color Pond, the eye of the Yellow Dragon. The surface ripples with baby blues and lush greens. It's nature run riot with color that changes every few meters, from one pool to another. The place is so dazzlingly unreal people imagine it must be the place where goddesses come to bathe.

But don't be too drawn in by its beauty. The weather in the area is unpredictable and can change at any minute.

Alright, that's our first trip to Sichuan in southwest China. Now it's question time. Question Number 1—Is Jiuzhaigou Valley named after the nine Tibetan ethnic villages in the area? And question Number 2—Are both Jiuzhaigou Valley and Huanglong Park on the World Heritage List?

If you've listened to our program and know the answers, why not send them in to the CRI general knowledge contest on Sichuan sponsored by Sichuan Provincial Tourism Administration. You can email us at crieng@crifm.com or yinglian@cri.com.cn, or log onto our website at www.crienglish.com. Good luck and see you next time!