Yimen Longquan Forest Park History of Yimen Longquan Forest Park

Longquan National Forest Park is a forest park approved by the State Forestry Administration 1992. This park has a long history and culture. Judging from the inscriptions on plaques, couplets and stone walls, temples and pavilions were built here as early as the end of the Tang Dynasty, which became the center of Yi cultural activities in central Yunnan. Now, the Dragon Boat Festival Temple Fair, which lasted from the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty to this day, has become a grand festival of Yimen folk tradition. On this day every year, the county invites large-scale lantern troupes from provinces and cities to sing in the park for three days and three nights. Thousands of people from Fiona Fang gather here to listen to songs and enjoy operas, visit gardens and spring outing, and pray for good weather, abundant crops, peace and prosperity in the coming year. Many famous literati have been here. For example, Yang Shen, the top scholar in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, visited Longquan three times and wrote three poems here. In the early years of the Republic of China, Liu Fakun, Lieutenant General of Yunnan Cavalry, former Vice Chairman of the National People's Congress Chu Tunan, former Chairman of the Chinese Buddhist Association and famous calligrapher Zhao Puchu all left artistic treasures here. Longquan National Forest Park is the first of the "Eight Scenes of Yimen" admired by people since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and was once praised by Dong Yi, a famous painter in the late Qing Dynasty as "the first scene in western Yunnan".