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Established in 1988, the Jigong Mountain National Nature Reserve lies on the border between Henan Province and Hubei Province, at the western foot of Dabie Mountain. It is a nature reserve of forest ecosystem transferring from warm temperate zone to northern sub-tropic zone.

The Jigong (cock) Mountain features many cliffs, valleys and great peaks. It is one of the four summer resorts in China together with Lushan Mountain, Mogan Mountain, and the Beidaihe River. In summer, it is so cool that its temperature before noon is like that of spring, and in the afternoon like autumn, at night like the early winter. Its main peak is just like great cock flying in the cloud and dancing elegantly. In the mountain, brooks running silently and springs gushing rampantly, and rare birds singing can be found here and there in the forest.

The nature reserve is known as the treasure of natural creatures, and the green pearl in south Sichuan for its well-preserved natural environment. Timber storage reaches 260,000 cubic meters, and forest coverage is over 97%. There are more than 3,000 species of creatures living here, including 2,061 plants. 27 plants are under key national protection, such as Metasequoia glyptostroboides, Taiwania cryptomerioides and Davidia involucrata, another 29 animals are under key national protection, such as leopard (Panthera pardus), small Indian civet (Viverricula imdica), white-crowned long-tailed pheasants, ring-necked pheasants and Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) .

In recent years, the management bureau of the zone started to forbid lumbering. Over RMB10 million has been set aside for opening tourism routes, scenic spots and areas for people to return to the nature.

(Source: chinaculture.org)