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Untrodden isles, unspoilt nature
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OFF the northern shore of Hangzhou Bay, 6.6 kilometers from the Jinshanzui coast, three islets known as the Jinshan Islands were the first natural conservation area designated by the city of Shanghai in 1993.
Their name, in English, translates as “gold mountains.”
The islands, which fall under the jurisdiction of Shanghai’s Jinshan County, are named Big Jinshan, Small Jinshan and Fushan Island. For two decades, the islands remained outside of public interest. There was no regular ferry service, making access difficult.
Big Jinshan is the largest of the three. The rhombus-shaped hunk of bedrock rises to 103.4 meters. It’s also the largest island in Shanghai with no permanent residents.
Small Jinshan, as its name suggests, is less dominant. Its highest point is 32.5 meters, and the coastline stretches for only 1 kilometer.
Fushan Island is oval-shaped, resembling a turtle. Hence, its nickname Turtle Mountain. This island has a 1.2-kilometer coastline and a main peak of 30.8 meters. There is no water on the island and there are no residents.
Once a military garrison, Big Jinshan was strictly off-limits to civilians. Even today, few tourists can visit the island easily.
That means the natural environment and its many plant species have been preserved quite well.
After a 2-hour drive to the coast, followed by a 50-minute trip in a rocking fishing boat that smelled of gasoline, I landed on Big Jinshan on October 1 with a group of 30 people who study plants and traditional Chinese medicine.
The island is home to a number of plants that are used in traditional medicine.
We spent about 2 hours walking around the island before we had to catch the boat ride back to the coast.
Though the island is a natural conservation area, there are some major infrastructure projects currently underway around the island, which now has solar power generation, island monitoring systems, a new seawall and improved roadways.
Rumors have swirled for some time about the island possibly being opened up for tourism, but to date there has been no official announcement. So it remains a closed fortress to the general public.
Qin Xiangkun, a botany researcher with extensive knowledge of plant life in Shanghai, told us Big Jinshan has more than 200 plant species, including 29 that are rarely seen ashore in Shanghai.
In the subtropical climate that prevails, there are three national protected species — wild camphor, cinnamomum japonicum and neolitsea sericea.
“The plants are an indication of the ecological status of the island,” Qin said. “They are in their natural environment and grow freely. The biodiversity on the Jinshan Islands is quite intact.”
Big Jinshan is indeed a paradise for botany lovers. In spring, one can see clusters of little flowers blooming, and in autumn, vibrant color climbs up the mountain.
But inevitably, development causes disruption to the normal ecological balance. We saw branches of trees lopped off to make room for road construction.
Though Big Jinshan has mostly remained a natural conservation area, few birds can be seen there. Lacking rich mud flats, the island has a stony beach that doesn’t provide enough food for sea birds. Macaques, a monkey genus, are the main animal residents on the idea. They were formerly brought and bred there for medical experiments. Now they are a protected species and no longer used in tests. Their population has thrived, with numbers estimated at about 200.
The macaque colony is now spread across the island, but the monkeys we saw on our hike seemed shy and ran off when we got too close.
The macaques are becoming a problem for Big Jinshan because they hurt the natural vegetation and they breed at a fast rate, with no predators around to limit their numbers.
For the past 30 years, Big Jinshan was a no-man’s land, guarded by four mountain keepers from villages in Jinshan County.
In teams of two, they rotated shifts every half month and never left the island unattended. The keepers’ duty was to protect the resources on the island, prevent fire and theft, and deter poachers. They fed corn to the macaques.
The eldest mountain keeper, Jiang Shaolin, guarded Big Jinshan for eight years before retiring at the age of 79.
Cinnamomum japonicum天竺桂
This evergreen tree species is in the family Lauraceae. It has pointed oval shaped leaves and a yellowish-grey bark. Its fruit is a blue-black coloring.
The evergreen is native to Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi and Fujian provinces. It typically grows in low elevation mountain areas or in broad-leaf forests near the sea. It is classified under second-tier national protection.
Big Jinshan is the only location in Shanghai where the wild evergreen grows, mostly in stone cracks on steep slopes.
Surveys show there are 61 standing cinnamomum japonicum trees of more than 5 centimeters in diameter, 15 young seedlings that are higher than 50 centimeters and 185 shorter trees. The largest tree, 55 centimeters in diameter, is estimated to be more than 100 years old.
The main threat to the trees comes from natural forces like typhoons and landslides.
Neolitsea sericea 金毛新木姜子
Neolitsea sericea is a medium-sized evergreen tree that also belongs to the Lauraceae family. A fast-growing species, it bears fruit in June and grows to a height of between 3 and 10 meters.
The leaves of are narrow and oval shaped, with sharp tips. The young leaves have dense golden yellow hair on both surfaces.
The species is typically found in broad-leaf forests and on mountain slopes in Yunnan and Zhejiang provinces. Big Jinshan is the only place in Shanghai where the tree grows.
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