During our memorable seven days, six cities tour of Jiangsu China, we visited Yancheng 盐城 (literally Salt City, more on that in a future post).
Yancheng is a third tier prefecture level city with a population of seven million in 2024. The city is at China's eastern seaboard and not far north from Shanghai city (about 300km apart).
There are many things I want to share with you about beautiful Yancheng, but let's start with the vast Red Crown Crane Yellow Sea Wetland reserve / sanctuary 丹顶鹤黄海湿地.
At the sanctuary headquarters building, we attended the launch of the Red Crown Crane Tourism Festival 2024.
What is the red crown crane which many wish is the national bird of China?
The red crown crane 丹顶鹤 has long been part of Chinese mythology and legends. Depictions of red crown cranes are found in royal tombs from the Shang 商 dynasty going back to 1600 BC to 1046 BC. Veneration of these majestic elegant birds continues through nearly four millenniums to today.
As red crown cranes live 50 to 60 years and are monogamous, these birds are symbols of longevity (even immortality) and loyalty in Chinese culture. Hence, red crown cranes are also known as fairy cranes 仙鹤 in Chinese.
Red crown crane couples are remarkably loyal. They stick together through thick and thin, in sickness and in health. When one of the pair is injured and unable to migrate with the seasons, red crown crane couples are known to abandon the flock and the pair stay put together where they are, while the others leave.
Deities are often portrayed riding a red crown crane in full flight.
(This mosaic mural is from Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan city in Hubei province.)
The red crown crane is often suggested as China's national bird though it has not been officially designated (unlike the panda).
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| Source: Wikipedia |
Red crown cranes also breed in Hokkaido, Japan and is equally venerated in Japanese culture. The scientific name of the red crown crane is grus Japonensis given by German naturalist Statius Muller in 1776.
Today, the red crown crane is an endangered species with less than 3000 wild birds.
Half of the wild red crown crane population choose the Yellow Sea Wetland (at Yancheng, Jiangsu) as their winter migration home, hence this location is ideal for the sanctuary.
Sanctuaries like Red Crown Crane Yellow Sea Wetland are set up to try and save the red crown crane from extinction. There are about 300 red crown cranes at the sanctuary.
Red crown cranes breed and are raised at the sanctuary, then young adults are returned to the wild to beef up wild crane stocks.
Lots of tourists come to the sanctuary to watch the majestic red crown cranes.
The red crown cranes at the sanctuary are accustomed to humans but they will be released into the wild once they are ready.
Tourism increase public awareness of the plight of potential extinction of the beloved red crown cranes which can only be good for the preservation of the species.
Red Crown Crane Reserve
Address: China, Jiangsu, Yancheng, 射阳县331省道 邮政编码: 224333
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