|
Hot spring town, 27 kilometers to the west of Ruzhou city seat, covers an area of 70.4 square kilometers. It has 3,133.3 hectares of arable land. It has 25 administrative villages and 48 natural villages, with a population of 50,600.
The ancient town borders on Ruhe River in the east. It has picturesque landscapes. The town is 68 kilometers away from Pingdingshan city, 55 kilometers away from Luoyang city, an ancient capital city, and 100 kilometers away from Zhengzhou, the provincial capital city.
The town has a convenient traffic system. Jiaozuo-Panzhihua Railway traverses the town. Nanjing-Luoyang Expressway, the provincial Luojie and Houfan Highways and two county-level highways also cross the town. The expressways link up to the hot spring, less than two kilometers out of the town.
The town are abound in hot spring, a gift of nature. It is known to host the best hot spring in central China, and one of the top 10 hot springs across the country. The hot spring temperature ranges from 57 C to 75 C.
The water is rich in 50 chemical elements, including radon, lithium, plutonium and strontium. It is also imbued with seven chemical compositions, such as silicic acid. The silicic acid amounts to 159mg in one liter, gushing 2,400 tons a day. The hot spring, with a heat discharge of 600 calories per second, is effective in curing diseases in the neck, shoulders, waist, legs, rheumatism, and skin.
Experts with the provincial mining and geology department said after examining the hot spring that is could "match the Vichy mineral spring of France in quality." The hot spring, known for its magic power, attracted emperors, queens and celebrities of several dynasties to visit the hot spint. According to ancient book records, 10 emperors and three queens went to the hot spring 21 times. In particular, Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty (the only empress in China's history) came to the hot spring three times to entertain officials with banquets, wine and poems.
The town has eight scenic spots. And "Hot Spring Town clearing up after rain" is one of the eight most famous sites of Pingdingshan city.
The town has made remarkable progress in town construction and hot spring development. In recent years, it has invested 10 million yuan to relocate town government office buildings and expand Tangwang Road. It has newly constructed Zetian Boulevard, Luanjia Road, Hailing Road, and Jianhu Road. It has erected a statue of Empress Wu Zetian. It has upgraded the water supply network and supporting facilities, and the power supply utilities. It has further improved the town service performances, and basically formulated the framework of the town featuring five east-west roads and three north-south roads.
The town is home to multiple medical service and rehabilitation institutions, such as Henan worker's hot spring sanatorium, Ruzhou No 3 People's Hospital, and natural hot spring guesthouse. Many people visit the town for recuperation, vacation, bathing and medical treatment.
In 2009, Ruzhou hot spring was listed as a zone for concentrated development of tourism business in Henan province. The city put forward in its 12th Five-Year Plan to construct the center for hot spring international medical treatment, sightseeing, entertainment and tourism. The western village is to be constructed into a hot spring international tourism resort.
The town has a clear goal and that's for faster development. At present, the town is preparing the early stages of its hot spring sightseeing and medical treatment quarter project, worth 3.86 billion yuan, and the hot spring international resort project, worth 2.2 billion yuan. The projects will start in the near future.
Edited by Fu Bo and Tania Lee
|
