This attraction introduction is compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · Scenic Spots section). Ticket prices, opening hours, transportation, and contact information mentioned in the text may be outdated. Please refer to the latest official announcements from the scenic area before traveling; some content consists of historical background/cultural introductions and is for reference only.
Xiangtan Agricultural Expo Park is located in Quantangzi on the western outskirts of Xiangtan City, Hunan Province. Eight kilometers from the urban area, it sits at the junction of the Xiang–Guizhou Railway, National Highway 320, and the Shanghai–Ruili Expressway, enjoying locational advantages, convenient transportation, and easy accessibility. Xiangtan Agricultural Expo Park consists of an Agricultural Science and Technology Demonstration Zone, a Green Food Development Zone, and an Agricultural Tourism Resort Zone, covering 5,050 mu. It is an agricultural science and technology demonstration base for agricultural technical exchanges, conferences, and training, as well as a leisure venue for cultivating the mind and for fitness and entertainment. In 2005, it passed provincial inspection and acceptance, met the standards for a provincial-level agricultural tourism demonstration site, joined the first batch of 11 provincial-level agricultural tourism demonstration sites in the province, and became the main force of green tourism in our county. Xiangtan Agricultural Expo Park has a total of 588 employees, including 11 with senior professional titles and 32 with intermediate titles; the total value of fixed assets is 220 million yuan. In 2002, it received a total of 51,000 visitors and generated revenue of 26.804 million yuan, including 3.87 million yuan in tourism income; green food sales revenue was 20.3 million yuan, including 1.48 million US dollars in foreign exchange earnings, paid 878,000 yuan in taxes, and realized a profit of 860,000 yuan, achieving good social and economic benefits.
Xiangtan County Agricultural Expo Park is divided by function into three zones:
Agricultural Tourism Resort Zone: With Egret Lake Resort as its main body, it consists of 834 mu of Egret Lake and 2,180 mu of surrounding green hills, with a planned area of 3,000 mu. In the zone, mountains and waters are connected, the clear water is like a mirror, the pine waves surge like tides, and the scenery is beautiful. Egret Lake Resort was completed at the end of 2000 and was listed as a key tourism resort of Xiangtan City and officially opened to the public. Its building area is 10,800 square meters, with complete supporting facilities for water, electricity, roads, landscaping, communications, television, and fire protection; the seven lakeside villas contain 41 guest rooms and 77 beds, elegant and distinctive; the newly built hotel service building has a building area of 12,000 square meters, with 120 guest rooms and 250 beds, built to four-star standards; a main service building includes a Chinese restaurant, banquet hall, private rooms, and suite dining rooms, capable of seating 360 people at one time; it offers fitness and entertainment projects such as "Boating on Egret Lake," "Enjoying the Scenery of Wushi Ridge," a "Water Park," and a natural swimming area and fishing center. In 2002, it received more than 40,000 guests, satisfactorily completing VIP reception tasks for the municipal Party committee and municipal government as well as reception work for foreign guests and guests from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. It has become one of the preferred leisure and vacation spots for residents of Xiangtan and surrounding cities such as Changsha, Zhuzhou, Hengyang, and Shaoyang. In 2002, it received 28,000 same-day tour visitors.
Agricultural Science and Technology Demonstration Zone: With the Quantangzi Agricultural Technology Station as its main body, it has 550 mu of land for year-round experimentation and demonstration. The Quantangzi Agricultural Technology Station is a red banner on the national agricultural front. Six ministries and commissions under the State Council, including the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Science and Technology, have awarded it the title "National Advanced Unit in Agricultural Technology Promotion" five times. The station is a pilot testing base of the National Hybrid Rice Research Center, a base for transforming Yuan Longping's achievements, and a demonstration base of Longping High-Tech. It has successively undertaken demonstrations of super rice high-yield cultivation, two-line hybrid rice high-yield cultivation, and high-quality new variety demonstrations. Among these, super rice passed provincial acceptance with a single-season yield of 803 kilograms per mu, and with its "four mosts"—earliest demonstration time, longest duration, highest yield, and greatest radiating influence—it has become the most influential demonstration base in China. In the zone, the province's first industrialized demonstration project of converting rice fields to grass cultivation and livestock raising was carried out. The zone plants 300 mu of forage grass year-round and 1,700 mu of rice-forage rotation grass, has developed more than 40 dairy cattle farming households raising more than 300 dairy cows, and invested more than 4 million yuan to establish a dairy products factory with a production scale of 40,000 servings of fresh milk processed daily, and will develop higher-standard fresh milk products in accordance with international milk-drinking practices to meet market demand. Its rural biogas digester energy construction is in a leading position nationwide, with 902 biogas digesters and a biogas user rate of 21.8%. Over the past 20 years, it has introduced 168 advanced technologies and scientific research achievements, developed 57 on a large scale, and helped Quantangzi farmers increase income and reduce expenditures by more than 100 million yuan. Station chief Li Luobin was named a National Model Worker and elected as a deputy to the Seventh National People's Congress. Yuan Longping, the father of hybrid rice, visited here many times and designated Quantangzi as a demonstration and transformation base for his scientific research achievements. At the national "863" two-line hybrid rice on-site observation meeting, Academician Yuan Longping excitedly evaluated to experts from across the country: "Quantangzi is my finale." Agricultural officials and experts from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and 121 countries (times), including the United States, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam, have come to inspect it, and 31,000 person-times from within China have visited. On March 12, 1991, it received praise from Jiang Zemin, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, who repeatedly said: "Good, very good!" On April 19, 1993, Zhu Rongji, then member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Vice Premier of the State Council, visited the Quantangzi Agricultural Technology Station and, after inspecting it, revealed a gratified smile and, holding station chief Li Luobin's hand, said joyfully: "You are the banner of the national agricultural science and technology front."
Green Food Development Zone: With the Xiangtan City Original Seed Farm as its main body, it covers 1,500 mu. In the zone, fields form grids, roads take shape, trees stand in rows, and canals form networks, presenting the framework of modern agriculture: giving full play to talent and technical advantages, and organizing green food development and production according to standardization, scale, and market orientation. In recent years, it has successfully developed and produced nearly one hundred varieties of green food across seven categories, including rice, dryland grains, fruits, vegetables, pigs, fish, and sheep, and has been designated as a "Hunan Lean-Type Live Pig Export Production Base" and a "Xiangtan City Pollution-Free Vegetable Production Base." In 2002, the main green foods put on the market included 70 kilograms of high-quality rice, 2 million jin of pork, and 800,000 jin of vegetables. It also provided surrounding farmers with 2,000 breeding pigs of fine varieties, 80 million fry of famous, excellent, and special fish, and 600,000 high-quality seedlings, generating total revenue of 17.2 million yuan, including 1.48 million US dollars in foreign exchange earnings.
