One day tour to Ancient Yellow River Wadi Forest Park, Sultan Sulus Tomb

Ancient Yellow River Wadi Forest Park, Sultan Sulu's Tomb (lunch, ticket, insurance incl.) 9:00am-4:00pm, Sep 20

Ancient Yellow River Wadi Forest Park
The park lies in Xiajin County of Dezhou. The Yellow River carrying large amount of sediment overflowed in B.C. 602 and flowed through Xiajin. The flood left more than 8,500 hectares’ sandy land. After hundreds of years sand control and tree planting, a vast forest has been formed on the original deserted surface.

The area of the Forest Park is 5,200 hectares with forest coverage of 51.8%, among which 800 hectares is woodland and 1,400 hectares is orchards. The trees such as mulberry, pear, apricot, peach, jujube, apple, persimmon, etc are spread all over the park. There are 20,000 hundred-age old ancient trees in the park including 500 old mulberry trees, which is Xiajin's most famous tree. There are Mulberry garden, Persimmon garden, Pear garden and Chinese Scholartree garden in the Park. The park is regarded as the North Deciduous Trees Museum, the largest and oldest artificial garden in the plain area of China.

Sultan Sulu's Tomb 
Dezhou is the only place where a foreign sultan's tomb can be found. Sultan Sulu's Tomb, located in the northern suburb of Dezhou, is well preserved as a national important cultural relic by the central and local governments. More than 500 years ago, during China's Ming Dynasty, the sultan of Sulu (a province of the Philippines today) visited Beijing along with over 340 servants. After the visit, he, unfortunately, died in Dezhou on his way back to the Philippines. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty wrote an epigraphy to commemorate him and buried him in Dezhou with high honours. The sultan Sulu's concubine and two younger sons lived in Dezhou to guard his tomb. Since then, the descendents of Sultan Sulu have lived in Dezhou generation after generation. They have intermarried with the local people and were granted full citizenship in the Qing Dynasty.

There is a long path in front of the cemetery. There are stone statues such as persons, lions, tigers and leopards symmetrically arranged on both sides of the corridor. The stone carving is exquisite and vivid. The main hall is in the center of the cemetery, in which a big portrait of Sultan Sulu is mounted. Behind the main hall is the tomb, which is 6 meters high with a diameter of 17 meters. It’s surrounded by pines and cypresses. The honor given is evidence of the friendship that exists between China and the Philippines.