The Ginkgo Village of Tengchong

Chinese name: 腾冲银杏村（Teng Chong Yin Xing Cun）
Location: Ginkgo Village, Gudong town, Tengchong, Yunnan.
Ticket: Entrance ticket CNY30.00
Estimated time of tour: Half day.
Recommended time of visit: November to December
Nearby attractions: Tengchong Volcanic Geo Park, Beihai Wetland Park, Gaoligong National Reserve, Guoshang Cemetery, Heshun Ancient Town, etc.

Gudong town is a place of strategic importance to Tengchong city. It is the north getaway to Tengchong, and has been the centre of commerce, culture and trade in north of Tengchong. It is about 40km away from Tengchong city. With improvement of infrastructure, this once little known village has been a hotspot for self driving visitors.

As its name suggests, there was a large ginkgo trees in the old days. Legend had it that Liu Bei, a political figure and emperor of Shu Kingdom during Three Kingdoms Period (3rd century AD) once tied his horse to that old ginkgo three. Villagers were proud of that history and name the village Ginkgo afterwards. Some also said that there once was a temple built under the ginkgo tree, so people around this area named this village Ginkgo.

This village is not far from the Tengchong National Volcanic Geo Park. There are currently 820 households living in this village. As for ginkgo trees, field survey reported about 3000 old ginkgo trees are thriving in this village, among which 50 pieces are more than 500 years old and 70 pieces are 400 year old. Old trees and the village coexisted for centuries.

The best time to visit is from September to December. During that period, the whole village was bathed in a sea of golden leaves.

Apart from ginkgo trees, Gudong town is also famous for its shadow puppet play. The nearby Liujiazhai has been performing this traditional art for well over six centuries. It is said that this technique was brought in by military settlers with origin of central China during Ming Dynasty. It mostly show and depict ancient war stories and old myth.