Our company has a relatively large number of female employees. Every year, the leadership arranges a team activity on Women’s Day when spring flowers are in full bloom. This year, with the help of our old friends General Manager Zhao and General Manager Xu from Ningguo, Anhui, we planned a self-driving tour: crossing the Southern Anhui Sichuan-Tibet Line to experience the beauty of the mountains and waters of southern Anhui, and stopping by the side of Taohua Tan (Peach Blossom Pool) in the evening to appreciate the artistic conception of Li Bai’s verse, "The Peach Blossom Pool is a thousand feet deep."
The Southern Anhui Sichuan-Tibet Line starts from Qinglong Township in Ningguo City in the east and ends at Xiyang Township in Jingxian County in the west. The core section is 120 kilometers long and is praised by netizens as the "Jiangnan Sky Road, Southern Anhui 318." Sitting in the car and winding through the mountains was definitely a first for many of the girls! In particular, the treacherous and winding mountain roads allowed us to experience the essence of southern Anhui’s unique landscape—rugged and thrilling, with distinctive scenery of rolling green mountains and bamboo seas, occasionally dotted with vast reservoirs or villages with black tiles and white walls, and wisps of cooking smoke, all of which added to the charm.
In the evening, we stayed at the Shihua Landscape Hotel by Taohua Tan in Jingxian County. Jingxian boasts a history of more than two thousand years. It is where Li Bai left behind the immortal verse: "The Peach Blossom Pool is a thousand feet deep, but not as deep as Wang Lun’s affection when seeing me off." The beautiful Jiangnan scenery was mesmerizing, with streams, tall bamboo, little bridges, and ancient towns—all wonderful places for exploration. Li Bai once traveled to Jingxian and praised it: "Three hundred li along the Jing River, even the Ruoye River would look plain in comparison; countless exquisite scenes unfold along the way, and travelers never tire." Jingxian is also an old revolutionary base, home to the former site of the New Fourth Army headquarters, full of patriotic spirit.
On the road trip, beautiful scenery and delicious food were the only things we could not resist. Faced with such scenery and cuisine, the girls were utterly captivated, while also capturing many touching and beautiful moments with their cameras, adding color and joy to our team life.
These two days not only gave the girls, usually immersed in busy work, a wonderful time to relax; they also created a valuable opportunity for cross-departmental communication. Most importantly, they allowed us to have close contact with nature and the local cultural environment.