Mount Wuyi in east China's Fujian Province has become a hot tourist spot since it was included on UNESCO's World Heritage List December 1 last year.

On New Year's Day alone, well over 15,000 people visited the mountain.

The mountain is described as "an outstanding conservation area "and "a refuge for a large number of animals and plants". It is now home to 3,728 varieties of plants and 5,110 kinds of animals, many of which are on the protection list.

Mount Wuyi can be dated back almost 4,000 years. The imperial city ruins of the kingdoms of Min and Yue during Western Han (206 B.C-24A.D.) at Chengcun are one of the best preserved ancient relics in south China. The ruins were listed under state protection in 1996.

In 1982, the State Council turned Mount Wuyi into a national scenic area. The area was included in the World Biosphere Network in 1987.

To cater to the ever increasing number of tourists to Mount Wuyi, local government departments have implemented a number of policies to standardize tourism services and held a number of tourism promotion activities.

Mount Wuyi had 1.92 million tourists in 1999, some 11 percent more than 1998. Overseas tourists made up 120,000 of the total, up 17.4 percent. According to local sources, the tourism industry at Wuyi generated 740 million yuan in income last year, up 12.1 percent from 1998. (Xinhua)