Villagers living near the foot of West Ridges Snow Mountain in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province, have laid out the welcome mat for their new neighbors a group of about 30 monkeys.

 

About a month ago, the monkeys started coming to the village every day between 9 am and 6 pm to forage for food, creating a new attraction for tourists, the Sichuan Morning Post reported.

 

Recent improvements to the environmental conditions around the mountain and the villagers' efforts to live in harmony with the monkeys have gradually coaxed the little creatures down from their mountain perches.

 

The West Ridges Snow Mountain Scenic Spot, with an altitude of 5,364 meters, lush vegetation and views of the surrounding snow-capped peaks, is in Dayi County, about two-and-a-half hours' drive from downtown Chengdu.

 

To welcome the monkeys, villagers prepare about 25 kilograms of maize and 50 kilograms of cabbage, which they turn into a sort of daily picnic.

 

On March 20, Xi Muhua, manager of the Rural Happiness Restaurant, and her staff began to spread maize, cabbages and carrots in an open concrete field in the early morning.

 

"They like to eat maize and cabbage", she said.

 

At about 9:30 am, a few monkeys climbed down from the tree branches on the mountain slopes, making a beeline for the piles of food, where some chickens had already started feasting.

 

By noon, nearly 20 monkeys had joined the buffet. After their meal, some of them even decided to stick around and play in the nearby trees, apparently unafraid of Xi and her colleagues, who stood a few meters away.

 

"We are really amazed and happy to see these monkeys, which we have never seen before," she said.

 

Xi said that a few years ago, when she was trying to attract more customers to her restaurant by offering natural, rural scenes, she had to lure monkeys from far-away Emei Mountain because the local monkeys were apparently not interested in performing for tourists.

 

A staff from the West Ridges Snow Mountain Administration Office said some experts had come to the mountain last year and predicted there were some 20 types of monkeys living there.

 

"We've never seen monkeys coming down in such a large group, uninvited," he said. "Maybe it's because they think the surrounding environment is more secure and the residents are friendlier. They are coming to play with people in harmony."

 

Though it is expensive to prepare food for the monkeys every day, Xi has accepted the burden. Other villagers said they had come to love the monkeys.

 

"They are no longer afraid of us, just like our friends," Xi said.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 28, 2007)