Mount Huangshan

Mount Huangshan
Situated in the southern part of Anhui Province in China, Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) is a famous scenic spot. On the mountain, the peaks rise one upon another and the pines and cypresses are luxuriantly green. Among the 72 big and small mountain peaks and ridges, the lakes, brooks, deep pools and waterfalls can be found everywhere. All over 1800 metres above sea level, and shrouded in clouds and mist, its main three peaks: Lotus Flower Peak, Ever Bright Peak and Heavenly Capital Peak present a scenery of boundless variety. Huangshan owes its unique scenic value to four factors, i.e. queer pines, grotesque rocks, cloud seas, and a hot spring. The exquisite scenery varies with the various seasons. Most spectacular are blossoms in spring, pools in summer, forests in autumn and snow in winter.
In 1990, the UNESCO listed Mt. Huangshan as "A World Cultural And Natural Heritage."
Heavenly Capital Peak: Located in the southeastern part of Huangshan, and 1810 metres above sea level, it is the most perilous peak of the three. The path to the top is via a vertical ladder inlaid in a precipitous cliff, and fenced in with stone posts and iron chains. The last section of the path to the top is about 30 metre long and 1 metre wide hunch-backed rocky ridge rising up from a deep ravine. Due to its riskiness, in spite of protections provided by the stone posts and iron chains it is figuratively called "Silver Carp��s Back." On the summit, there is a stone cave large enough to seat a hundred people.
Near the cave entrance, lies a rock resembling "A Drunkard Immortal Reclining On His Side" who was as if assigned to guard the gate of the cave. The summit commands a distant view of misty ranges of mountains and rivers diminishing into tiny lines. Here, one is at last at "the Peak of Perfection" as the inscription on a rock close at hand reads.
Lotus Flower Peak: Situated in the centre of Huangshan, and 1886 metres above sea level, it is the highest one of Huangshan��s three main peaks. Lofty and precipitous, its principal peak towers over a number of smaller ones around it. The summit area is only a few square metres.
Standing on it, one is as if to assume the dauntless spirit of propping up the sky from falling down. Far ahead in all directions are myriad of mountains vying with one another for beauty, and streams and rivers competing to be the fastest. First Belief Peak: It is located in the eastern part of Huangshan, and 1668 metres above sea level. The peak is famous for exquisite rocks and graceful pines. With its three sides being precipitous and fathomless cliffs, First Belief Peak, flanked by Rising Peak and Stalagmite Peak as Fairy Bridge spans the summit. A poetic inscription on a rock there reads "you are a lone climber from a freezing river".
Xidi Village: Approximately 54 kilometers from Tunxi where Huangshan Municipal Government is seated, Xidi is a village that extends 700 meters from east to west and 200 meters from south to north. It has more than 1,000 people in 300 households.
Historical records show that one of the sons of Emperor Li Ye (Zhaozhong) in the Tang Dynasty fled from the war turmoil in the country��s capital and settled down in this out-of-the-way place. To avoid troubles, he changed his family name from Li to Hu. Following generations of hard but silent work, his family flourished. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911), scholars from the Hu family were engaged in business and made plenty of money. While trying to expand business in other parts of China, they commissioned some of the best architects in the country to design houses, schools, ancestral temples, roads and bridges that matched their riches. Large-scale construction went on for generations, and what emerged was the best Ming- and Qing-style residential houses to be found in the country along with a labyrinth of marble-paved country road and street lanes. Many have been destroyed either by war or by the elements, but several hundred of them have survived.
As one enters the village, a five-storey bluestone torii catches one��s eye. It is an ancient-style gate that is supported by four posts and five studs. Lofty and steep, it is a fit expression of the brilliant status achieved by the Hu family. In the middle of the village is a hall named "Lufutang Hall". Dating back to the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty (1662-1722), the hall is known for its elegant decoration and scholarly atmosphere. Another ancient building, called "Big Mansion", was built in 1691. A wooden sign on the building says "The Family of Peach Blossom Cradle". Somehow it has long been part of a folk lore that the main hall of this building served as the place where girls from the Hu family threw a highly elaborate ball of embroidery at random to find their husbands-a custom that was prevalent in many parts of China.
Touring the village today, one never fails to be impressed by the fact that every house represents a treasure house where traditional Chinese works of art can be found. There are, for instance, small but intricately laid-out courtyards and gardens, stone doorframes and windows with carved flowers, birds and beasts, brick and wood carvings featuring ancient theatrical scenes, and ornate drawings and frescos.
Hongcun Village: Located in the northwest of Yixian County, 65 kilometers from Tunxi, Hongcun originally was constructed for the settlement of those whose family name was Wang, in North Song Dynasty (960-1127). In Hongcun, hundreds of ancient houses stand row by row, the best-known being Chengzhi House built by a salt merchant in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911). Chengzhi House, covering a floor space of 2,000 square meters, is acclaimed as the best example of woodcarvings for house decoration in Anhui Province. Beautiful in design and elegant in style, the woodcarvings decorate the crossbeams, pendentives, doors and window pillars. Of particular interest are a woodcarving of the same figure with different faces and one of the same face with different expressions.
Incredibly, the water system of Hongcun was designed in the shape of an ox. Channels, representing the "intestines", allow water to flow by every house so that villagers can do their washing near their houses. The Moon Pond, the "stomach", so to speak, filtrates all the water that comes to it after flowing by houses and then allows it to go to the South Pond for further filtration. It takes no stretch of imagination that the South Pond was given the name of "abdomen". It is from this pond that the water is finally discharged into a river near the village.
Understandably, Hongcun��s water system has been guarded as a treasure with jealousy by the villagers and considered a masterpiece of residential architecture by experts both at home and abroad. Many experts in architecture and anthropology have come to the village on special tours from Japan, the U.S., and Germany.

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