Mount HuangShan 黄山, in AnHui provinceMount HuangShan was added to the World Heritage list for its magnificent landscape and significant contribution to Chinese art and culture.
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"Mount Huangshan, or Yellow Mountain, is named after a legendary Chinese sovereign Huang Di, also known as the Yellow Emperor. It is said that the he became a hermit on this mountain and searched for enlightenment and immortality.
The rugged landscape combined with light and cloud creates an enchanting atmosphere. A mysterious world where hermits could live in seclusion. This is a living example of a Shanshui mountain water painting.
These stone steps took over 1500 years to construct and are said to number over 60,000 in total. They continue their way up into the clouds and are thus named the Hundred steps into the clouds.
Mount Huangshan is the name for the 72 peak mountain range. Its splendid grandeur and uniquely shaped rocks became the source of many legends. Lianhua Peak is the highest in the Mount Huangshan region. It is shaped like a lotus flower in blossom.
This small rock formation on top of the peak is known as Monkey Rock, owing to the legend of a monkey who fell in love with a human girl from a village located at the foot of the mountain. Day after day the monkey gazed upon her from the mountain top and eventually turned into a rock.
Pine trees protruding from the rock crevices are the Huangshan pine, an endemic species of Mt. Huangshan. It is an important symbol of the Shanshui landscape. Trees are rooted deep into rock crevices to resist against the strong winds of this harsh environment.
Mt. Huangshan has fascinated many intellectuals, writers and painters through the ages. Li Po, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty wrote:
Once I was on its lofty summit,
Admiring Tianmu Pine below.
The place is still traceable where the immortal
Before ascending to heaven made elixir out of jade.
At the foot of Mt. Huangshan, there are several villages retaining the old-time atmosphere from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Hungcun is one of those villages where traditional old buildings are perfectly preserved. This village is also inscribed as World Heritage. Walls jutting from the roofs are shaped like Huangshan mountains. A miniature Shanshui mountain-water landscape is placed in their garden. It is a Bonsai garden portraying the Huangshan mountains. The mountains are the basis and focus of everyday life for these people.
A local painter Zhu Feng has been drawing Huangshan mountains for 30 years. He believes that the ever-changing Huangshan mountains represent all elements of the universe. The mountains reveal their most mystical side in winter. A sea of cloud hangs over the Huangshan peaks. Lao Tzu, the father of Taoism said that the ideal way of human existence is to Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river.
For people throughout the ages Mt. Huangshan is a tremendous source of inspiration and a place where people give thoughts about how the universe exists in this world." - UNESCO
