Jiuhua Mountains National Park

When you arrive in the early morning at the Town of Jiuhua, a small town surrounded by forest-cloaked mountains, in Qingyang County, Anhui Province, east central China, you are impressed by a great number of ancient temples in typical traditional Chinese Buddhist style, and the solitude and serenity, that is interrupted only by the loud chorus of the Buddhists who are reading Buddhist scripture at their daily worship service. If you enter into the biggest hall in a biggest temple, you are presented with a grand worship service consisting of dozens of monks dressed in orange-yellow kasayas (a kind of patch-work outer vestment worn by Buddhist monks at worship service). They are worshiping on bended knees in front of a big golden image of Buddha, with their palms put together, and are reciting Buddhist scripture in chorus that is accompanied by beating drums, wooden fish (a fish-shaped drum made of wood), small cymbals and small bronze bells. It is a solemn Buddhist hymn or a Buddhist music. The hall is lighted with a number of candles, and the smoke of the burning incenses is curling up from the incense burners. The monks are so devout in the service that nothing outside the service can distract them from the reading.

Following the morning worship service, the monks take off their ceremonial dress and begin doing something for their daily life such as collecting firewood, managing vegetables in the fields, cleaningup and cooking. Everybody looks busy but keeps silent. All their daily necessities including their dress, bedrooms, kitchen and dining hall are simple, neat and clean, much simpler than those for the ordinary people. Their food, vegetarian of course, is very simple as well In their dining hall, many unpainted long tables are arranged in rows. For every meal, everybody sits on the wooden benches in front of the tables, waiting for a share of meal consisting of a bowl of fried green vegetables and a bowl of rice. No more vegetables is added, but everybody can help himself to more rice from a big wooden bucket that is placed in the middle of the hall if he needs more.

At their leisure time, some nuns at all ages including some youngsters of around 20 of age, sit leisurely and carefree in front of their houses, each with one hand counting the beads on a string in her hand, and greet visitors with smiles when they pass by them. If you stop to talk with anyone of them, a youngster for instance, she can answer your questions with Buddhist point of view, explaining why she gave up the comfortable common life and came to be a nun, because of her personal or her family interest in Buddhism or some difficulties in her family.

Buddhist atmosphere pervades this park that inspires feelings of peace and serenity even at its most crowded on its ceremonious occasions and in summertime. A visit in the park gives you glimpses into the history of Buddhism in this area. If you take a self-guided trail and visit the ancient temples both in the small town and over the mountains, they introduce you to the bygone Buddhist culture here. From the fourth year of the Yonghui reign of the Tang Dynasty(653), the Juihua Mountains were turned into a place where religious rites were held to worship the God of Earth. In the past thousands of years, a great number (over 300) of temples were put up, and over 4,000 monks and nuns had lived here. The increasing numbers of worshipers from all parts of China burnt more and more incenses whose smoke had once filled the air, showing its prime. The Juihua Mountains then became famous the world over as one of the four Buddhist sacred places, or one of the four Buddhist cultural centers in China, the other three being the Emei Mountains of Sichuan Province, the Wutai Mountains of Shanxi Province and the Putuo Mountains of Zhejiang Province. Now, more than 76 ancient temples and over 6,000 Buddha sculptures are preserved here. The most well known temples here include the Huacheng Temple, the Qiyuan Temple, the Zhantanlin Temple, the Yuegong Hall, the Shangchan Hall, the Roushen Hall, the Baisui Temple, the Ganlu Temple, the Longchi Abbey, the Huiju Temple, the Gubaijing Altar and the Tiantai Temple, where a great number ( over 1,300 pieces) of precious Buddhist relics are kept such as the Buddhist scriptures written in Sanskrit, the Buddhist scriptures written in ancient Chinese, numerous golden seals and jade seals for the ancient emperors, and royal decrees issued by the emperors, paintings and calligraphy by famous ancient masters and scholars who visited here. All of them are in connection with Buddhism here.

The Baisui (meaning one hundred-years-old) Hall is a magnificent five-storied hall atop the Mokong Peak, based on a cliff and facing a deep valley, where the real body of Wuxia, a monk who had spent most of his life and eventually died on the peak in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), is enshrined. This devout Buddhist came to the Juihua Mountains when he was 24-years-old, and had lived in a mountain cave near the Baisui Hall till he died at the age of 126. In compliance with his last wish, his body was put into a big vat and was sealed. In the third year after his death, his disciples opened the vat because of the bright rays glittering out of the vat according to the hearsay, and found that his body was still in good condition, therefore they had his body gilded and enshrined. Now, his goldcloaked body, though drier and much smaller than living-size, sits cross-legged in the shrine, and is worshipped by devout Buddhists the year round. This is the only real body of a Buddhist disciple which is preserved and enshrined in China. The last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who was deeply touched by the monk's devotion to Buddhism, granted him the title of Buddha after his death.

Stretching over an area of 100 square kilometers, the Juihua Mountains are altogether composed of 99 peaks, of which the 9 peaks are the most magnificent ones including the Shiwang (meaning ten kings) Peak, the Tiantai (meaning a tableland in the heaven) Peak, the Lianhua (meaning water lotus blossoms) Peak, the Tianzhu (meaning a column in the heaven) Peak and the other 5 peaks. Towering 1,342 meters above sea level, the Shiwang Peak, the highest peak among the others, standing majestic and draped with jadegreen vegetation, enjoys the reputation of being "the most picturesque peak of the southeast China" .

The Juihua Mountains had been known by another name-the Jiuzi Mountains in the more past until one day , Li Bai , a famous Chinese poet of the Tang Dynasty, was contemplating the crests of the nine peaks from the river below and found their strong resemblance to nine water lotus blossoms, which inspired him to compose his beautiful verse: "From the azure skies above descends a jade-like flow, and nine fascinating lotuses rise out of the peaks below", from which the name of Juihua Mountains derived hence.

Nurtured by the warm climate, sufficient rainfall and rich soil, the nine peaks rival each other in beauty and grandeur. The dark green pine stands and the emerald bamboo stands, the cool grottoes and grotesque rocks, the silver waterfalls and the clear streams, the verdant fields and the peaceful villages, all act as an important component of an alluring picture, creating the colorful, fascinating and heart-stopping views. Standing atop the towering peaks in front of the ancient temples and overlooking the inviting sights, you are given a feeling of being in a fairyland free of the world's vulgarity and turmoil. In this fairyland, you can enjoy the wonderful sights including the rolling green mountains of Wuxi, the 10 crystal-clear brooks and the 18 springs, the thunderous Longchi waterfall of dozens of meters long rushing into a very deep pond called the Dragon Pond, the drifting clouds at the Dongyan Peak, the lush bamboo stands at the Zhuangmin Garden, the glorious view of sunrise at the Tiantai Peak, the ever-changing clouds at the Lianfeng Peak, and the snow-capped landscape at the Pinggang Peak. Watching the swimming fish in a glassy pond and listening to the sweet bird songs add pleasure to your delightful visit in this park.

Wild flowers color most of the land and adorn the peaks with breathtaking display of colors in the warm seasons. A great variety of wild orchids, wild roses and mountain laurels brighten the forest floor and fill the air with their sweet fragrance.

From the Juihua Street of the Town of Juihua toward the southeast, atop one of the peaks covered with dense bamboo stands and golden larch (Pseudolarix amabilis), stands a tall pine called Welcoming-Guest-Pine because its long branches stretch downwards as if it were welcoming its guests, the visitors, with its open arms. The southern slope of the peak is filled with the Sea of Bamboo, a world of bamboo stands that occupy all the half way up the peak. Further up, the Sea of Bamboo is replaced by a mixed stand of Huangshan Mountain pine and Chinese fir, whose dense foliage makes the peak evergreen.

The Zhuangmin Garden, a beautiful scenic spot, is situated in the valley that is heavily forested with pines and bamboos, and encompasses over 20 temples, Buddhist convents and farmers' houses. Near the garden, an ancient pine of 1,500 years old called Phoenix Pine is famous for its strong resemblance to a phoenix in form. This spot offers a good place for photographing, tea made of the unpolluted water from the pond called Beautiful Lady Pond nearby and the tea leaves produced by the tea farms around.

Walking along the trails all over the park, some sounds and photo exhibits make visitors acquainted with the "three treasures" of the park: One is a small, red-billed, white-headed and blacktailed bird called Ding-Dong Bird because it calls the sound of dingdong. This small bird making a very peculiar sound can be found only in the Juihua Mountains.

Another treasure in this park is the peculiar fruit tree called round-wing fruit cyclocarya (Cyclocarya paliurus) because it bears golden coin-shaped fruits in autumn therefore it is locally called golden-coin tree.

The third treasure is the giant salamander, a species of animal whose cries are very much like baby's cries. It is also unique to this park where it lives in the deep pools.

The delightful climate, the tranquility and the wonderful views invite more and more domestic and foreign Buddhists for religious purpose and tourists for summer relaxation. The park is prolific in the production of bamboo shoots, tea leaves, oranges, tangerines and fish. If you visit the park at springtime, you can feast on tender bamboo shoots, fish and tea; and you are entertained with oranges and tangerines if you come to the park in autumn.