Live Your Best Lives
After writing so much about the passionate autumn in the north, I thought I would never be fascinated by the autumn colors of any other place again. Until autumn came to the south of the Yangtze River, I fell into a beautiful dream about Huizhou!
"The most infatuated place in my life is Huizhou, where I never dreamed of going."
Surrounded by mountains and water, with white walls and black tiles, horse-head walls and graceful houses, Huizhou is a landscape that can truly transport you into an ink painting.
It was once rated as "the most beautiful place in China" by CNN. Every autumn, it seems to gather all the colors in the world.
The high ridges and flying eaves, the winding corridors, and the horse-head walls are reflected with the morning mist and the red persimmons of autumn. Countless colors, with the coordination of light and shadow, are like an "Impression of Huizhou". No autumn is more Chinese than this!
Huizhou Autumn Viewing Map▲
Here, you don’t have to rush. From the majestic Huangshan Mountain to the leisurely and ancient Mulikeng, from climbing to drying autumn fruits, you can "dream back to Huizhou" as you move from one place to another.
When you think of Huizhou, does Anhui come to mind first? In fact, Huizhou is not a nickname for Anhui.
Huizhou, also known as "Hui" in short, was formerly known as Shezhou and Xin'an. It administered six counties: Shexian, Yixian, Xiuning, Qimen, Jixi, and Wuyuan, collectively known as "one prefecture and six counties." Later, due to political and economic factors, Wuyuan was incorporated into Jiangxi, and Jixi was assigned to Xuancheng, forming the current structure of two provinces and three regions.
Nestled against the backdrop of mountains, surrounded by water, and facing the screen, the ancient villages of Huizhou, with their black, white, and gray as their primary colors and their meticulous pursuit of Feng Shui, have imbued them with the pristine beauty of freehand landscape paintings. In October, with the stroke of autumn's brush, the vibrant colors of Huizhou are scattered across these well-proportioned ancient villages.
During the autumn drying season, the red of peppers, the yellow of corn, the fiery red of ancient maples and the quaint white walls and green tiles complement each other. Various colors are intertwined together, exuding amazing vitality!
This time, we will take you to explore the lively world in the autumn scenery of Huizhou!
Drying the sun in the sun in Huangling is a folk symbol of Huizhou. It is a typical mountain village with dozens of ancient Huizhou-style houses scattered in the valley with a drop of 100 meters.
There is no flat ground in Huangling. Villagers use the areas in front of and behind their houses and on their windowsills and roofs to hang crops to dry. Every household has windows for lighting and racks to dry crops.
The villagers use the viewing windows as canvases, the stands as paintbrushes, and the drying plaques as palettes. In spring, they dry bamboo shoots and ferns; in autumn, they dry red peppers, rice, and soybeans... The bright colors and the beautiful meaning of a good harvest create a series of masterpieces of folk customs.
Changxi is a niche autumn viewing spot in Wuyuan. The most beautiful time of the day here is evening, which is also the best time to wait for the sunset.
There are more than 200 century-old sweet maple trees growing in clusters around Changxi Village. In autumn, the area around the village is covered with endless stretches of fiery red. The bright red maples and the tall horse-head walls are shaded together, forming a unique and spectacular red maple forest landscape.
Shicheng is the essence of Wuyuan's autumn colors. The most beautiful time of the day is in the morning, when the morning mist hangs low on the treetops, and the red leaves burst out in mist circles, which together with the smoke from the houses form a dreamlike fairyland!
In late autumn and early winter, the fiery red maple trees and gray bricks and tiles create a strong visual impact. In the early morning through the morning mist and smoke, the horse head wall looks like it is painted with a thin layer of blush, attracting autumn outings, photography, and sketching enthusiasts from all over the country.
Muli Village is located on the mountain ridge, with three sides suspended in the air and a strong Hui style. It is known as "the most beautiful alpine village in Huangshan". Looking from the front mountain to the opposite side, you can see the style of the entire village, and the scenery is very beautiful.
After the rain, you can also see the sea of clouds, and the whole village looks like a fairyland. In November, Muli Village is even more beautiful with the embellishment of ginkgo trees.
Yangchan is a small village built on the mountain. Villagers use bluestone from the surrounding area to pave roads and build bridges, and use red soil and wood to build nests and live in. There are more than 300 earth buildings in total, one after another, row by row, with various shapes, reasonable layout and staggered arrangement.
When autumn comes, the farmers here will dry the harvested corn, peppers, persimmons, etc. in front of the doors, platforms and windowsills of the earthen buildings. These colorful crops quietly embellish these quaint houses.
Jigongjian is a natural village on the top of a 700m mountain. It has been a famous flower and fruit town since ancient times. Every autumn, chrysanthemums bloom here, the beautiful mountain mist is dyed with layers of colors, and the mountains are covered with red persimmons.
The most special thing here is the time-honored custom of drying persimmons. It is another popular destination for enjoying the unique autumn scenery in Huizhou. With such delicious food and beautiful scenery, it is truly a place where you will "take a look and miss the whole autumn"!
Tachuan is famous for its autumn colors and is known as one of the "Four Most Beautiful Autumn Colors in China" along with Jiuzhaigou in Sichuan, Xiangshan in Beijing and Kanas in Xinjiang.
Tachuan, part of Hongcun Village and only about 2 kilometers away, is known as the "Village in a Chinese Painting." The village entrance and surrounding area are filled with towering tallow trees, reminiscent of the paradise described by Tao Yuanming.
In late October, the Chinese tallow trees in Tachuan gradually turn red. After the frost in mid-November, the autumn colors are at their peak. The leaves on the mountain are colorful, red, yellow, and purple, shading the ancient houses with white walls and black tiles that look like ink paintings, isolated and independent from the world!
The autumn in Tachuan is getting deeper, and Hongcun is full of fireworks like a painting. We will also select high-end hotels to take you to live in the autumn colors of Huizhou, where autumn colors are everywhere inside and outside the hotel.
Compared to the lesser-known Hongcun, Lucun is more quaint and tranquil. Like Shicheng, it's a great choice for photographing the rising morning mist. Standing on the observation deck and looking down from above is a visual feast of colors!
Another distinctive feature of Lu Village is its Woodcarving Building. Two craftsmen spent 20 years meticulously carving the entire building, earning it the nickname "Huizhou's No. 1 Woodcarving Building." The exquisite craftsmanship is truly breathtaking. The village is devoid of commercial activity, and villagers can still be found washing clothes and chatting by the river, lending it a truly down-to-earth feel.
Xieli is located in Yi County, Anhui Province, only about 2 kilometers away from Hongcun. It is "hidden in the deep boudoir and unknown to the world" and because there are few visitors, it still maintains a relatively original appearance.
Compared to other places for viewing autumn colors, it has more colors and more wildness. Terraced fields, maple leaves, Chinese tallow trees, and metasequoia trees are all vibrant colors, decorating the entire village with a dazzling array of colors.
Hongcun is located in Yi County, Anhui Province, about an hour's drive from Huangshan Mountain. Known as the "Village in the Painting", it is the concentrated birthplace of Hui culture and one of the important gathering places of ancient Hui merchants.
Hongcun is an ancient village with an "ox-shaped" layout. The entire village is surrounded by an exquisite water system designed by our ancestors, especially the Chengzhi Hall, a folk palace, which is grand and exquisite.
Huizhou's autumn is not only hidden in every corner of the village, but also hidden among the mountains and rivers. A visit to Huizhou will reveal the meaning of "water covered with dark blue, water rippling with waves." Only when you are there will you understand that the depictions in ancient poetry and ink paintings are real!
“When you climb Mount Huangshan, there is no mountain in the world that surpasses it!”
Huangshan, known as "the most extraordinary mountain in the world" and a World Heritage Site, is a beautiful but hidden gem. As a result, it wasn't widely known until nearly a thousand years after the Five Sacred Mountains were established.
Actually, when it comes to autumn colors, Huangshan isn't particularly representative due to the presence of Huangshan pine trees. However, November to May is the best time to see Huangshan's sea of clouds. In colder weather, you can even see rime!
The early morning sunrise at Huangshan, the rolling sea of clouds, the rugged rocks, and the red maples and yellow chrysanthemums on the road make walking among them feel like traveling between the human world and the fairyland.
"Qiyun's landscape is so unique that it can rival Huangshan for the best in the south of the Yangtze River."
Among the renowned mountains and rivers of southern Anhui, Qiyun Mountain stands as a low-key yet elegant Taoist mountain. Seas of clouds appear up to 260 days a year, shrouded in mist year-round. Its Danxia landforms are unique to Huizhou, earning Emperor Qianlong's praise as "a unique scenic spot under heaven, the most famous mountain in Jiangnan."
With peaks reaching the heights of the clouds and towering peaks, Mount Qiyun was deliberately hidden from Xu Xiake when he visited it, preventing him from fully viewing the mountain's best scenery. The Danxia landforms of Mount Qiyun, with its peaks resembling a colorful cloud floating amidst the lush green mountains and clear waters, are a dreamlike sight.
Especially in autumn, the red and yellow leaves decorate the mountains, which is so beautiful that it makes people intoxicated. It is definitely a blessed place to enjoy autumn in Huizhou.
The Qinglongwan redwood forest hidden in the Ningguo area of Xuancheng is known as the "Kanas of Southern Anhui". With the arrival of autumn, more than 2,000 acres of redwood forest are dyed with colors.
The redwood forest begins to change color in mid-November every year and lasts until around early December. The color first turns from green to yellow and then to red. It is colorful and looks like a fairy tale world.
Taohuatan, located 40 kilometers west of Jingxian County and closely connected to Taiping Lake, became famous all over the world because of the popular poem "Presented to Wang Lun" by Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, which reads: "The water of Taohuatan is a thousand feet deep, yet it is not as deep as the love Wang Lun gave me."
The surface of the pond is shimmering and the blue waves reflect the sky. The bank of the pond is covered with strange rocks, ancient trees and green vines, and flying pavilions and dangerous buildings are faintly visible among them. It is like the fairyland of Penglai, and it also makes you wonder if it is the home of Wuling.
Take a small boat to Taohuatan and wait for the sunrise. A thin layer of mist is floating on the water surface, changing its shape from time to time. When the sunlight shines through the mist, it becomes even more dreamy.
Huizhou is like a relatively isolated mountain island nestled in a vast ocean of plains. The Xin'an River not only connects Huizhou with the rest of the country, but also imbues it with boundless, idyllic beauty.
The Xin'an River is no longer green in autumn, and the autumn colors have replaced the fairyland with the human world.
Autumn in Huizhou is inherently poetic and picturesque, a scene that no Jiangnan resident tires of. The word "infatuating" is the perfect description. Missing it means missing out on China's most poetic autumn!
