Live Your Best Lives
Huangshan in Anhui is a fascinating tourist destination. Its beautiful natural scenery, profound history and culture, and unique folk customs are all extremely attractive highlights.
Going to Huangshan is not just about seeing the mountains. Compared to the majestic magnificence of the mountains, I prefer the tenderness, tolerance and tenacity of water. So I canceled the plan to climb Huangshan this time. Water became the theme of the trip. I went on a self-driving tour with my friends and started a "water" journey.
The first stop on our road trip was the Huizhou Grand Canyon in Xiuning County. Arguably the most secluded and picturesque landscape in the Huangshan area, the canyon boasts lush greenery, gurgling streams, and a crisscross of waterfalls, creating a picturesque experience.
The scenic area has developed rafting using the stream. The entire course is 3.7 kilometers long with a drop of 100 meters. It is sometimes gentle and sometimes thrilling.
Based on the terrain and landscape, the scenic area has specially designed multiple sightseeing routes. The most beautiful parts are designed as hiking routes, while the less beautiful or repeated landscapes can be viewed while riding on sightseeing buses, forming five major tourist areas including high-speed rafting, Wanjing River Tracing, High Mountain Lake, Yuanfangcui Valley, and Yangshan Ancient Road.
Mountains are not famous for their height, but for their immortality; water is not known for its depth, but for its dragon-like spirit. The towering mountains shape the Huizhou Grand Canyon, while the clear, vibrant water imbues it with a vibrant soul. Along the way, breathe in the breath of the forest, listen to the rhythm of the stream, and experience the beauty of nature in this pristine canyon.
The Huizhou Grand Canyon, formerly known as the Yuanfang Grand Canyon, is located in Yuanfang Township, Xiuning County, Huangshan District, 16 kilometers from Huangshan City, offering convenient transportation. The scenic area is only 15 kilometers from Tunxi, and the total tour distance is 10 kilometers.
Lingnan Paradise is located in Xiuning County, Huangshan, at the junction of Anhui, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi provinces. Nestled amidst natural beauty, it offers a privileged environment and fresh air. The park covers an area of 100,000 square meters and boasts over 20 attractions, the most exciting of which is the five-kilometer-long mountain spring rafting system with nine pools and eighteen bends.
In addition to river rafting, there is also a fully transparent glass slide with a drop of 100 meters over a distance of 1,000 meters. There are S-shaped and C-shaped bends. You can ride in a rubber boat and glide through the scenery of green mountains and green waters. Sometimes it is smooth, sometimes it is thrilling. You can drift and have fun all the way.
Compared with various drifting and sliding activities, bungee jumping is more exciting. Jumping from a 55-meter high platform and then bouncing several times is definitely a challenge to your courage.
The park also has a rainbow slide, a net bridge, an alphabet bridge, a thrilling ride, go-karts, rock climbing, a trampoline, a shouting fountain, a dragon boat swing, bumper boats, water bikes, and water ball games...you can have fun all day long.
In addition to various amusement projects, there are also many leisure activities here, and it is also beautiful to check in and take photos.
When traveling to Huangshan's Yixian County, Xidi and Hongcun, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, are popular check-in spots for most tourists. Nearby is Lu Village, which is equally impressive but very low-key.
Most of the ancient villages in Huizhou were built along streams. The water came first, then the village. Lu Village is crossed by two streams: Xiamen Creek to the west and Qianjie Creek to the east, which flow south to merge into Fengzhan River. A man-made canal winds its way through the village from Xiamen Creek. Along either side of the stream are rows of Hui-style houses, often with cantilevered verandas on the waterside, providing shade and shelter from the rain.
Unlike the nearby Hongcun, which is bustling with tourists, Lucun is free of the hustle and bustle and commercial atmosphere, and appears more peaceful and tranquil.
In this humble ancient village, there is a luxurious wood carving building hidden. The wood carving techniques here include shallow carving, deep carving, hollow carving and other types, and the deep carving can have up to six or seven layers.
Its exquisite craftsmanship, high level, vivid images and profound meaning are breathtaking. It can be called a museum of sculpture art and is known as the "No. 1 Woodcarving Building in China."
The most representative of Lu Village's woodcarving buildings is Zhicheng Hall, home to Lu Baiwan's first and second wives. Entering the main hall, one is struck by the exquisite woodcarvings that adorn the walls, the courtyard, the beams, pillars, doors, and windows. Each pattern depicts a classic story. The Twenty-Four Filial Exemplars, Buddhist and Taoist allusions, myths and legends, and even the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are vividly portrayed through vivid and lifelike images.
There lives an old lady in the wood-carved building. She is the eighth generation descendant of the Lu Baiwan family. She has been guarding this old house handed down from her ancestors and telling the story of the old house to passing tourists in dialect. The big cat next to her seems to have heard it many times and lies on the side with its eyes closed to rest.
Nearly two centuries have passed. The former glory is gone, the honor and disgrace have become a thing of the past, the owners of the house have changed from generation to generation, but the old house remains, witnessing the rise and fall of the ancient village, the vicissitudes of time, and listening to the stories that are still being played out.
Hongcun is a village built on the waterside. On the banks of South Lake, white walls, gray tiles, and the blue sky are reflected in the water. The first sight of Hongcun is so stunning.
Apart from the clear water and blue sky, there are no brilliant and colorful colors, but the simple and elegant tones are rich in layers, just like the representative ink painting of traditional Chinese painting, Hui ink, Xuan paper, Xuan brush, She inkstone, simple black, white and gray express infinitely rich artistic conception.
Like most ancient Huizhou villages, Hongcun was built after its water system was constructed. This meticulously designed water system is known as "an ox" when viewed from the air. Its artificial water system is considered one of the greatest architectural wonders of the time.
A dam was built across the river, creating an inlet to divert water into the village. Taking advantage of the natural topographical differences, the water flowed naturally into the Moon Pond and then into South Lake. Every household was within a hundred meters of the canal, creating a living environment where "cleaning and fetching water from the stream is not a long journey, and every home has a clear spring at its doorstep." The water in the canals in Hongcun's streets and alleys always remained below the stone slabs, rising above them during flood seasons and never failing even in years of drought.
The Hongcun people's use of water reflects their profound wisdom and understanding of the harmonious relationship between man and nature. Following the saying, "Flowers bloom and then fall, and the moon waxes and then wanes," a crescent-shaped pond, called "Moon Pond," was excavated within the village. It's a must-see landmark in Hongcun and has been the setting for numerous scenic masterpieces and film blockbusters.
To protect the cleanliness of their water source, the people of Hongcun have established a rule since their ancestors: before 8 a.m. each day, the water in the "cow intestine" is for drinking; after 8 p.m., villagers may wash there. The water in the canal never surges due to rain or flooding; the water level always remains below the stone slab, and even in years of drought, the flow never stops. This subtlety reflects the ancient people's profound wisdom.
"Bringing water into homes and digging wells can prevent the ravages of fire, facilitate washing, bring in a lot of wealth, clear out the foul air in the village, and irrigate the fertile fields outside the village." This is the vivid summary of the functions of the water system by the people of Hongcun.
Through their profound understanding of the harmonious relationship between man and nature and their scientific and sophisticated designs, the people of Hongcun have taken "water" to a level that we still admire six hundred years later.
Huizhou has been blessed with outstanding people and talented people since ancient times, a place of rare feng shui. Water silently nourishes all things, nourishing the land. As the saying goes, when you drink water, remember its source. During our road trip, we visited the Wujixue Mineral Water Science Base, also a AAA-rated scenic spot.
Legend has it that Huangshan was the place where Emperor Xuanyuan cultivated himself and achieved immortality through alchemy. During the Tang Dynasty, the original "Yishan" was renamed Huangshan, meaning "Mountain of the Yellow Emperor." In his quest for immortality, Emperor Xuanyuan sought advice on alchemy from everywhere.
Fuqiu Gong said: "To refine the elixir, we must have mountains and rivers. Mountains and rivers are beautiful, and the elixir is easy to make. I have traveled to many famous mountains, and only Mount Yi is the city of immortals. The clouds are condensed into blue sky, the mountains are high and the forests are lush, and the spiritual springs are sweet, which can boil stones into elixir." So the Yellow Emperor ordered people to collect medicinal materials and draw water from the Danjing Wuji, and finally refined the elixir.
Legends always have a bit of mythological color, and no one has ever tried to see whether the so-called elixir works. However, Shuyuan Village, the source of the water, is a real longevity village. The village still retains the first centenarian archway in Chinese history - the Zhenshou Gate, which was built by order of Emperor Qianlong.
The villagers' widespread longevity is likely due to the unique water quality. This water source, a tributary of the Xin'an River, lies within the pristine ecological reserve at the southeastern foot of Mount Huangshan. Home to lush vegetation and numerous mountain springs, the water, filtered through the rock layers, is crystal clear, infused with a variety of minerals and trace elements, and possesses a weak alkalinity and natural magnetism.
At the Wujixue Mineral Water Science Popularization Base, we saw the development of local mineral water resources. A 16-kilometer-long underground pipeline has been laid to transport the water to the bottling factory. A fully automated mineral water production line and visitor area have been built. Anhui Province's only "Water Culture Experience Center," the Raoshui Lake Water Park, and the Romantic Red Outdoor Development Training Base have also been established. Construction is underway on the Mineral Water Culture Experience Center and supporting accommodations. Through interactive educational activities, knowledge about scientific and healthy drinking water is being promoted, integrating water source protection with water education, experiential learning, and development training.
Water is the source of life. In Huangshan, Anhui, we saw mountain streams and waterfalls, flowing bridges, and ancient villages nestled by the water. We witnessed our ancestors' understanding and utilization of water, as well as the increasingly in-depth research and development of water resources today. While appreciating the beautiful landscapes of Huangshan, we felt the ancient wisdom of harmonious coexistence with nature and experienced the progress of the times and the inheritance of culture. Our Huangshan "water" journey was truly rewarding and well worth the trip.
