Main Scenic Spots and Wold Heritages in China

Between 1987 and 2001, 28 Chinese sites have been put on the World Nature and Culture Heritage List. China now ranks third, behind Italy and Spain, on the list.

Taishan Mountain Scenic Area

A long time ago Taishan Mountain was called Mr. Daishan or Mt. Dai-zong. It was renamed Taishan Mountain during the Spring and Autumn Period. Since 1987 it has been listed as a world cultural heritage site.

Taishan Mountain is in central Shandong Province and is 426 square kilometers in are-a, with acircumference of 80 kilometers. The main peak, Jade Emperor Peak, rises 1,545 meters above sea level, north of Tai'an City. The mountain is an early birthplace of China's ancient civilization and the area around was one of ancient China's political, economic and cultural centres. Seventy-two emperors from Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties built temples on it. After Qin Shihuang, emperors and scholars from various historical periods went to Taishan Mountain and this accounts for the large quantity of precious cultural relics to be found there.

Taishan Mountain has seventy-two majestic peaks, magnificent water falls, century-old pines and cypresses and fascinating rocks. There are five zones for tourism and two routes up the mountain-one in the east and one in the west. They meet at Zhongtian Gate and there are 6,293 steps in the nine kilometers leading to the top. Scenic spots include Longtan Reservoir, Zhongtian Gate. Five Doctor Pine, Duansong Hill,18 Turns (Ladder to Heaven). South Gate to Heaven,Bixia Temple, Zhanglu Terrace, Sun-Watching Peak and Moon-Watching Peak. The four wonders of the mountain are Sun Rises from the East, Golden Belt along the Yellow River, Beautiful Sun set and the Sea of Clouds. Other attractive spots are the Rare Rock Dock, Fan Cliff. Aolai Peak. Black Dragon Pool, Longevity Bridge, and the Dragon Pool Waterfall.

Taishan Mountain is one of China's mountain parks and is a natural museum of history and art. Along its axis there are 1,800 stone sculptures including famous ones such as the Carved Road from the Qin Dynasty, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra in Sutra Stone Valley, the Wordless Stone Tablet and the Scripture of Taishan Mountain History carved on Daguan Cliff. Tiankuang Hall in the Daimiao Temple, which is also on Taishan Mountain, is one of the three great halls of China (the other two are the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City, Beijing, and Dacheng Hall in Qufu). The 40 statues in the Thousand-Buddha Hall of the Lingyan Temple date back to the Song Dynasty and are prized for their individuality and expressiveness.

There is now a cable car from Zhongtian Gate to the top of Wangfu Hill.

Huangshan Mountain Scenic Area

Huangshan Mountain is in the Huangshan City area, south of Anhui Province. Province. The scenic reserve stretches 40 kilometers from north to south and 30 kilometers from east to west and takes up an area of 1.200 square kilometers. Huangshan Mountain is an important state scenic area and was included in the UNESCO world heritage list in 1990.

Huangshan Mountain has a rich history. A legend claims that Emperor Xuanyuan transformed himself into an immortal on the mountain. Tang Xuanzong, a Taoist emperor, renamed it Huangshan Mountain in 747 and during the Ming Dynasty the noted traveler and geographer Xu Xiake inspected it twice. There is a saying that “You have no wish to visit any other mountains after viewing the Five Mountains(Taishan Mountain in Shandong, Hengshan Mountain in Hunan, Huashan Mountain in Shanxi, Hengshan Mountain in Shanxi and Songshan Mountain in Henan) and you do not even wish to visit them after you come back from a trip to Huangshan Mountain.” Huangshan Mountain is famous for its unique and spectacular scenery. There are 36 huge peaks, 36 minor peaks and three main peaks: Lotus Flower Peak, Tiandu Peak and Brightness Summit, which are 1, 800 meters or more above sea level. There are strangely shaped pines, crystal clear mountain springs and seas of cloud. In the valleys, there are Huangshan Pines, a tree unique to the mountain. Thousands of the pines are 100 or more years old and 31 are well known with names such as the Guest-Greeting Pine, Guest-Sending-off Pine and Lying Dragon Pine. There are 120 sites with spectacular rock formations. The rocks come in a variety of shapes and the big ones make rock forests while the small ones are exquisite. The peaks and dense forests in the deep valleys give rise to seas of cloud and plentiful rain fall. The springs on the mountain are clear and the water is good for drinking and bathing. Huangshan Mountain is also famous for its "four marvels": fantastic pines, grotesque rocks, the sea of clouds and hot springs.

Huangshan Mountain is a natural zoo and botanical garden supporting 1,452 varieties of plants and 552 types of animals. It has a 56 persent forest coverage.

The long history and rich culture of the mountain can be seen in the 200 surviving temples, pavilions, pagodas, zigzag passages, ancient bridges and stone sculptures.

There are hotels and sanatoriums at the base of the mountain and the top can now be reached by cableway.

Wudang Mountain Scenic Area

Wudang Mountain, also known as Taihe Mountain, is located in Danjiangkou City, northwest Hubei Province. It is not only a famous Taoist mountain and birthplace of the art of Wudang Gongfu but is also known both at home and a broad as the site of an ancient architectural complex. In 1994 it was listed as a world cultural heritage site.

Wudang Mountain, which has a circumference of 400 kilometers, has 72 peaks. 24 ravines, 9 springs, 8 palaces and 2 Taoist temples. Tianzhu (Column) Peak, the main peak, rises 1,612 meters above sea level, like a column supporting the sky, and is famous for its uniqueness, silence and beauty. On the mountain, there are several thousand cultural relics from the Yuan, Ming and other historical periods as well as a huge Taoist architectural complex.The solemn and symmetrical ancient buildings are so well ordered and spaced that an echo even occurs between them. The complex was started in 1412, the 10th year of the reign of Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty, and was completed 12 years later. It extends seventy kilometers from Jingle Palace in Gujunzhou City to the Golden Hall at the top of Tianzhu Peak. There are 8 palaces. 2 Taoist temples, 36 nunneries, 72 temples on cliffs, 39 bridges, 12 pavilions and 10 ancestral temples. The main tourist spots are Xuanyue Gate,Yuanhe Taoist Temple, Yuzhen Palace, Yuxu Palace, Mozhen Well, Fuzhen Taoist Temple, Zixiao Palace, the Southern Rock, Taihe Palace and the(;olden Hall. Two of them, Zixiao Palace and the Golden Hall, have been placed under state protection.

Zixiao Palace is one of the origional buildings that is still intact and is located at the foot of Zhanqi Peak, which is northeast of Tianzhu Peak. It was built in 1413, the llth year of the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle. The palace includes the Dongtian Gate, the Dragon and Tiger Hall, Xunbei Stele Pavilion, Shifangzhang, Zixiao Hall and the Parents Hall. The five-bay Zixiao Hall, ~he main building, was built on a three-level terrace; it is double-eaved, nine-ridged, green tiled and red-walled.

The Golden Hall, or (;olden Crown, is situated on top of Tianzhu Peak and was buih in 1416, the 14th year of the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle.It is 5.54 meters high, 5.8 meters wide and 4.2 meters long and imitates the appearance of a timber structure. The tiles, rafters, ridgepoles, beams and gates are bronze and it was built on a granite base. The hall weighs more than 80 tons, and its double eaves rise up with immortals and animals on the ridges. The hall demonstrates well-developed artistic skills in casting, decorating and gold-plating and it is one of the best-known Taoist buildings on the mountain.

Before you enter the hall you have to pass through Zijin City, with a city wall 1.5 kilometers long built from 500-kilogram rectangular stone slabs. The wall has four carved gates. The Golden Hall is the best place to view the morning sunrise and the evening sea of clouds.

Emei Mountain and the Giant Buddha of Leshan

Emei Mountain lies seven kilometers southwest of Emeishan City and is one of the four mountain ranges in China that Buddhists consider sacred.The mountain stretches more than 200 kilometers from south to north.Its main peak, Wanfo Top, is 3,099 meters above sea level. Since ancient times Emei Mountain has been described as "Beauty under Heaven". Temples were built as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty and Buddhism was introduced to the mountain during the Jin Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties there were more than 150 temples constructed.A legend claims that the mountain was where Samantabhadra gave lectures on Buddhism and most temples house a statue of Samantabhadra. The main scenic spots on the mountain include the Baoguo Temple, Wannian Temple, Fohu Temple, Qingyin Pavilion, Heilongjiang Tunnel, Hongchun Platform, Xianfeng Temple (Jiutao Cave), Xixiang Pond and the Golden Summit. These places are at different altitudes and have different climates. Temperatures at the top of mountain are 15 degrees lower than those at the foot. The mountain, which supports more than 3,000 varieties of plants and many animals, is an important scenic area.

Baoguo Temple sits at the foot of the mountain at the entrance and exit of the mountain area. The temple was built during the reign of Ming Emperor Wanli (1573--1620). About 15 kilometers from the Baoguo Temple is Wannian Temple, one of the main temples in the mountain area. Wannian Temple, or the Temple of Samantabhadra as it was known before the Ming Dynasty, was built during the reign of Emperor Long'an of the Eastern Jin Dynasty(397--401). It has no beams and houses a bronze statue of Buddha Samantab hadra mounted on a six-toothed white elephant cast in 980. the fifth year of the Northern Song Dynasty. The statue is 7. 3 meters high and weighs 62 tons. Xianfeng Temple is situated at the foot of the Jiulao Peak and tile old halls were built with tin sheets and iron tiles. The intact halls were rebuilt in 1779, the44th year of the reign of the Qing Emperor Qianlong. At the foot of Fohu Hill, Fohu Temple is located one kilometer west of Baoguo Temple and is one of the largest in the mountain area. It was rebuilt in 1651. the 8th year of the reign of Qing Emperor Shunzhi. It covers an area of 13,000 square meters and is accessible from the highway. At the Golden Summit. the Pinnacle of the mountain area 3,065 meters above sea level, is Puguang Hall or Tompie. It was constructed during the Eastern Han Dynasty and has been rebuih several times after being struck by lightning. The Golden Summit is an ideal place for viewing the sunrise, the sea of clouds, the "Buddhist lights" and "sacred Lamps". Emei Mountain is a well-known natural museum with more than 3,000 specimens of plants and 2,000 types of animals including groups of monkeys that appear on the mountain roads and fascinate tourists.

The Giant Buddha, on the east bank of Minjiang River in Leshan City, Sichuan Province, rests its feet where three rivers join, the Minjiang River, Qingyi River and Dadu River.The Buddha faces Emei Mountain across the river and at its back is the western slope of Lingyun Mountain. Standing as high as 70. 7 meters with shoulders 24 meters wide, it is an impressive sight. A water drainage system reduces erosion by rain and slows weathering.

The main scenic spots on the mountain include the Peak of the Five Old Men, Three-Step Spring, Hanpo Pass, Lulin Lake, Great Tianchi Lake, Flower Path, Ruqin Lake, Jingxiu Valley, the Immortal's Cavern, Lesser Tianchi Lake. DongIin Temple, the White Deer Cave Academy, the I.ushan Botanical Gardens and Lushan Museum.

Guling Town, the center of the scenic area, is a unique city on the mountain. At an altitude of 1, 167 meters, it is surrounded on three sides by mountains. To its north is the Scissors Pass. A mountain highway leads to the various scenic spots from the city.

The 1,211-meter-high Hanpo Pass lies between the Peak of the Five Old Men and Jiuqi Peak. Poyang Lake is in the south of Hanpo Peak and its extensive surface is dotted with thousands of boats. Hanpo Pavilion is an ideal place for viewing the sunrise. To the east of the Three-Step Spring is the Peak of the Five Old Men where a waterfall cascades from rock to rock in a total drop of 300 meters. West of Gulingis the Flower Path where the noted poet of the Tang Dynasty, Bai Juyi, wrote poems expressing his admiration of the peach blossoms. Donglin Temple on the northwest slope of the mountain is the birthplace of the Pure I.and Sect of Buddhism. The White Deer Cave Academy is in a valley at the foot of the Peak of the Five Old Men and was one of the earliest institutes of higher learning in ancient China. The Greater and Lesser Tianchi Lakes are beautiful scenic spots on the mountain and contain water all the year round. The Greater Tianchi Lake is an ideal place for viewing a sunset and the Yangtze River while the Lesser Tianchi Lake is a good place for enjoying the beauty of the PoyangLake. Trees surround Lushan Museum on the northern bar& of Lulin Lake. The Museum houses ancient Chinese bronzes. pottery from different historical periods, calligraphic works from Tang Dynasty and paintings from Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Lushan Botanical Gardens are in a valley to the east of the mountain. At an altitude of 1,000 to 1,300 meters they are sub-highland botanical gardens, which were founded in 1934. The gardens cover an area of three square kilometers, preserving 100,000 species of plant samples, with more than 3,400 kinds of plants growing there.

Wuyishan Mountain Scenic Area

The 60-square-kilometer Wuyishan Mountain is about 15 kilometers south of Wuyishan City in Fujian Province. It is a famous scenic area surrounded by valleys and isolated from other mountains. Places of interest include the Nine Turning Stream and 36 peaks and 99 rocks. The Nine-Turning Stream starts from the Sanbao Mountain and flows through Xingcun Village before entering the Wuyishan Mountain area and it is a wonderful experience to float down the stream from the village on a bamboo raft. Wannian Palace in Chongyou, Chaiyang Academy and Hongqiao Bridge are historical sites and other places of scenic interest are Dawang Peak, Yunu Peak, Jiesheng Peak, the Lesser Peach Garden and the Skyline. There are also many rare plants and animals as well as the Wuyishan Mountain Museum of Nature. In 1988 it was listed as one of the world's biosphere protection areas.

Jiuzhaigou Ravine Scenic Area

Jiuzhaigou Ravine is in Nanping County, Aba Tibetan Qiang Autonomous Prefecture. The main district stretches 80 kilometers in one direction and takes up an area of more than 60,000 hectares.

There are 6 scenic spots: Changhai, Jianyan, Nuorilang. Shuzheng, Zharu and Heihai. The area is well known both at home and abroad for its natural scenery which includes snowy peaks, double waterfalls, colorful forests and green sea. Tibetan customs are another attraction. In 1992, it was listed as a world heritage site.

The mountains, lakes, natural primeval forests and unique scenes make Jiuzhaigou a fairyland. Mountains ranging from 1,980 to about 3.100 meters in height are covered by a variety of trees and plants such as green conifers. luxuriant broadleaf trees and colorful rare flowers and grasses. Scenes change with the season and the area is particularly colorful in autumn when the wind makes kilometers of tree belt along the lake undulate like a sea wave. Water falls, lakes, springs, rivers and shoals add to the color and the green trees, red leaves, snowy peaks and blue skies are reflected from lakes and rivers. Trees grow in the water and flowers blossom in the middle of lakes.

At the Shuzheng Scenic Spot, there are 40 lakes and they extend five kilometers along a valley. The spot is a central point in Jiuzhaigou's landscape and covers an area of three square kilometers. The lakes vary in color according to their depths, residues and scenery around them. The Reed Lake is an ideal habitat for birds. The Spark Lake appears to move while the jade-like Rhinoceros Lake is a good place for rowing, swimming and rafting. There are also the Shuzheng Waterfalls which have a backdrop of trees.

Nuorilang Scenic Area extends from the Nuorilang Waterfalls to Zhuhai, an area of three square kilometers. The 320-meter-wide Nuorilang Waterfall drops 20 meters and is the widest highland waterfall in the country: it is the symbol of Jiuzhaigou. Other places of interest include the quiet and mirror-like Jinghai Lake, the 310-meter-wide Pearl Beach Waterfall and the Five-Color Lake which has a richly colored underwater landscape.

The Sword-Shaped Rock Scenic Area contains the Goose Lake, the Suspended Springs, the Sword Rock, snow-covered mountains and primeval forests. Sometimes you can see giant pandas. There is also the 17.8-kilometer Zechawa Ravine. the longest and highest in Jiuzhaigou. At its end is the eight -kilometer-long Changhai Lake, the largest in the area. In Haizi there is the Five Color Pond, the brightest lake in Jiuzhaigou.

Huanglong(Yellow Dragon) Scenic Area

There are two parts to the Huanglong Scenic Area in Songpan County.Sichuan Province. Huanglong and Maonigou.

The special character of the area, which extends over 700 square kilometers, results from formations of palpitate, which gives a special color to ponds and beaches. With a background of high mountains, snow-covered peaks, valeys. waterfalls, lakes and forests, these palpitate scenes are quite spectacular.

The scenic area provides a variety of unique and wild scenery such as the Huanglong Ravine, at the foot of the Xuebao Peak in the Minshan Mountain; it is 3.6 kilometers long and 30-170 meters wide. The section from the Fuyuan Bridge at the entrance to the Yuyu Pond is 3,160 -3,574 meters above sea level and its surface is a thick layer of light yellow palpitate. In tile sunshine the ravine looks like a golden dragon winding its way through the forest.

In the ravine there are a variety of palpitate scenes, talpatate ponds, beaches, waterfalls, caves and dykes, but the colorful talpatate ponds are the most attractive; they come in different shapes, sizes and colors and there are 3.400 of them in 8 groups. Huanglong Scenic Area is an important scenic spot and was listed as a would heritage site in 1992.

Wulingyuan Scenic Area

Wulingyuan, the world-famous natural reserve, is a land of towering peaks,vast forests, clear streams, and deep valleys. This fairyland lies in the Wuling Mountaius, north west of China's Hunan Province, the birthplace of the late Chairman Mao Zedong. It consists of Zhangjiajie, Tianzi Mountain, Suoxi Valley. and Yangjiajie, each with a unique landscape, within an area of 369square kilometers inside Zhangjiajie Municipality.

Wulingyuan demonstrates its beauty in its high mountains, queer crags, clear waters, deep valleys and fine caves. More than 5,000 crags tower from the valleys, with about 800 streams winding forward through the gullies. Wulingyuan is not only famous for its natural scenery, but also for its rich resources of flora and fauna. It's a treasure house of green plants and a paradise for wild animals. Trees cover 97.7% of the area. Most ancient and rare trees can be found in the primeval forests, dove trees, ginkgoes, Chinese yew, tulip trees, metasequoias and many other rare trees and flowers. A favorable natural habitat for all kinds of rare animals and birds, Wulingyuan boasts rhesus monkeys, otters, blue sheep, pangolins, musk deer, ducks and the locally called "water carrying bird" with a water-storing bag under its neck, which is also rare in the world.

Zhangjiajie State Forest Park, the first national forest park in China, can probably best represent the beauty of Wulingyuan. Huangshizhai is the top at traction in Zhangjiajie, embracing the best scenic spots in Zhangjiajie as a popular local saying goes, "not coming to the Huangshizhai will make the Zhangjiajie trip fruitless. " Visitors here can see a marvelous fairyland formed by unusual peaks and rocks, streams, forests, rare animals and birds and sunrise.

Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang

The grottoes of Dunhuang include the Mogao Grottoes, the West Thousand-Buddha Cave and Yulin Grottoes. The grottoes are about 25 kilometers southeast of Dunhuang, Gansu Province and are hewn from a steep cliff at the foot of Mingsha Mountain.

In places, they are five stories high and their length from north to south is more than 1,600 meters. Work on the grottoes began in 366, the second year of the reign of Jianyuan of the pre-Qin Dynasty. In total there are 492 caves dating back to 16 dynasties including Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern Wei, Western Wei. Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Xixia and Yuan. In the caves. there are 45,000 square meters of murals, 2,415 color sculptures and some 4,000 celestial figures. In addition, there are 50,000 documents and cultural relics and five timber buildings from the Tang and Song Dynastics. The grottoes are a treasury of arts including architecture, painting and sculpture as well as a treasure house of documents and cultural relics. They were listed as one of the world's cultural heritages in 1987.

Murals from various periods reflect social life, clothing, production, ancient architecture, music, dance and acrobatics and are a historical record of cultural exchanges between China and other regions. The images in the grottoes are a valuable reference for the study of ancient Chinese society from the 4th century to the 14th century.

The murals of the Mogao Grottoes are of an important historical and artistic value. Those from the Tang Dynasty achieve the highest artistic perfection with strong figures that are well shaped and proportioned and featuring attractive lively images.

The painted statues in the Dunhuang Grottoes focus on integration of color and form leaving space for color and lines to supplement each other. Bright colors exaggerate the characteristics of the subjects.

The most impressive caves are Cave 96, 17, 130, 158, 259, 285, 200 and 428.

Chengde Mountain Resort and Temples

Chengde Imperial Palace, also known as the Rehe Palace, is in Chengde Mountain Resort. The palace which is in the northern part of Chengde City, Hebei Province, was where Qing emperors spent their summer. Work on the palace began in 1703, the 42nd year of the reign of Qing Emperor Kangxi, and was completed in 1792, the 57th year of the reign of Qing Emperor Qianlong. It covers an area of 5.64 million square meters and includes 110 buildings with a combined floor space of 100,000 square meters. There is a 10-kilometer-long zigzag palace wall and the resort is the largest intact imperial garden and palace China.

The mountain resort has a simple and elegant layout. It was built on the natural mountains and rivers, copying the landscape from southern Jiangsu Province and outside of Shanhaiguan. The palaces in this large-scale imperial garden were built in a style of quadruple courtyards, with blue bricks and tiles.

There are two parts to the summer resort-the palace itself and a scenic area. The palace was where the emperor lived, handled state affairs and held celebrations or ceremonies. It is made up of the Main Palace, the Crane Temple Wanhe Songfeng and the East Palace. The scenic area include a lake district, a district of plains and a mountainous district. The western part of the plain district illustrates a grassland scene from Inner Mongolia while in the eastern part there are ancient trees like the forests of Greater Xing’an Mountain. The densely forested mountainous area is on an undulating landscape.

To the northeast of the Mountain Resort is a monumental temple complex composed of eight outer temples, which were built from 1713 (the 52nd year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi) to 1789 (the 45th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign). The temples are Furen Temple, Fushang Temple (which has been damaged), Pule Temple, Anyuan Temple, Puning Temple, Xumi Fushou Temple, Putuo Zongcheng Temple and Shuxiang Temple. They were built in Han palace style and drew on the architectural styles of ethnic groups such as Mongolian, Tibetan and Ugyur.

The Pule, Puning and Xumi Fushou Temples are the main structures of the complex. The Hall of Brightness in the Pule Temple, which has a double-eaved and doom roof, is similar to the Hall of Prayer for Bountiful Harvests at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. In the Hall of the Bodhisattva of the Puning Temple there is a 22.23-meter-high Bodhisattva, which has 1,000 arms and 1,000 eyes. The statue weighs 110 tons and is the highest and largest wood statue in the world. Putuo Zongcheng Temple was modeled on the Potala Palace in Lhasa and is as famous as the Lesser Potala.

Mansion, Temple and Cemetery of Confucius in Qufu

The Mansion, Temple and Cemetery of Confucius in Qufu, Shandong Province, are cultural sites and attract tourist from both China and abroad. In 1994, they were listed as world cultural heritage sites.

The Mansion of Confucius is the living quarters of the first grandson of Confucius, a great philosopher, educator and founder of Confucianism. It is also known as Master Yansheng's Mansion because in 1055, or the second year of the reign of Song Emperor Zhaozhen, Kong Zongyuan, the 46th generation male descendant of Confucius was given the title "Master Yansheng". The title was passed down to Kong Decheng, the 77th generation male descendant of Confucius. Built on an area of 160,000 square meters, the mansion has nine courtyards with 463 rooms along the east, west and middle routes. The houses along the middle route are the main part of the mansion. The first four yards contain offices and the other five serve as residences. At the rear is a garden. The mansion stores more than 7,000 volumes of files from 1534 to 1948 and great quantities of rare and precious cultural and historical relics.

The Temple of Confucius was, in various dynasties, a place for worship ping Confucius. In 478 BC, the second year after Confucius' death, the ruler of the State of Lu converted the three-room Confucius' former mansion into a temple and this became a place for worshipping Confucius. The temple was constantly renovated and expanded to its present size by emperors of the Western Han Dynasty and following historical periods. It covers an area of 218,000 square meters and is t, 129 meters in length from south to north. There are 9 courtyards and 466 rooms along three routes in the left. right and middle. The temple has an outer wall, with four corner towers, which shelters ancient pines. The main buildings along the middle route arc Kuiwen Pavilion, the Thirteen Stele Pavilion, Xingtan Pavilion, Dacheng Hall, Hall of Confucius' Wife and Shengji Hall. Dacheng Hall stands out and is the main halt where Confucius was worshipped.

The temple houses some 2,000 tablets dating from the Western Han Dynasty right up to the founding of New China; they are one of the largest collections of tablets in the country. There are now three exhibition halls displaying tablets from the Han Dynasty and Six Kingdoms of Wei, stone statues from the Han Dynasty and calligraphic carvings on Yuhonglou tablets. The 17 Han Dynasty tablets are the largest collection in the country preserved in one place.

The Cemetery of Confucius is about 1.5 kilometers north of Qufu and is the Confucius family cemetery. It takes up 1. 998 million square meters and around it there is a seven-kilometer-long hedge. The pavilions, towers, halls and archways built in various historical periods are set in a forest. Behind the Zhushui Bridge is the graveyard, dating from the Eastern Zhou, which houses the tomb of Confucius, the tombs of his son Kong Li and grandson Kong Ji. The tomb Confucius is 6.2 meter high and has a circumference of 88 meter.

Ancient City -- Lijiang

The ancient city of I.ijiang is also known as Dayan Town in Lijiangba. It is an intact ancient city inhabited mostly by Naxi ethnic people and covers an area of 1.5 square kilometers.

As its center there is a square. It was first built in 1126 in the late Song Dynasty and in 1253 Kublai (the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty) was stationed here on his march into the south. Lijiang is world-renowned as an ancient city built in a simple and artistic style and scientifically laid out. It was listed as a national historical and cultural city in 1986.

Lijiang City is surrounded by the Lion Mountain in the west and by the Elephant and Golden Row Mountains in the north. These mountains in the northwest shelter it from the cold wind. In the southeast there are fertile fields, which are dozens of kilometers long. The city is favored with plentiful sunlight, an east wind and clear spring water, which flows in three streams and reaches every family. The streets are paved with the local stone slabs, which do not get muddy in the rainy season and are free of dust in the dry sea- son. Many stone bridges and arches in the city were built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties and orderly roads and lanes extend to four directions from the central square. Residential houses are made of timber; most have a screen wall in front and some have a quadruple courtyard. Local people plant flowers in them.

The ancient traditional culture of the Naxi ethnic group is the Dongba culture, which is based on the Dongba religion. Believers practice witchcraft and they are skilled in medicine. The culture is passed on through literature and art.

The Dongba language has more than 1,300 separate words, which are written in primitive pictographic characters. There are more than 1,400 types of Dongba scriptures written in these characters and they take up 20,000 volumes. The scriptures cover religion, philosophy, history, local customs, literature, art, astronomy, medicine, the calendar, geography, flora, fauna, dancing, painting and music.

Lijiang is also the home of murals painted by people from Han, Tibetan and Naxi ethnic groups who were invited to do so by herdsman Mu during the Ming Dynasty. They cover a total area of 139.22 square meters on 55 walls of Dabaoji Palace, Liuli Hall, Dabao Pavilion and Daque Palace in Laihe. The largest is 2.07 meters by 4.48 meters and contains 600 figures.

The Old Town of Lijiang was included in the UNESCO world culture heritage list in 1997.

The Ancient City of Pingyao

The ancient city Pingao is in Pingyao County, Shanxi Province. The city wall was first built during the Zhou Dynasty and was expanded in 1370, the third year of the reign of Ming Emperor Hongwu.

The perimeter of this square city is 6.4 kilometers long and the city wall is the earliest and largest intact one in China. The one that stands now was built early in the Ming Dynasty and is 12 meters high with an average width of five meters. Its body is rammed earth strengthened with a covering of bricks. There are crenels, a water drainage system and the top is floored with bricks. Outside the city wall there is a moat four meters wide and four meters deep. The city has six gates, two on the east wall and two on the west and one on the south and north each. All the gates project outwards and each has two doors. The city has resulted in the name of "Turtle City" with the two gates on the south and north representing the head and tail of the turtle and four gates on the east and west as the four legs. The two doors on the south and the north stand opposite to each other, like the head of the turtle extending out and two wells just beyond southern gate are like a turtle's two eyes. The outer door of the north gate turns east, like the tail of a turtle. There is a tower at each gate and seven-meter-high towers at each corner. Along the wall there are platforms 50 meters apart, 3,000 crenels on the outer wall and 72 watchtowers.

The streets, old government offices, shops and residential houses inside the city retain their original styles and shapes and are a model for research on a county town of the Ming Dynasty. The city is under national protection and listed as world heritage in 1997.

Ancient Gardens in Suzhou

Suzhou is located in the south of the Yangtze River Delta and border Taihu Lake to the west and Shanghai to the east. It is an oriental water city as well as a famous historical and cultural center with a history going back 2,500 years.

It is also a source of the unique Taihu rocks and over a long period many officials built gardens here. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were some 200 gardens and the city was renowned both in China and abroad for its small but elegant private gardens. They represent the quintessence of the gardens found in the southern area of Jiangsu Province and demonstrate the varied styles of the Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty, Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty. The Blue Waves Pavilion Garden, the Lion-Grove Garden, the Humble Administrator's Garden and the Linger-Here Garden are the most important ones in the city and illustrate architectural styles of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The Blue-Waves Pavilion Garden is the oldest and was a villa in the old days. Built in a unique style, the garden makes use of and combines landscapes outside as well as inside the garden. The garden itself is composed of rocks, green bamboo groves and hills. The Bright Path Hall is the largest building in the garden. The west wall of the hall is carved with more than 500 images of celebrities who have figured in Suzhou’s history.

The Lion-Grove Garden is on the Yuanlin Road in the city itself. The garden, built in the Yuan Dynasty, is famous for its rockeries, most of which look like lions, hence the name. It is small but well arranged and to the south east there are hills while in the northwest there is water. Around the garden there is a walkway that follows the contours of the land and there are a num her of buildings that are in perfect harmony with the scenery including Yanyu Hall, the Sleeping-Clouds Chamber and the Seek-Plum-Blossoms Tower.

The Humble Administrator's Garden on Northeast Street in the city is the largest of its kind in the area. It is one of China's four major gardens and a masterpiece of the private classic garden. About three-fifths of the garden is a water area and most of the major buildings were built beside water; they are simple and elegant. There are a dozen pavilions built in different styles and the garden is divided into three parts-- east, middle and west. The middle part features the essential qualities of the garden.

The Linger-Here Garden was first built in the Ming Dynasty. It is famous for its composition and variety. Groups of buildings are used ingeniously to divide and form the space into ever-changing garden scenes. The garden is divided into four parts-- central, eastern, western and northern. The central part is characterized by hills and water and is quiet and peaceful. The eastern part features double-eaved buildings. The northern part has rural scenery and the western part natural scenery. The four parts are linked together by a winding path. The central and eastern parts are the most distinctive.

Classical Gardens of Suzhou are included in the UNESCO world heritage list in 1997.

Dazu Stone Carvings

The stone carvings in Dazu date to the Tang and Song Dynasties. There are 100,000 images in this group of stone carvings which are found at 70 sites about 14 kilometers away from Chongqing. Most are Buddhist but there are Confucian and Taoist images. The stone carvings in Dazu are typical grotto carvings from later historical periods. They are important cultural relics and are under state protection.

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