The Mystic World of Shanshui: Mount Huangshan: UNESCO Culture Sector

Mount Huangshan, or "Yellow Mountain", is named after a legendary Chinese sovereign Huang Di, also known as the Yellow Emperor. It is said that he became a hermit on this mountain and searched for enlightenment and immortality.

These stone steps took over 1500 years to build. There are said to be more than 60,000 in total. They are called "the hundred steps into the clouds". Mount Huangshan is the name for a 72 peak mountain range. Its grandeur and its rocks became the source of legend. Lianhua Peak is the highest in the region. This small rock on top of the peak is known as "Monkey Rock", owing to the legend of a monkey who fell in love with a girl from a village at the foot of the mountain.

Pine trees protruding from the rock crevices are the local Huangshan pine.

Mt. Huangshan has fascinated many intellectuals, writers and painters. 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."

Several villages at the foot of Mt. Huangshan retain the old-time atmosphere of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Traditional old buildings are perfectly preserved in Hungcun. The village is also inscribed as World Heritage. This garden has a miniature Shanshui "mountain-water" landscape. It is a "Bonsai" garden version of the Huangshan mountains. A local painter Zhu Feng has been drawing Huangshan mountains for 30 years. He believes the ever-changing mountain landscape represents all elements of the universe.

"Be still like a mountain and flow like a great river", said Lao Tzu.

Mt. Huangshan has been a great source of inspiration, a place where people have thought about the universe and our pace in it.