Category: Chinese Culture

As early as 2,000 years ago, many emperors and celebrities visited Hengshan Mountain and left quite a lot of stone inscriptions of poems, including that of famous poets: Libai, Dufu and Zhuxi. With beautiful scenery and rich cultural heritage, the mountain attracts travelers home and abroad. Hengshan Mountain, named the Southern Mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains, is located in Hengyang County, in the middle part of Hunan Province. There are 72 peaks, extending 150 kilometers, with a circumference of 800 miles. The Huiyan Peak is the south end of the peaks, Yuelu Mountain in Changsha City the north end, and the Zhurong Peak is the highest, with 1,290 meters above sea level. On the top, the Shaolin Temple and the Watching Sunrise Platform are the best scenic spots. Besides marvelous temples, the mountain also boasts 9 ponds, 9 wells, 9 pools, 10 caves, 15 rocks, 25 streams and 38 springs, in harmony with green forests and fragrant flowers and grass. Grand, graceful, sequestered and culturally abundant, Hengshan Mountain leads the five sacred mountains by its gracefulness.

The biggest temple in the mountain is the Nanyue Temple, which is the largest group of ancient buildings in Hunan Province, covering an area of 100,000 square meters. Among the temples in the mountain, the Fuyan Temple is known as the nation's "First Temple of Buddhist Doctrine", with a maidenhair tree of 1,400 years old; the Nantai Temple has a history of over 1,400 years and is regarded as the origin of a Buddhist branch in Japan; the Tripitaka Temple, famous for its delicacy and enfeoffed Confuian classics, is surrounded by such oddly-shaped ancient trees like Money Tree, Tree of Love, etc., and many historic sites like Shuzhuang Tai and Diaoyu Tai and Yunchun Pavilion. The Fangguang Temple, which is quiet with a forest of ancient trees, and the Water-Screen Cave, which is mysterious, are all spots of interest. The renowned Four Wonders of the Southern Mountain are, namely, the loftiness of Zhurong Peak, the delicacy of Tripitaka Temple, the quietness of Fangguang Temple and the mystery of Water-screen Cave.

水为这里创造了灿烂的文化历史。水为这里创造了无尽的财富。水为这里带来了天地的灵气和永恒的凝聚力。“水”来自成都西北部的岷江，一座修建于2250年前的水利工程将丰富的岷江水引进了平原，这座古老的水利工程充满着东方哲学和智慧色彩，直到今天还在源源不断地为成都平原创造着奇迹和世代富饶。

2012年，神农架与优酷网合作历时一个月拍摄了系列专题片《七天》。《七天》专题片共分七集，整套片子，通过几个人的几段不寻常的故事，除展示神农架之壮美和主人公的坚韧意志之外，还体现出共同的特点，就是他们是在神农架的环境中找到了自我。通过这一组片子，在世人面前揭示为什么神农架能够有如此力量，能让这些人以超然的态度，完成人生的净化和飞升。

Shennongjia's Story: Day 7《七天》第七天:神奇村落老人轻松过百岁

Qinghai Lake is one of the deepest lake in China, with an average depth of 20 meters, the deepest is 75 meters. The scenery here is different from each seasons. Qinghai Lake is a magical place in visitors' eyes, also called the attention of scientists around the world. Lying on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, known as the Ridge of World, the Qinghai Lake is embraced by the Datong Mountain, Riyue Mountain and Qinghai South Mountain in the northeast of Qinghai Province. As the largest inland saltwater lake in China, the oval-shaped lake covers an area of 4,635 square kilometers and is 3,196 meters above sea level. The weather here is cool all the year round. Even in midsummer, the daily average temperature is about 15 C, making the lake a perfect summer resort. The lake is also abundant in fish, among which the naked carp is the most famous and delicious. Also known as Huang fish without scale, it has a reputation of the king of lake in the local area.

Shennongjia's Story: Day 6《七天》第六天:神秘黑暗传 神龙架一直都流传着一本神秘古老的传说。几代人付出无数心血将其搜集整理。它不仅是传说，也是一种讲述。它就是神龙架地区世代相传的《神秘黑暗传》。

Wudang Mountain, also called Taihe Mountain or Xianshi Mountain in the past, is located near the city of Danjiangkou, in central Hubei Province. Wudang Mountain is not only has a exotic and gorgeous natural landscape, but also has a rich cultural landscape. It can be said, Wudang Mountain's unparalleled beauty, the natural beauty and the harmony with the beauty of humanity, therefore known as "The Ancient world mountains". There are 72 peaks, 36 cliffs, 24 gullies, 3 lakes, 9 springs and 10 ponds there. The main peak, Tianzhu Peak, has an altitude of 1,612 m.

Wudang Mountain is well vegetated and boasts rich plant resources. About 600 kinds of Chinese herbs, one third of the total recorded in the encyclopedic Compendium of Materia Medica written by Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), grow on the mountain. For this reason, the mountain is also famous as a natural drugstore.

Wudang Mountain is a scenic resort perfectly integrating natural landscape with manmade buildings. Taoist temples are prominent here. During the reign of Emperor Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty (627-649), the Wulong (five dragons) Temple was built. And in 1412, Emperor Zhu Di, an enthusiastic Taoist, ordered the construction of 33 temples, which were completed in 1423. The various Taoist structures cover a total area of 1.6 million sq. m. Among them, the most magnificent temple is the Golden Hall, which is made of fine copper on a granite foundation. The seated Taoist figure in the hall is cast so exquisitely that it is regarded as a masterpiece representing the highest level of ancient China's copper casting.

Shennongjia's Story: Day 5《七天》第五天:单亲母亲写作 回乡寻根 韦群，一个向往山外生活的山里的姑娘。在山外的城市里，她寻找到了爱情，婚姻，但是离异给了她命运的考验。历经世间沧桑，她用写作带给自己勇气，带着《给故乡的一封情书》，带着女儿，韦群再次回到了山里，希望这里的纯净能带给孩子最美的童年。

Xilinguole National Nature Reserve lies in the boundaries of Xilinguole City, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Covering a total area of 10,786 square kilometers, Xilinguole National Nature Reserve was established in 1985, the first grassland nature reserve in China, and joined the International Man and Biosphere Reserve Network in 1987. As a matter of fact, with its typicality, Xilinguole Grassland attracted great attention from botanists at home and abroad as early as 1930s.