Gaoting Mountain Scenic Area

Gaoting Mountain Scenic Area

Gaoting Mountain Scenic Area is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

Gaoting Mountain Scenic Area is located in the northeastern part of Hangzhou, a renowned historical and cultural city and international scenic tourism destination in China. It falls within the jurisdictions of Jianggan District and Gongshu District, primarily involving Dingqiao Town in Jianggan District and Banshan Town in Gongshu District. The area connects to Xingqiao Town in Yuhang District to the northeast, to Sanyi Village, Datang Village, and Zhaojia Village in Dingqiao Town, Jianggan District, to the east, neighbors Jiantang Village in Dingqiao Town, Jianggan District, and Shiqiao Town in Xiacheng District to the south, borders Shangtang Town and Kangqiao Town in Gongshu District to the west, and adjoins Chongxian Town in Yuhang District to the north.

Gaoting Mountain, formed as an eastern extension of the Tianmu Mountain Range, is connected with Ban Shan, Gaoting Mountain, Huanghe Mountain, Jilong Mountain, Hu Mountain, and Yuanbao Mountain, stretching over 10 kilometers in a generally southwest-to-northeast direction. Within Jianggan District, the mountain covers an area of approximately 5,000 mu, evenly divided between Gaocheng Village and Yanshan Village. Its main peak, Gaoting Mountain, has an elevation of 361.1 meters, at longitude 120°13'39" and latitude 30°23'23", and is 18 kilometers from the current center of Hangzhou. At the southern foot of the mountain lies the oldest Shangtang Canal in Hangzhou.

Gaoting Mountain has now become the only undeveloped natural scenic and culturally rich tourist destination in eastern Hangzhou, a major travel metropolis, extending even to areas such as Jiaxing, Huzhou, and Shanghai.

Among the hundred mountains surrounding Hangzhou, Gaoting Mountain boasts the richest historical and cultural legacy. On this ancient and mystical land, not only are the traces of emperors such as Qin Shi Huang, Qian Liu, and Emperor Gaozong of Song preserved, along with tales of the patriotic hero Wen Tianxiang resisting the Yuan Dynasty, but also nearly 200 poems and essays and 10 collected works by literary figures such as Bai Juyi, Su Dongpo, Liu Bowen, Li E, and Yu Dafu. Chapter 49 of "Water Margin," one of China’s Four Great Classical Novels, even mentions Gaoting Mountain. The “Pearl Spring” here is as famous as Tiger Running Spring and Longjing Spring. This region also produces abundant plums and peaches—historically, the old name for Hangzhou, Lin’an City, had a saying: “Admire plum blossoms at Chaoshan, view peach blossoms at Gaoting.” The Taishan Stone from Gaoting Mountain, with its pure white color, is famed for its preciousness.

The earliest record of Gaoting Mountain appears in the “Tang Book · Treatise on Geography.” Emperor Ningzong of the Southern Song Dynasty once inscribed a three-character plaque for it. As Ban Shan shields its ridge, snow often accumulates here in winter. Viewed from the northern side of the fish-scale stone seawall along the Qiantang River, the mountain stands gracefully like a fairy emerging from a bath, thus earning the fame “Jade Pillar in the Breeze.” “Gaoting Snow Accumulation” also became one of the Eight Scenic Spots of Qiantang during the Ming Dynasty.

Gaoting Mountain not only encompasses cultural elements in line with Hangzhou’s history—such as Liangzhu Culture, Canal Culture, Religious Culture, and Southern Song Culture—but also possesses unique filial piety culture, funeral culture, military camp culture, and local produce culture, making it an important component of Hangzhou’s historical and cultural heritage.

Not only are the individual sites of historical and cultural resources densely distributed in Gaoting Mountain, but the frequency of occurrence of its folk festival resources is also very high, with a compact temporal distribution. For example, in spring there are activities such as viewing peach blossoms at Gaoting, mulberry seedling fairs, and Banshan Goddess Temple Fairs; in summer, there are dragon boat races; in autumn, there are mountain-climbing outings; and in winter, there is the Gaoting Snow Accumulation.