Jiuziyan

Jiuziyan

Jiuziyan is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

Qingyang’s Jiuziyan Scenic Area is one of the main scenic spots in Anhui’s Jiuhua Mountain and serves as a flagship site within the Jiuhua Mountain National Forest Park. This independently invested and managed scenic area was initiated in 1996 and officially opened to the public on November 18 of the same year. Since its opening, the scenic area has actively expanded its market and raised significant funds, successively establishing the Jiuhua Mountain Forest Tourism Co., Ltd. and the Jiuziyan Cableway Co., Ltd. Major attractions, facilities, and infrastructure that have been built include: the park gate, the Grand Jiuhua Mountain Archway, ancient folk houses, a passenger cableway, the Buddhist Tea Art House, parking lots, shopping areas, and tourist restrooms.

Jiuziyan Scenic Area combines natural landscapes with Buddhist culture, representing the very soul of Jiuhua Mountain. The original name of Jiuhua Mountain—Jiuzi Mountain—originates from Jiuziyan.

The mountain scenery of Jiuziyan is breathtakingly beautiful; its grandeur rivals that of Huangshan, its steepness compares to Huashan, and its elegance is on par with Huangshan. The main peak, Tianhua Peak, stands at an elevation of 1,084 meters and is considered nature’s masterpiece within Jiuhua Mountain. It's said that once you’ve climbed Tianhua Peak, no other peak in Jiuhua compares; once you’ve admired its view, no other scene in Jiuhua matches. The great Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi captured the essence of Tianhua Peak in the first line of his poem “Song of Jiuhua Mountain”: “A marvelous peak startles the soul at first sight.” The Qibu Spring, described by the poetic sage Li Bai as “heavenly river hanging with emerald water,” is another stunning highlight of the scenic area. With a drop of over 80 meters in seven cascading falls, its beauty and magnificence defy any ornate description—the only theme that endures is “heavenly river and emerald water.”

Jiuziyan is the birthplace and cradle of Jiuhua Mountain’s Buddhist culture. As far back as the Tang Dynasty, the eminent monk Jin Qiaojiu traveled across China’s famous mountains and rivers before finally settling in Jiuziyan to devote himself to Buddhist studies. He eventually attained enlightenment, leaving behind the site known as “The First Cultivation Place of the Venerable Jin.” Later, the Huayan Temple in Jiuziyan became a sanctuary where generations of eminent monks from Jiuhua Mountain practiced and meditated. In the late Qing Dynasty, Huayan Temple was granted imperial recognition and founded China’s first institution of higher Buddhist learning—the “Huayan University,” also known as “Guanghua Yuan” (meaning “to widely propagate the Dharma”), which still consists of an upper and lower courtyard today. After the establishment of the scenic park, both Huayan Temple and the Twin Streams Temple within the area have become proud symbols of Jiuhua Mountain’s Buddhist heritage, having nurtured two of the mountain’s most renowned eminent monks: the late Venerable Rende, former abbot of Jiuhua Mountain, and the first flesh-body Buddha in New China—“Daxing Bodhisattva.”

Jiuhua Mountain

Zhanyuan Temple of Jiuhua Mountain

Diaqiao Nunnery

Huacheng Temple of Jiuhua Mountain

flesh body Pagoda

Changshou Nunnery

Zhangtan Chanlin

Baishou Palace of Jiuhua Mountain

Zhangtan Temple

Tiantai Temple

Tianzhu Peak Scenic Area of Jiuhua Mountain

Huixiang Pavilion

Long Nunnery

Little Tiantai

Tianchi Nunnery

Huatian Temple