Huaiyu Mountain

Huaiyu Mountain

Huaiyu Mountain is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

A national youth education base and a provincial patriotic education base, located 60 kilometers northwest of Yushan County in Jiangxi Province, facing Sanqingshan Mountain across the way. Accessible via the Zhejiang–Jiangxi Railway, Shanghai–Ruili Expressway, Jingwu–Huang Expressway, National Highway 320 to Yushan County, then transfer to Yutong Highway. It got its name from the legend of “the Heavenly Emperor Bestowing Jade.” During the Li era of the Tang Dynasty (766–779), the monk Zhishǐ initially built Dingwen Temple at the southern foot of Diamond Peak, which at its peak housed “three thousand nuns and eight hundred monks.” The Song Dynasty scholar Zhu Xi once wrote and lectured on the mountain, making it a historically significant site where Confucianism and Buddhism flourished alternately. The site includes the ruins of Huaiyu Academy, renowned alongside the Four Great Academies of Jiangnan, as well as a wealth of poetry, prose, and cliff inscriptions left by literati throughout history such as Zhu Xi, Wang Anshi, Wang Zongmu, and Zhao You, reflecting a rich and profound cultural heritage. The mountain features interwoven peaks and a strategically rugged terrain, making it a historically contested military site. In early 1935, Fang Zhimin led the Northern Expeditionary Vanguard against Japan and fought valiantly here before being captured. To commemorate Fang Zhimin’s immortal legacy, the “Fang Zhimin Martyrs’ Memorial Pavilion” was built on Gaozhushan in 1985, and in 2005, the “Monument to Simplicity” and the “Exhibition Hall of Fang Zhimin’s Life of Simplicity” were established on Huaiyu Mountain. The scenic area spans 80 square kilometers and is characterized by granite mountain landscapes combined with revolutionary memorial sites. The Huaiyu Mountain basin, embraced by surrounding peaks, covers 6.5 square kilometers with an average elevation of 1,000 meters. The saying “cover yourself with a quilt on summer nights, and peaches ripen at the start of autumn” vividly describes the mountain’s climate. It is a beautiful highland in the south of the Yangtze River and a prime destination for tourism, vacationing, and summer retreats. The Sunken Pit Scenic Area, developed in 2005, features serene, wild, elegant, and perilous landscapes. The mountain boasts 24 scenic spots including Three Qing Dynasties’ Morning Light, Jade Ya Holding Up the Sky, Lingyan Waterfall, and Hui Mountain Night Candle, along with cliff inscriptions such as Zhu Xi’s calligraphy “Coiled Dragon Ridge” and Zhao You’s inscription “High Mountains and Flowing Waters,” as well as the plaque of “Huaiyu Academy.” The scenic area is described as “stones hiding jade that shine brighter, waters embracing pearls that make rivers more enchanting,” with over 20 waterfalls, more than 100 peculiar peaks and rocks, and 251 species of plants from 66 forest families.

Huaiyu Mountain was part of the revolutionary base area in northeastern Jiangxi led by Fang Zhimin, Shao Shiping, and others. The Huaiyu Mountain region has a mid-subtropical humid monsoon climate with abundant rainfall, lush vegetation, and extensive forests. Natural forests are better preserved in the northeast, home to many rare tree species. The quantity and distribution of Fujian cypresses rank first in Jiangxi, and the area of East China yellow cypress forests exceeds 66.7 hectares. Within the unique mixed forests dominated by yellow cypress, there are also Huangshan pines, southern hemlocks, white podocarpus, yews, machilus thunbergii, sweet osmanthus, kiwi fruit, and large-petal red camellias. Plantations are dominated by fir and Masson’s pine, with extensive oil tea plantations as well. Wildlife includes tigers, leopards, monkeys, sika deer, river deer, thrushes, and golden pheasants.

Through large-scale geological processes such as faulting, folding, magma activity, and long-term water erosion, Huaiyu Mountain has formed a landscape of competing peaks, rich in sedimentary and igneous rocks, and abundant in minerals such as copper, lead, zinc, gold, silver, and uranium. The lead and copper mines in the northern and southern foothills are particularly famous. Non-metallic minerals include coal, limestone, marble, asbestos, serpentine, and sulfur.

During the Second Revolutionary Civil War, Huaiyu Mountain was part of the revolutionary base area in northeastern Jiangxi led by Fang Zhimin and Shao Shiping. Hengfeng’s Geguan was once the site of the Fujian–Zhejiang–Jiangxi Provincial Committee and the Provincial Soviet Government. Qigong Town in Yiyang County is Fang Zhimin’s hometown and the site of the “Qigong Town Incident.”

The Sanqingshan Scenic Area, located at the border of Dexing and Yushan, covers an area of 53 square kilometers with over 280 scenic spots. It features characteristics of the beauty of Huangshan, the grandeur of Mount Tai, and the precipitousness of Mount Hua. It is known for its unique landscapes such as stone peaks, ancient pines, colorful waterfalls, echoing clouds, and divine light, as well as extensive cave systems. Historical sites include the ancient architectural art of Sanqingshan, stone carvings, cliff inscriptions, and the former sites of academies such as Huaiyu Mountain and Duanming.

The core scenic area of Huaiyu Mountain covers approximately 8 square kilometers. Originally said to have thirty-five scenic spots, twenty-four remain today. These include the ruins of Huaiyu Academy, which ranks alongside the Four Great Academies of Jiangnan, a wealth of poetry and prose as well as cliff inscriptions left by literati such as Zhu Xi, Wang Anshi, Wang Zongmu, and Zhao You, and natural landscapes such as Three Qing Dynasties’ Morning Light, Guantian Spirit Rock, Lingyan Waterfall, and Eighteen Dragon Pools. It is a prime destination for tourism, sightseeing, exploration, leisure, and summer retreats. The Huaiyu Mountain scenic area is also where Fang Zhimin led the Red Army’s Northern Expeditionary Vanguard against Japan in bloody battles and where the story of “Simplicity” took place. Monuments established here include the “Fang Zhimin Martyrs’ Memorial Pavilion,” “Monument to Simplicity,” “Exhibition Hall of Fang Zhimin’s Life of Simplicity,” and “Monument to the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army Northern Expeditionary Vanguard against Japan.” It serves as a national patriotic education base for youth and the general public, as well as a national forest park. In December 2017, it was rated as a national 4A-level tourist attraction.