Green Forest Mountain Scenic Area

Green Forest Mountain Scenic Area

The Green Forest Mountain Scenic Area is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

Green Forest Mountain was the site where the Wang Kuang and Wang Feng uprising erupted at the end of the Xin Dynasty. It was traditionally said to be located northeast of Dangyang in Hubei, specifically in Lulinshan Village by the Yu Stream (refer to the "Book of the Later Han · Biography of Liu Xuan", with annotations by Li Xian), but current studies indicate it is actually in Dahong Mountain, Hubei. (However, today’s historians mostly identify it as Lulinshan Village in Yu Stream Town, Dangyang, Hubei.)

The Green Forest Mountain Scenic Area is located in Lulin Town, Jingshan County, Hubei Province, and belongs to the Dahong Mountain range. In 1988, together with Zhangjiajie and Jiuzhaigou, it was approved by the State Council as a national scenic area. The scenic area spans 120 square kilometers.

Green Forest Mountain is the birthplace of the famous second major peasant uprising in Chinese history—the Green Forest Uprising—as well as the origin of Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Xiu.

It boasts China's only well-preserved ancient military stockade complex, the Beauty Valley Waterfall Group known as the “New Jiuzhaigou of Hubei,” vast and mysterious primeval forests rich in historical culture forming the “Chinese Han Culture Village,” the thrilling and romantic Mandarin Duck Stream rafting, the world-unique Kongshandong Stone Chime Cave, Central China’s largest outdoor development base and paintball warfare field. The Green Forest Mountain Scenic Area combines mountains, water, forests, springs, and caves along one axis, integrating historical culture, landscape scenery, participatory experiences, and outdoor training. It serves as a premier destination for sightseeing, conferences, vacations, rafting, paintball battles, team building, painting, and matchmaking.

Attractions in the Green Forest Mountain Scenic Area

Mandarin Duck Stream

It is one of the most attractive sites within the national-level Dahong Mountain Scenic Area, and a national AA-level scenic spot. Known as the “Nine-Bend Mandarin Duck Stream, Ten-Mile Water Gallery,” it is located in Mandarin Duck Stream, Lulin Town, Jingshan County. With high mountains, steep ridges, perilous gorges, serene valleys, emerald waters, lush forests, birdsong, and floral fragrance, it is truly a prime adventure rafting destination and a natural oxygen bar for returning to nature in central Hubei. The Mandarin Duck Stream Mountain Villa is quaint and elegant, with a pleasant environment, offering convenient, safe, comfortable, and high-quality one-stop services for group meetings, inspection tours, sightseeing, and leisure entertainment. It receives 60,000 visitors annually and generates an income of 5 million yuan. Green Forest Stockade Scenic Area: The ancient Green Forest Stockade is located in Lulin Town, a tourism star township on the northern edge of the Jianghan Plain in central Hubei. During the first century, it was the birthplace of the Green Forest Uprising led by Wang Kuang and Wang Feng at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. The Green Forest Stockade was where over 50,000 rebels gathered to train during the uprising. Both the southern and northern stockades (fortresses) still retain their historic charm. The entire stockade is covered with wild chrysanthemums, cooled by breezes, and features year-round spring water, making it an ideal summer retreat. The Green Forest Stockade Scenic Area holds landscapes within and paintings in its heart, displaying endless charm toward the horizon. Within the area are attractions such as Camel Peak, Heaven-Devouring Gate, Drumming Rock, Two Kings Cave, ancient city walls, beacon towers, general platforms, racetracks, archery ranges, watchtowers, tent camping, petrified trees, and volcanic craters, among many other sites and activities.

Beauty Valley

The Beauty Valley Scenic Area is one of the core zones within the Green Forest Scenic Area of the Dahong Mountain National Park. Located in Wanfu Grand Canyon southeast of Lulin Town, it covers an area of about 60,000 square meters with a total length of approximately 500 meters. It consists of the unfathomable Beauty Pool, the marvelous Bathing Pool, the graceful Fragrant Flower Pool, and numerous cliffs, caves, and waterfalls, combining elements of wonder, danger, beauty, and elegance. The area is scattered with peculiar rocks, hanging vines, misty ambiance, and tranquil depth. Nature’s craftsmanship has also sculpted 18 breathtaking sights including the Beauty Pool, Crouching Dragon Rock, Sky Bridge Waterfall, and Petrified Ancient Tree.

Kongshandong Cave

The cave stretches 1,584 meters in total length, with the highest point reaching 48 meters and the widest section spanning 26 meters. Nestled amidst the picturesque lakes and mountains south of Jingshan County. The main cave of Kongshandong is 910 meters long and extends deeply underground. Inside, the stone formations feature seven openings, springs play eight musical tones, stalagmites stand tall and slender, and stalactites bloom in vibrant colors. With 400 naturally-formed scenes and 8,000 marvels crafted by nature, it is praised as the premier karst cave in Central China. Highlights include the Golden Turtle Courting the Toad, Three Gorges One-Line Sky, Cunning Rabbit’s Three Burrows, Rainbow Bridge Picking Bananas, Golden Rooster Standing Alone, Undersea Palace, Waterfall Terraces, and Tiger’s Mouth Elephant Fighting Stone Cave Room—all exquisitely lifelike, bizarrely colorful, uniquely shaped, and competing in splendor to form a myriad of natural wonders. Most miraculously, a set of stalactites within the cave can be struck to produce musical notes that align with actual tones, hailed by geology and music experts as a one-of-a-kind natural “stone chime”—a true marvel of the world.

Green Forest Stockade

Known as the No. 1 Ancient Military Stockade in China, the Green Forest Stockade is the core scenic area of the national-level Dahong Mountain Scenic Area. It was approved by the State Council in 1988 in the same batch as Zhangjiajie, Jiuzhaigou, and others as a national scenic area. The ancient Green Forest Stockade was the birthplace of the Green Forest Uprising led by Wang Kuang and Wang Feng, as well as the origin of Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Xiu. Here you’ll find 2,000-year-old ancient beacon towers, city walls, military stockades, battlefields, ancient Han terraced fields, as well as relics from the Anti-Japanese War. Rich in historical and cultural heritage and blessed with unparalleled natural beauty, it is especially renowned for its “Eighteen Scenic Spots of Green Forest.”

The 120-square-kilometer scenic area features overlapping mountains and ridges. Mountains reflect sunlight on water, stones glow with color, greenery fills the view, and the open skies reveal nature’s true essence. Green Forest Mountain is not only scenically beautiful, but its long history has also endowed it with profound cultural significance. The once-mighty Green Forest Uprising swept across the nation. They fought against the rich to aid the poor, opened granaries to distribute grain, and were known as the Green Forest Army. They camped and roamed the Green Forest Mountains, confronting enemies at Yundu (today’s Jingshan), decisively defeating government troops, capturing Jingling, attacking Anlu, shaking the Jingchu region, with a rebel force of over 50,000. They overthrew Wang Mang’s Xin Dynasty, laying the foundation for two hundred years of peace in the later Eastern Han Dynasty. The term “Green Forest” has since become synonymous with heroism.

Address: Lulin Town, Jingshan County, Jingmen City

Type: Waterfalls, Lakes, Historic Sites, Rafting

Opening Hours:

8:00–17:00 (for Beauty Valley, Ancient Stockade, and Kongshandong Cave); 10:00–16:00 (Mandarin Duck Stream rafting start time).

Ticket Information:

Mandarin Duck Stream Rafting: 188 RMB; Beauty Valley: 78 RMB; Green Forest Stockade: 88 RMB; Kongshandong Cave: 50 RMB

Information Source: Official Portal Website of Hubei Provincial People’s Government

Lulin Town: Lulin Town is located in the northern part of Jingshan County, Hubei Province, at the junction of Jingshan, Zhongxiang, and Suizhou. It is the core scenic area of the national-level Dahong Mountain Scenic Area, one of Hubei Province’s 100 key towns for poverty alleviation and development, and the birthplace of the second major peasant uprising in Chinese history—the “Green Forest Uprising” at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. In 2002, Lulin Town was named “Hubei Province Tourism Star Town” and “City-Level Excellent Tourism Town.” In September 2003, the Lulin Town Government was awarded the “Jingmen Municipal Model Civil Servant Collective” by the Jingmen Municipal Government.

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