Junshan Island

Junshan Island

Junshan Island is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

Junshan, anciently known as Dongting Mountain or Xiang Mountain, is a small island in the vast 800-li (approximately 400 kilometers) Dongting Lake. It faces the world-famous Yueyang Tower from afar, covering a total area of 0.96 square kilometers and comprising seventy-two peaks of varying sizes. It is listed as the eleventh blessed land in Taoist scriptures and is now a national key scenic spot and a national 4A-level tourist attraction.

Junshan boasts numerous historical sites and profound cultural heritage. Legend has it that the island features five wells, four terraces, thirty-six pavilions, and forty-eight temples. Throughout history, literati and poets have written essays and poems or inscribed stones based on Junshan’s “peculiarity,” “smallness,” “ingenuity,” “seclusion,” and “antiquity.” It is home to China’s earliest discovered cliff carvings, the “Star Cloud Map,” and Neolithic ruins. It also holds moving testimonies to love—spotted bamboo, the Tomb of the Two Concubines, and the Well of Liu Yi. Historical relics include the Mountain-Sealing Seal of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the Dragon-Shooting Terrace of Emperor Wu of Han, the Flying Bell from the Song Dynasty peasant uprising, and Yang Yao’s Stronghold. Each historical site carries a weighty past, and every tale holds a distant memory. Especially since the Tang Dynasty, poets and scholars such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Huang Tingjian, Xin Qiji, and Zhang Zhidong have visited Junshan to admire the scenery and express their emotions, leaving behind countless timeless masterpieces. Li Bai’s “Gently brushing the bright lake, it opens like a jade mirror; a painting in colors reveals Junshan” and Liu Yuxi’s “Gazing at the emerald waters and mountains of Dongting, a green spiral in a silver plate” have greatly enhanced Junshan’s fame. The island is covered with ancient trees and lush bamboo, including over twenty varieties of renowned bamboos. The magical and affectionate spotted bamboo grows around the Tomb of the Two Concubines. Junshan tea is another highlight, with layers of tea plantations resembling green jade belts encircling the hills. Junshan Silver Needle, one of China’s top ten famous teas, is produced here.

Junshan boasts beautiful natural scenery—you can admire exotic flowers and plants in spring, gaze at the vast Dongting Lake in summer, enjoy the fishing songs and autumn moon in autumn, and observe wetland migratory birds in winter. Junshan is a paradise for travel and vacation, and an ideal destination for summer retreats. Since its opening to the public, many Party and state leaders have visited Junshan for inspection and spoke highly of the island.