Fengguan Mountain Natural Scenic Area

　　The Fengguan Mountain Natural Scenic Area development project is one of the key tourism development initiatives in Danfeng. In 2003, the Chang’an University Planning and Research Institute was commissioned to conduct a comprehensive planning and feasibility study for the project. The total planned investment for the project is 30 million yuan, with main construction contents including: building gates and roads, restoring caves, painting and decorating, developing Huimou Spring and Wuzhen Pool, adding poetry platforms and viewing pavilions, relocating the Taoist heritage site Ziyang Palace, constructing Guanshan Academy,

　　developing eight major planting zones for crops such as grapes, apricots, peaches, and persimmons, setting up stele forests and mountain fortress amusement areas, etc. The plan is to integrate the beautiful and precipitous natural scenery of Fengguan Mountain with the unique historical and cultural landscape of Taoist cave clusters, using the natural terrain of Fengguan Mountain as the foundation and the twelve Taoist caves (including the Earth God Cave, Guan Yu Cave, Wenchang Cave, God of Wealth Cave, Two Immortals Cave, Goddess Cave, Laojun Cave, Buddha Cave, Jade Emperor Cave, Medicine King Cave, Ziyang Cave, and Gua Piao Cave) as the core. It is envisioned as a comprehensive tourism reception area integrating seven major functions: sightseeing, religious worship, leisure vacation, fruit picking, adventure rock climbing, catering, and accommodation.

　　The Fengguan Mountain Natural Scenic Area is located to the north of Danfeng County. The scenic area spans from Fuijiayuan in Longjuzhai Town in the west, to Dan’yu Road in the east, the railway line in the south, to the main peak of Fengguan in the north, covering an area of 1.3 square kilometers. Fengguan Mountain has long been praised as the “Father of the Mountain City” and the “Serene Realm within Bustling Streets.” Here, every step presents a new scene, and every scene is like a painting — shifting views and endless sights, with peculiar peaks and strange rocks found everywhere. Unique landscapes such as the “Sleeping Beauty,” “Monkey Head Peak,” “Divine Turtle,” “Pillar Reaching the Sky,” “Shenxiang’s Axe Testing Stone,” and “Guanshan Divine Ape” are remarkably lifelike and captivating. In the heart of the scenic area, Fengguan Mountain resembles a rooster raising its head to crow, reaching nearly a thousand meters in altitude. The mountain features undulating ridges, rugged rocks, perilous cliffs hanging in the air, steep and towering formations, majestic and elegant shapes, and when rain comes, misty clouds add to its mystical charm. At the center of the mountain, the “Sleeping Beauty of Guanshan” is strikingly realistic; on the western side, there are also “Immortals Gathering with the True Man” and “Divine Turtle Standing Tall,” while at the entrance of Guanshan, there are sights like the “Roaring Lion,” “Boar and Leopard Charging,” and “Human-headed Monster,” all adding a mysterious aura to the mountain. The “Rooster Crown Piercing the Sky” from the “Eight Scenic Spots and Ten Views” in the Shang Records refers to this very place. The extraordinary caves of Guanshan are delicate and graceful, with twelve caves arranged in layers on the thousand-foot cliffs: namely Chen Banxian Cave, Baishen Cave, Buddha Cave, Sanguan Cave, Jade Emperor Cave, Yama Cave, Bodhisattva Cave, Guan Yu Cave, Ziyang Cave, Goddess Cave, Zhao Laoye Cave, and the Mountain Fortress Chief Cave. These caves vary in size and structure, some single-chambered and others with front and rear chambers. The largest among them is two zhang deep (approx. 6.6 meters), and one zhang in both height and width (approx. 3.3 meters). The cave ceilings feature carved “Bagua” (Eight Trigrams) or “Twelve Zodiac” caisson ceilings, while the interiors include god altars, offering tables, and murals. The cave entrances originally had brick archways with floral ridges, flying eaves, carved beams, and painted rafters. Visiting Guanshan allows for three main experiences: hiking up the mountain to enjoy the views, entering the caves to seek immortality, and climbing the cliffs for adventure. According to the Zhili Shangzhou General Annals, Zhang Ziyang, the “Founding Patriarch of the Southern School of Taoism” in the Northern Song Dynasty, attained immortality in the caves of Chicken Crown Mountain. Later generations, inspired by Zhang Ziyang’s philosophy of the “Unity of Three Teachings,” created a series of beloved folk deities and presented a host of magical and moving stories to the world.