This famous landscape attraction is located in the southern part of Anhui Province, 280 kms west of the coastal city of Hangzhou. Yellow Mountain is so breathtakingly beautiful, it was declared a World Natural and Cultural Heritage area by UNESCO’s Heritage Committee in 1990.
Also known as Mount Huang Shan, Yellow Mountain is a body of granite, often with vertical joints. It is made up of steep, craggy pinnacles, grotesque rocks, seas of clouds and hot springs. There are 72 named peaks, including three rising above 1800 metres: Lotus, Brightness Apex and Celestial Capital. On cloudy days mist swirls around the pinnacles. On clear, sunny days the view of the mountains and surrounding countryside is spectacular.
There are around 1500 species of plants on the mountain, including ginkgoes, firs and pines said to be hundreds of years old. Some of these fantastic old pines sprout from joints in the side of the granite, and grow horizontally out into the mist.
Tourists have been coming to Yellow Mountain to admire the scenery for the past 1200 years. Ancient books, poems, paintings and carved inscriptions all bear witness to its long history. From the Tang Dynasty (618-907) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) it was celebrated in no fewer than 20,000 poems.