Jiuzhaigou Valley

Jiuzhaigou Valley is one of the most beautiful National Parks in the world, and definitely the number one National Park in China. If you like Alpine landscapes, streams and waterfalls you should not miss the Jiuzhaigou Valley. Currently this is one of China's top tourist destinations among Chinese visitors, but it is still not very well-known among foreigners. If you have already visited China's main tourist cities, and want to see an amazing natural environment, you should add Jiuzhaigou Valley to your destinations list.

It is said that if there should be wonderlands on the earth, Jiuzhaigou Valley must be one of them. There is no equal elsewhere that has sceneries and fables of dreamlike eloquence, or natural purities like a fairyland as Jiuzhaigou Valley.Jiuzhaigou Valley is located in Nanping County, 450 kilometers (about 280 miles) to the north of Chengdu City. Its name is due to the existence of nine stockaded villages of Tibetan origin, and it is always regarded as a holy mountain and watercourse by the Tibetan people.Jiuzhaigou Valley is a great masterpiece of nature having dreamlike scenery and abundant natural resources. It combines blue lakes, waterfalls, verdant forests, snow-covered mountains, and the folk customs of the Tibetan and Qiang peoples.


Legend has it; that long, long ago the deity of mountain named Dago had a crush on the goddess Semo, and he gave a mirror that was made from wind and cloud to the goddess. However, the devil appeared and made trouble to Semo. Inadvertently, Semo broke the mirror into 108 pieces, which fell down to the earth and then turned to 108 colorful lakes. The lake is also called Haizi by local people.

Shuzheng Valley:
Shuzheng Valley is a main tourist route of Jiuzhaigou Valley. It is about 14 kilometers (about nine miles) in length with over 40 lakes, representing 40% of all the lakes in Jiuzhaigou. The major scenic spots in Shuzheng Valley are Double-Dragon Lake, Bonsai Beach, Reed Lake, Spark Lake, Tiger Lake, Shuzheng Waterfall, Rhinoceros Lake, and Nuorilang Waterfall, etc.



Shuzheng Waterfall:
Shuzheng Waterfall is the first waterfall you will encounter in the valley. It is 62 meters (about 203 feet) wide and 15 meters (about 49 feet) tall. Though it is the smallest of the four main waterfalls in Jiuzhaigou Valley, it will bring heart quakes to first time visitors. The green forests surround nineteen lakes of different sizes and levels. The lake water in the upper reaches flows slowly along the shoal and is divided into countless streams by the groves in the lake. Then the streams join on the top of Shuzheng Waterfall and suddenly drop down to the lower lakes. The sprays fly in the air, creating an elegant screen.

Nuorilang Waterfall:
Nuorilang Waterfall is 32 meters (about 105 feet) wide and 25 meters (about 82 feet) tall, and it is the widest waterfall in Jiuzhaigou Valley. Nuorilang means 'grand and magnificent' in Tibetan, so it is a gorgeous waterfall. The top of the waterfall is very flat. It is said that originally there was no waterfall but a platform here long ago. Then a monk brought a spinning wheel when he returned to this place. A Tibetan girl learnt the skill of spinning very soon, so she carried the wheel to the platform and showed her sisters how to spin. The cruel man Roza considered that she was doing something evil and kicked her, as well as the spinning wheel off the cliff. In no time, torrents rushed Roza and his accomplices down the mountain, so the platform had turned into the waterfall. When the sun shines in the morning, flowery rainbows can be seen in the sky, which make the waterfall more charming and splendid.


Peacock River:
Peacock River is 310 meters (about 1,017 feet) in length and wends along the deep valley with flowers and trees on its two sides. The water appears in a cacophony of varietous colors: dark green, golden, and sapphire blue. When autumn comes, the forests are covered with hoarfrosts and the fallen leaves are bestrewed all over the lake. When seen from above, the bright and clear water flows in a colorful world and it is like a peacock displaying its fine tail feathers.


Five-Flower Lake (Wuhua Lake):
The pride of Jiuzhaigou Valley, Five-Flower Lake lies at the end of the upper reach of Peacock River, 2,472 meters (about 8,110 feet) above the sea level and five meters (about 16 feet) in depth. Most of the colorful leaves are gathered in the lakefront and interlaced as brocades. The water that contains calcium carbonate as well as hydrophytes with different colors presents a versicolor sight, azure blue, blackish green and light yellow, etc, so it is named Five-Flower Lake. The local people say that it is a holy lake, and where there is the water, there must be flourishing flowers and trees. When looking down from the mountain, you will find that the lake with hills on three sides is just like a huge upended cucurbit pouring colorful water to the lower place.

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THE RHINO LAND: KAZIRANGA NATIONAL PARK

One of the main reasons to visit Assam was to see the mighty river Brahmaputra and to site the one horned Rhino at the Kaziranga national Park.A picturesque drive from the commercial capital of Guwahati of nearly 220 kms (approximately 5 hours) brings you to the natural habitat of the one-horned Rhinocerous, the Kaziranga Park, which is one of the best places of the world to see the Great one horned Rhinocerous on the verge of extinction.

Kaziranga lies on the southern banks of the Brahmaputra River, northeast of the Guwahati, partly in Golaghat district and partly in Nagaon district of the state. The forest full of tall elephant grass and swampy marsh lands, an ideal habitat of the Rhino was originally established as a game reserve and later declared a sanctuary in 1940 to counter excessive poaching. But it was only in 1974 that it was given the status of National Park. Kaziranga has the rare distinction of not only saving the prehistoric mammal from the verge of extinction but also of increasing its population in a spectacular manner. With a population of over a thousand, the one-horned Rhino's are the largest concentration in the subcontinent.

This prehistoric animal has stood the wrath of time and has fought to adjust with changes in nature and its surroundings. It is a nearly hairless mammal with a height of around 6 feet and weighing nearly four tons. Basically a solitary and peace loving animal, the females can get disturbed without any provocation when in custody of its calf. The single horn on the nose, which can sometimes be as long as five feet, is the main instrument of the animal for a fight. The Rhino likes to live in tall grassland and swampy marshes. They are brown or gray in colour and thick skin forms plate like folds resembling armor. The horn if once broken grows again, and it is for this horn, which is believed to have medicinal prowess, that the animal is hunted down.
Watching the magnificent rare specie from the back of an elephant, early on a winter morning, is a sheer delight.Along with the Rhinos the marshland is habitat for the many other species as well like the elephants, Indian Bison, swamp deer and many other species of deer, the sloth bears and tigers too. The jungles and the marshy lands also make a good habitat for the migratory birds like the Pelicans and Hornbill, Egret and eagles as well. The common birds and animals also have a major population in the park. Thus viewing wildlife at Kaziranga Park because of its vast open spaces, the presence of the mighty Brahmaputra, and adjoining Mikir hills makes the trip a complete jungle adventure.Near to Kaziranga are some good excursion points. The Kakochang waterfalls and the ruins of Numaligarh and many tea gardens are prime attractions.

Yellow Mountain: Huangshan

The famous scrolls of Chinese black and white paintings of high mountains, rocks, trees and sea of clouds come alive in Huangshan Mountains in the south Anhui province. It is a marvelous mountain area, now on the UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage List. There is an old saying well known throughout the country "No need to see any other mountains after Huangshan!" Huangshan has spectacular landscape with its four unique scenes: interesting shaped rocks, waterfalls, unique shaped pine trees growing out of rocks, and its sea of clouds. Huangshan has all, the steepness, the grace, the elegance, and so on. Huang Shan Mountain area is such a marvelous place with spectacular vista and its ever-changing scenes attract tourists in all seasons and inspire countless Chinese painters and poets for thousands of years.Of all the notable mountains in China, Mount Huangshan, to be found in the south of Anhui province, is probably the most famous. Originally known as Mt. Yishan it was renamed Mt. Huangshan in 747 AD in recognition of the legendary Huang Di, who was the reputed ancestor of the Chinese people and who made magic pills for immortality here.

Wu yue is the collective name given to China's most important mountains, namely Mt. Taishan in Shandong Province, Mt. Huashan in Shaanxi Province, Mt. Hengshan in Shanxi Province, Mt. Songshan in Henan Province and Mt. Hengshan in Hunan Province. It is said that you won't want to visit any other mountains after seeing wu yue but you won't wish to see even wu yue after returning from Mt. Huangshan. This saying may give you some idea of the beauty and uniqueness of Mt. Huangshan. Together with the Yellow River, the Yangtze River and the Great Wall, Mt. Huangshan has become one of the great symbols of China.


Yellow Mountain, also named Huangshan,is famous for its marvelous and beautiful scenery. It is one of the most popular tourist resorts in China.The landform of Yellow Mountain is a kind of typical granite mountains and forests. It was the result of several movements of lithosphere as well as the work of nature during the long geological age. 77 peaks are more than 1,000 metres above sea level. Granite limestone towers and oddly-shaped rocks spread all over the scenic area.

The legendary pines, oddly-shaped rocks, phantasmagoric sea of clouds, hot springs and winter snows have own Yellow Mountain the world famous reputation of the five unique views. Yellow Mountain has brought together all the strong points other mountains have: grand, strange, baffling, arduous, steep, flourishing, quiet and spacious.There is another noticeable place near Yellow Mountain - Huizhou Culture (also known as Xin'an culture) which is one of the three regional cultures in China. Huizhou Culture includes Xin'an Philosophy, Xin'an Painting School, Xin'an Medicine School, Huizhou Style Architecture, Anhui pot gardening, Huizhou Sculpture, Huizhou Opera, Huizhou Cuisine and so on. It's a miracle of excellent traditional culture of the Chinese nation.


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