![\"Traveling](\"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2029\/08\/traveling-to-anhui.jpg\" "\\"Traveling")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The province of Anhui \u5b89\u5fbd \u2013 abbreviated as W\u01cen<\/em> \u7696 (a character used on car license plates for example) – located in eastern China halfway between the Yellow and Huai Rivers, is one of the three most prosperous provinces of the Chinese coast along with Jiangsu and Zhejiang, though it’s the poorest of the three. <\/p>\n The abbreviation W\u01cen<\/em> \u7696 comes from the historic state in this province with the name, the State of Wan, actually; in fact, in Anhui there’s still the Wan River \u7696\u6c5f and Mount Wan \u7696\u5c71. <\/strong><\/p>\n Mount Wan isn’t the most famous in the province; in fact, the most famous is still Huang Shan \u9ec4\u5c71, an imposing mountain of granitic rock that inspired many ink paintings in the XVII and XVIII centuries. In effect, it was back in those centuries that the Mount Huang school of painting started, Huang Shan huapai<\/em> \u9ec4\u5c71\u753b\u6d3e, with the artists Mei Qing \u6885\u6e05 and Shi Tao \u77f3\u6d9b as its biggest exponents and representatives. <\/p>\n The name of the province comes from An from Anqing \u5b89\u5e86 and Hui of Huizhou \u5fbd\u5dde (now Huang Shan \u9ec4\u5c71), two cities in the south of China. The Province of Anhui is considered one of the first cradles of Chinese civilization; in fact, it was here that relics were found going back to the Paleolithic Age and, in particolar, the bones of the so-called hexian yuanren<\/em> \u548c\u53bf\u733f\u4eba, translated as Homo Erectus Hexianensis.<\/p>\n During the Shang Dynasty \u5546, the founder of the kingdom established the capital in the north of Anhui, in the city of Bozhou \u4eb3\u5dde.<\/p>\n On the east Anhui borders Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang to the southeast and Hubei<\/a>, to the south with Jiangxi<\/a>, to the northeast with Henan<\/a> and a little piece of the north with Shandong.<\/p>\n Anhui, with its capital city of Hefei \u5408\u80a5, has a density of 139,400 km\u00b2, with 59,500,510 inhabitants (the usual small Chinese city!); with an area of about 140 thousand square kilometers, it occupies 1.45% of China’s total surface area. <\/p>\n Anhui is located halfway between the temperate zone in the north and the subtropical areas of the south. The average annual temperature varies between 14 \u00b0 c and 17 \u00b0 c (57 and 62 degrees Fahrenheit). The sun shines for an average of 1.800 to 2.500 hours a year; winters are very humid and cold. <\/p>\n The average annual precipitation is between 800 and 1.800 millimeters (31 and 71 inches). The seasons are very distinct, with abundant precipitation that sadly, provokes a lot of flooding (some extremely dangerous) but with an almost always pleasant climate.<\/p>\n Located in the south of Anhui, the prefecture city of Huang Shan \u9ec4\u5c71\u5e02 became called that thanks to the \u201cyellow mountain\u201d found nearby.<\/p>\n This city is divided into 3 districts and 4 counties: the district of Tunxi \u5c6f\u6eaa\u533a, the district of Huang Shan \u9ec4\u5c71\u533a, the district of Huizhou \u5fbd\u5dde\u533a, the county of She \u6b59\u53bf, the county of Xiuning \u4f11\u5b81\u53bf, the county of Yi \u9edf\u53bf the county of Qimen \u7941\u95e8\u53bf. <\/p>\n The prefecture city of Huang Shan has two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the previously mentioned yellow mountain (\u9ec4\u5c71) and the lesser known village of Hongcun \u5b8f\u6751.<\/p>\n Thanks to the memories that connect me to the place, I’ll start by talking about the beautiful village of Hongcun \u5b8f\u6751<\/strong>. <\/p>\n The village was founded by the descendants of the Wang family \u6c6a during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), who consulted various fengshui<\/em> experts so that the village’s shape would resemble the shape of an ox: the head is represented by a hill with two enormous trees that serve as the ox’s horns; four strategically placed bridges make the legs; the village houses make up the body and a system of navigable canals form the interior. <\/p>\n It’s nothing strange if during your exploration of this village you come across oxen lying around in the pools of water spread around the country roads. Hongcun seems like an ancient Chinese picture: little wooden bridges, little lakes, ponds, vegetation, little streets and traditional buildings. In total, there are about 150 residences, going back to the Ming and Qing Dynasties.<\/p>\n The most important building is certainly the chengzhi tang<\/em> \u6210\u6307\u5802 (Chengzhi Palace), which goes back to 1855. This palace, made up of 28 rooms decorated with beautiful wood carvings, was likely built by a great salt merchant of the time.<\/p>\n In the railings on the second floor you can see the holes that women used to spy, unseen, on the men; the tiny alcove in the hall where they played mahjong, was instead used to hide concubines.<\/p>\n The bridge at the entrance might seem familiar: you may have seen it in the film The Tiger and the Dragon!<\/p>\n About 3 km northwest of Hongcun, there’s a little historic village called Tachuan \u5854\u5ddd<\/strong>, where an entrance ticket costs a modest price of about 20\/25 Yuan. <\/p>\n The village of Tachuan is really scenic, especially in autumn thanks to the marvelous landscapes that it offers to those who are fortunate enough to visit it. Both the village and the area around it are full of old trees (Chinese Sevo trees, maples and camphor trees) which in autumn change colors, turning the entire area into shades of orange, brown and green. <\/p>\n The inhabitants of Tachuan make a living by cultivating rice and tea leaves; the houses showcase beautiful wood carvings that are worth seeing. <\/p>\n Tachuan Village (literally \u201cPagoda and River\u201d), also known as Tashang (literally \u201cabove the pagoda\u201d), was built along the shape of the hill so that the village and hill itself looks like a pagoda; and just like the village of Hongcun, it was built in accordance with fengshui<\/em>. <\/p>\n So now that we have the \u201cpagoda\u201d, all we’re missing is the \u201crivers\u201d: in fact, these wind along the entire village, adding their vitality to the peaceful atmosphere that characterize it.<\/p>\n The typical dish of this village is laba doufu<\/em> \u814a\u516b\u8c46\u8150 \u201cTofu of laba\u201d: laba<\/em> means eighth day of the twelfth month of the traditional lunar calendar, a period very close to Chinese New Year, a day where the inhabitants of Tachuan village dry their tofu laba<\/em>.<\/p>\n Not far from Hongcun and Tachuan, is the labyrinthine village of Nanping \u5357\u5c4f<\/strong>, famous for being the movie set of the film Ju Dou<\/em>, by Zhang Yimou, and the Ang Lee film, The Tiger and the Dragon<\/em>. In this very old historic village (more than 1100 years old) there are numerous ancient temples dedicated to ancestors.<\/p>\n While talking about the film The Tiger and the Dragon<\/em>, a place I definitely recommend is the famous Mukeng Bamboo Forest<\/strong>, mukeng zhu hai<\/em> \u6728\u5751\u73e0\u6d77. About 1.5 km southeast of Tachuan, surrounded by a \u201csea\u201d of giant bamboo, is the village of Mukeng, a tiny typical Chinese village where you can experience absolute calm and peace. <\/p>\n The real experience, however, is walking through the giant bamboo forest: you’ll hear birds signing, find refreshment in the shade of giant green bamboo and relive the duel scene from the film The Tiger and the Dragon<\/em> which were filmed in this forest!<\/p>\n The old merchant village of Tunxi \u5c6f\u6eaa<\/strong> is an excellent starting point for visiting the prefecture city of Huang Shan, since from there it’s easy to reach almost anyplace mentioned in this guide. The city of Tunxi is generally divided into two parts: the new one to the northeast and the old in the southwest.<\/p>\n In the old section you’ll find the Old Street, lao jie<\/em> \u8001\u8857: a very peculiar street full of wooden shops that sell Ming style souvenirs. Walking along the kilometer-long Old Street is truly a pleasant experience. <\/p>\n With pavement made of slabs of brown stone and old Ming style houses (between two and three floors) there’s a feeling of old Imperial China: from canonical architecture, the subdivision of spaces, naturalistic decoration to red lanterns. <\/p>\n Interesting are the yantai<\/em> \u781a\u53f0 shops, \u201cink black stone\u201d, of pens and other calligraphy accessories. Anhui, remember, is also famous for the production of the so-called wenfang sibao<\/em> \u6587\u623f\u56db\u5b9d \u201cthe 4 treasures of the scholar\u201d (maobi<\/em> \u6bdb\u7b14 \u201cpen\u201d, mo<\/em> \u58a8 \u201cink\u201d, xuanzhi<\/em> \u5ba3\u7eb8 \u201crice paper\u201d, yantai<\/em> \u781a\u53f0 \u201cink stone\u201d).<\/p>\n Still along the Old Street is a little-known museum: wancuilou bowuguan<\/em> \u4e07\u7cb9\u697c\u535a\u7269\u9986. This museum, once the home of a rich merchant, is spread across 4 floors and offers a private collection of very old objects: ceramics, scrolls and religious relics. <\/p>\n Actually, there’s also another museum: the Tunxi Museum, which mostly has furniture from the Ming and Qing eras, calligraphy and ancient pictures. <\/p>\n In an alleyway off Old Street you’ll find the famous gaotang huntun<\/em> \u9ad8\u6c64\u9984\u9968, a tiny family-run restaurant that serves delicious bowls of huntun<\/em> at cheap prices; in this little restaurant you don’t just get to taste these delicious huntun<\/em>, but can also immerse yourself in evocative Qing era atmosphere.<\/p>\n West of Tunxi (it takes an hour by bus), you’ll find Mount Qiyun \u9f50\u4e91<\/strong>, also known by the name of the \u201cMountain of High Clouds\u201d. <\/p>\n This mountain, 585 meters high, is mostly famous for being one of the Four Sacred Daoist Mountains, full of temples and Daoist inscriptions. Close to Mount Qiyun, Qiyun Village is a rather common village where you can buy souvenirs<\/a>.<\/p>\n As was already said, the capital of Anhui is the city of Hefei \u5408\u80a5<\/strong>, a welcoming city with more than four and a half million residents but few tourist attractions. Called Luzhou \u5e90\u5dde in the past, Hefei was the birthplace of a famous Song Dynasty magistrate, Bao Gong, described in ancient times as a very capable detective able to solve any mystery. <\/p>\n Of the few tourist attractions, we can count 4 that have to do with magistrate Bao Gong: the fuzhuang<\/em> \u6d6e\u5e84 \u201cFloating Village\u201d, a small village full of gardens and tea houses, built on an island in the middle of the river.<\/p>\n The baogong ci<\/em> \u5305\u516c\u7960, a commemorative temple in honor of Bao Gong that also contains a 3 meter high statue of him; the qingfeng yuan<\/em> \u6e05\u98ce\u56ed \u201cQingfeng Park\u201d, where there is a 40 meter pavilion, built to celebrate the thousandth anniversary of Bao Zheng’s birth; and, lastly, the baogong muyuan<\/em> \u5305\u516c\u5893\u56ed \u201cBaogong’s Tomb\u201d.<\/p>\n In the city of Hefei, you can visit a very cute park, xiaoyaojin gongyuan<\/em> \u900d\u9065\u6d25\u516c\u56ed \u201cXiaoyaojin Park\u201d<\/strong>: a Chinese style park full of gardens, various vegetation, small lakes and temples where you can watch the Chinese (mainly older ones) intent on doing their exercise and Taiji<\/em>.<\/p>\n Huang Shan \u9ec4\u5c71 \u201cYellow Mountain\u201d<\/a><\/strong> (some prefer \u201cThe Yellow Mountain\u201d) is really a mountain chain that is among the top 10 most beautiful panoramas in China; in effect, Huang Shan was always one of the favorite destinations for the poets of ancient China (Li Bai, for example, dedicated an entire composition to it; today there are more than 20 000 compositions about Huang Shan!).<\/p>\n The beautiful landscape of Huang Shan is known worldwide thanks to its popular ancient residences, gates, temples, bridges, streets and the so-called pinus taiwanensis<\/em>. An interesting fact: James Cameron was inspired by Huang Shan Mountain for the film Avatar<\/em>!<\/p>\n But why is it called Yellow Mountain? During the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C. – 226 A.D.), Huang Shan was known as Yishan; around 747 A.D., an imperial decree gave it its name in honor of the Yellow Emperor who, according to legend, rose to heaven passing by Yellow Mountain. <\/p>\n The mountain is characterized by lots of little rivers with crystal clear waters; moreover, there are also some thermal springs with water flowing at 45 C\u00b0 all year long, and numerous freshwater springs. <\/p>\n After years of work and restructuring at a Chinese pace, huanghang wenquan<\/em> \u9ec4\u5c71\u6e29\u6cc9 \u201cthe thermal area of Huang Shan\u201d is finally open to the public; in this area there is a series of themed pools: springs infused with coffee, wine and alcohol, those with little fish that clean dead skin off your feet, and so on.<\/p>\n Regarding the general weather situation, there’s a little problem: it rains an average of 200 days a year on the mountain, so keep an eye on when you want to go. A good choice would be the autumn; summer is the rainy season so be careful!<\/p>\n Since the peaks are often located above the clouds (77 peaks are higher than 1,000 meters tall; the highest peak, Lian Hua Feng is 1864 meters tall), you can admire two optic effects: yunhai<\/em> \u4e91\u6d77 \u201cSea of Clouds\u201d and foguang<\/em> \u4f5b\u5149 \u201cBuddha’s Light\u201d.<\/p>\n Remember: Capturing the sunrise and sunset above the clouds will be an unforgettable experience. This sea of fog submerges the area of Huang Shan which extends over an area of 154 square kilometers, leaving only the highest peak of the mountain chain visible.<\/p>\n Many of these feng<\/em> \u5cf0 \u201cpeaks\u201d have been given names taken from religious beliefs: shi xin feng<\/em> \u59cb\u4fe1\u5cf0 \u201cThe Peak of the Beginning of Faith\u201d; and dan xia feng<\/em> \u4e39\u971e\u5cf0 \u201cThe Peak of the Purple Cloud\u201d, just as an example. Besides peaks with religious names, there’s also the “Peak of the Lotus Flower\u201d, \u201cThe Peak of the Heavenly Capital\u201d, and so on.<\/p>\n During the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhists chose Jiuhuashan \u4e5d\u534e\u5c71<\/strong> as dwelling place for the bodhisattva Dizang, the Lord of the Underworld, whose Sanskrit name K\u1e63itigarbha<\/em>, as is rendered in other Eastern languages, means “origin of the Earth”. <\/p>\n Dizang is also the \u201cprotector\u201d of the dead (he’s actually depicted with a staff in his hand and a shining jewel in the other to guide the dead through the darkness of the underworld). In fact many of the faithful come specifically to Jiuhuashan to pray for their dead. <\/p>\n Considered one of the sacred mountains by the Buddhists, Jiuhuashan is mostly known for its magnificent temples. There we find the Zhiyuan<\/strong> temple (a yellow-colored temple); Huacheng si<\/strong>, a temple decorated with carved dragons, which contains three enormous golden bodhisattvas 25 meters high. <\/p>\n The nicest of all the temples is the one on the peak, Tiantai si<\/em> \u5929\u53f0\u5bfa \u201cTemple of the Heavenly Altar\u201d, where inside there’s one of the first statues of Dizang seated in the \u201cTemple of Dizang\u201d; in the hall of 10 000 Buddhas, you’ll find another statue of Dizang seated on a throne that seems to observe people arriving in pilgrimage.<\/p>\n I hope you found this article useful. All that’s left is to wish you a pleasant trip!<\/p>\n Photo Credits: Traveling to Anhui – Index A little history Location and climate The prefecture city of Huang Shan Hongcun and around Tunxi and around Hefei Huang Shan Jiuhuashan A little history The province of Anhui \u5b89\u5fbd \u2013 abbreviated as W\u01cen \u7696 (a character used on car license plates for example) – located in eastern China halfway […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":21864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[198,101],"class_list":["post-21849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-in-china","tag-anhui","tag-travel-in-china"],"yoast_head":"\nLocation and climate<\/h2>\n
The prefecture city of Huang Shan<\/h2>\n
Hongcun and around<\/h2>\n
Tunxi and around<\/h2>\n
Hefei<\/h2>\n
Huang Shan<\/h2>\n
Jiuhuashan<\/h2>\n
![\"Creative](\"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/icon\/cc.png\")
<\/a> DSC_0470<\/a> by lwtt93<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"