Mount Lu Mountain Town-Kuling

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Lying in the north of Mount Lu, Kuling appearing like a bull means bull ridge itself because Ku means bull and ling means ridge in Chinese. At the end of the 19thcentury,a British Missionary entered Mount Lu and stayed at Kuling to erect villas.

As a matter of fact, Mount Lu is very cool in summer and Ku sounds just like cool.

Therefore, he named the place”Kuling”.

Itinerary of Western Valley

Huajing-Brocade Valley-Celestial Bridge-Immortal’s Cave -Black Dragon Pool and Yellow Dragon Pool-Three Treasure Trees -Meilu Villa Huajing(Flower Pathway)It is said that on his visit to Mount Lushan in later spring of 817 AD,a Tang poet Bai Juyi was elated by the scene that peach trees were in bloom, expressing hisfeelings in a poem:”There are no more peach blossoms in other parts of the country, but they are in full bloom in this mountain temple.I am sorry for losing track of the spring, but not knowing that it has come here.”The characters inscribed in stone at the entrance are “Flowers bloom in the mountain temple”and “Be appreciated with poems”. Furthermore, there is a stone pavilion with an umbrella-shaped roof and red pillars. In the pavilion, there are two Chinese characters in Bai Juyi’s handwriting “Hua Jing”(Flower Pathway) carved on a rock. The entire place is called Huajing or Bai Sima’s Huajing(Sima was Bai’s official title while he was in Jiangzhou)recalling the beautiful legend.

Jinxiu Valley(Brocade Valley)

It is said to be the place where the monk, Hui Yuan, of the Jin Dynasty(265AD-420AD), collected medicinal herbs as it was covered with various kinds offlowers in all four seasons: cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, azaleas and laurels,a specialty of Mount Lu. In addition, many strange rocks here bring additional charm to the valley.

Tiangiao(Celestial Bridge/Heavenly Bridge)

Tianqiao is a fantastic crag over the valley near Ruqin Lake. The crag is famous for its relation to a moving legend that goes: Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had a bloody battle against Chen Youliang,a Yuan general, inPoyang Lake. Zhu Yuanzhang was defeated by Chen Youliang and fled. He fled without choosing the path. When he came to this spot, there was no way in front of him and was trapped by his enemy. Suddenly a golden dragon descended from the Heaven turning itself a bridge for Zhu and his men. Chen Youliang arrived at the place just when Zhu’s last man passed over the bridge. Suddenly thunder with lightening smashed the bridge in half. On the other end Chen arrived and lost in astonishment at the scene.”God helps not me!”, he said, and could do nothing but see Zhu running away. The remaining half stands here to this very day.

Fairy Cave(Immortal’s Cave)

Half a kilometer west of Huajing along the mountain highway is the Immortal’s Cave where Li Dongbin,a legendary figure, practiced Taoism and later turned into an immortal. The inscriptions of “Immortal Cave”are incised on top of the circular stone entrance.

Going north, one sees a horizontal stone”hung”in mid-air. It is called Toad Stone and bears the inscription of “Scanning Clouds Flying”. Visitors used to pose for photos here. Going down a few dozen flights of stairs from Toad Stone, the Immortal’s Cave stands in front of you. It is about 10 meters in depth and seven meters in height. Inside the cave, there is a stone shrine of Li Dongbin which is also called Chunyang Hall. Behind the cave is One Drop Spring. In front of it, there is a Buddha’s Hand Rock. In close proximity to the cave, there are several other scenic spots: Bamboo Temple, Fanyin Spring, Visiting Immortal Pavilion, and Traveling Immortal Stone, etc.

Black Dragon Pool and Yellow Dragon Pool

Going down along the Tianchi highway to the dam, and taking a path at the reservoir by the dam, one comes to a narrow pool sandwiched between two mountains that face each other. This is Black Dragon Pool with six streams coming down to it from a row of rocks each over three meters high. The inscription of “Black Dragon Pool”is seen on the first rock on the right. Cool and quiet, this is the best place to enjoy the waterfalls while siting in the shade.

A few dozen steps up from the Black Dragon Pool, and one is again greeted by the sound of running water. Entering a narrow gorge, the water winds through huge rocks and gushes down from a large broken rock forming a waterfall. Here is Yellow Dragon Pool. Colorful butterflies hover about the waterfall.

Three Treasure Trees

Looking upward from Yellow Dragon Pool one can see three old trees standing on the mountain top. These are Three Treasure Trees: One is a ginkgo and the other two are cryptomerias. The inscription of “Three Treasure Trees Planted by Monk Tan Xian of the Jin Dynasty”can be found on a rock under the trees. It is said that Monk Tan Xian brought these trees as saplings from the Western Regions and planted them there over one thousand years ago. The two cryptomerias are over forty meters in height and their trunks are so thick that four persons can just get their arms around one. Three Treasure Trees and the two dragon pools form a scenic spot of their own.

Meilu Villa

It was first built by British Lord Lanords in 1903; the whole building reflects the British architectural style of winding corridors and stresses the rule of abstract. beauty.

In 1922, it was transferred to Mrs. Bally. In 1933, Mrs. Bally presented it to Song Meiling. Since then, it became the summer residence and president’s field headquarters of Chiang Kai-shek. During the plenary session of the Central Committee of the CPC, Mao Zedong once lived in it.

The Itinerary of Touring Eastern Valley

Hanpokou-Wulao(five elders) Ridges-Three-step Waterfall Hanpokou(Hanpo Mouth)Hanpokou(Hanpo Mouth), in the center of Hanpo Ridge in the southeastern part of Mount Lu, faces Poyang Lake. It looks as if the lake is kept in its mouth and gets the name. It is two kilometers in the southeast of Lulin Bridge along the highway round the mountain. Hanpokou is 1,211 meters above sea level, and is surrounded by Wulao Ridges to the west, Taiyi Ridge to the east, Hanyang Ridge to the southeast and Mount Dayueshan to the north. Hanpo Pavilion and Wangpo Pavilion are located at Hanpokou.

It is spectacular to watch sunrise from Hanpokou.One must reach Hanpokou before dawn，and find a suitable place in Hanpo Pavilion or elsewhere.At first one sees only misty clouds，then one will notice clouds turning and tumbling.then a crack appears in the horizon accompanied by a variety of colors which change swiftly into a rosy dawn.Suddenly the red sun appears bathing everything in gold and Poyang Lake becomes shimmering.

Wulao（Five Elders）Ridges

Lucated at 1358 meters above sea level，Wulao.（five elders）Ridges could resemble five elders seated in a row.They look down on Poyang Lake and consist of numerous cliffs and precipices extending several kilometers.They are in the southeastern part of Mount Lushan with Poyang Lake to their east and Hanpo Ridge to their west.The third ridge，the steepest，bears the inscriptions of“Nearing the Sun and Finding the Clouds Low”and“Commanding the Mundane World”.

Three-step Waterfall

The Three-step Waterfall can be seen in the east of Wulao Ridges.Streams which flow from Wulao IRidges，the Mount Dayueshan and other places merge there into the spectacular Three-step Waterfall that drops.155 meters.The upper part is like flving snowflakes.The middle section is like sparkling broken jades and the lower part is like a silver dragon plunging into a pool.The Three-step Waterfall is the “First Wonder of Mount Lu”and there is a saying that“One cannot be counted as a visitor to Mount lu unless he has seen the Three-step Waterfall”.