Mt. Huang is located in the south of Anhui Province. It is well known to the world for all its grandeur and beauty. In 1990 Mt. Huang was declared a World Natural and Cultural Heritage by UNESCO Heritage Committee.
Within an area of 154 square kilometers, the mountain offers a crowd of peaks. 72 of them have names indicating the shapes they resemble. Lotus, Brightness Apex and Celestial Capital are the three major ones, all rising above 1,800 meters. The mountains are a body of granite, often with vertical joints. When it is cloudy the pinnacles loom in mists as if they were illusionary. When the sun shines, they unfold in all their majesty and splendor.
From ancient times Mt. Huang has been frequented by tourists seeking their mystery and admiring their scenery. They come to the conclusion that the fantastic pines, the grotesque rocks, the sea of clouds and the hot springs are the four major attractions of the Mountains. As a matter of fact there are marvels almost everywhere, especially in scenic areas such as Wenquan (Hot Spring), Yupinglou (Jade Screen Tower), Xihai (West Sea), Beihai (North Sea), Yungusi (Cloud Valley Temple) and Songgu'an (Pine Valley Nunnery).
Due to its peculiar terrain, Mt. Huang 's climate is marked by a vertical change, and the vertical distribution of vegetation is also distinctive: plants on the summit, on the middle levels and at the foot belong to the frigid, temperate and subtropical zones respectively. There are more than 1500 species of plants, of which trees comprise one third. So the Mt. Huang occupy an important place in China's botanical research. Here you will find century-old pines, firs, ginkgoes, Chinese torreyas, Chinese sweet gums, nanmus, camphor woods and the precious Magua trees, remnants of the glacial era.
Mt. Huang abound in flowering plants; many of them are rare ones, such as Goddess Flower, Mt. Huang Azalea as well as camellia, plum, lily, crape myrtle, orchid, Spring Heralding Flower and so on. It has a rich store of medicinal herbs; more than 300 kinds are found here; the notable ones being glossy ganoderma ginseng, Chinese gold thread rhizome and Chinese cinnamon. Maofeng tea of Mt. Huang is well known at home and abroad.
Though looking fresh and young, Mt. Huang have a long history, to which ancient books, poems and paintings as well as carved inscriptions, all bear witness. Poetic phrases in handsome calligraphy can be found in many spots on the mountain. They have become part of the fascinating scene themselves.
