lianhua mountain scenic spot

lianhua mountain is a famous one in pearl river delta, in area of 2.23 square kilometers. the highest peak of it is one 108 m high. guangzhou municipal government awarded it the title of “seascape view on lianhua mountain” and one of “eight sceneries of guangzhou” in 2002. it’s also the state grade-4a tourist spot and the famous scenic spot in guangdong province. there are 6000 aigrets nestling in the natural preserve and 3 star resorts hotels. it’s located at the lion riverside of pearl river and the bird view point in western side of lion sea. the cultural preservation in lianhua mountain is thick and rich in historic respect and the witness for 2200 years’ panyu’s history. the historical and cultural relics here in panyu are bountiful, especially the centralized and representative relics in lianhua mountain. it has 2000 years’ old and well-preserved ancient site of stone quarry, the lotus tower built in the wanli reign of ming dynasty with the reputation of so-called “provincial ornamental pillar”, the lotus city built in kangxi reign of qing dynasty and the newly-built highest kwan-yin statue in the world. don’t miss the opportunity to visit lianhua mountain once you come to lingnan. 

the name as “lianhua mountain” goes from a legendary story, it’s said that once a time, there was a furious dragon in south sea who came to pearl river mouth and made many mischievous storms to the local peasants. people had nothing to change the situation until kwan-yin of south sea passed here and witnessed all happenings. he threw his lotus seat into water to control the dragon, which incarnated into a giant stone and became today’s lianhua mountain.  

ancient site of stone quarry is the historical monuments & cultural relics under state protection and the patriotic educational base of guangzhou city.

lianhua mountain is composed of 48 red gritstone hills in “danxia platform”. mountain is not supreme for its height but for its immortalization. lianhua mountain is such a mountain. her beauties attract people from all directions. the red gritstone is quality stone in high density and fineness, which is used as the grindstone; hence lianhua mountain is also called “shiligang”. the red gritstone is good material for wall foundation. it’s asserted by experts that the 8 of 12 stone materials to build the nanyue king tomb built 2100 years ago were coming from here and transported by water to xianggang mountain of guangzhou from here. lianhua mountain is located along the riverside of lion sea, where the stones were transported to guangzhou along the pearl river. from west han dynasty, ancient people mined here, which gave rise to today’s stone forest and holes with red gritstone cliff and stone columns. once you come here, you will experience the historic stone mine; the cuts on the stone, the chinks by the ear and the drill marks on the stone wall are all beyond your imagination. 

the representative scenic spots in the ancient stone mining site of lotus mountain are the swallow rock, eagle cliff, kwan-yin rock and lion stone.

swallow rock is the essence of the ancient site of stone quarry, where crags and huge rocks form dangerously narrow hill paths and deep caves. it is grand and imposing, half made by human beings and and half by nature. looking up from below, you will find the wide sky be reduced to a skylight with cliffs around. towering peaks and the craggy rocks will make you feel dizzy and breathtaking. when it comes to the joint of spring and summer, flowers will make the cliff, which becomes a green wall with vines on it, look more like a colorful watercolor painting. at the scenic spot, you can also see swallows spiral in the sky, and if you listen carefully, you will hear the tick of water dropping onto rocks. this place is so beautiful that it is the preference of many movie and tv directors when choosing an outdoor scene.

the huge rocks here are grotesque. some have neat section as if having been cut by knife; some have deeply-sinked surface and looks like a shrine; some stand erect in water and point toward the blue sky as if being one of the eight pillars used to prop up the sky. they are not uncanny workmanship of nature, but made by chisel and ax of our forefathers. in the ancient time, the stonemasons used very simple and clumsy tools, but they were very clever and experienced. they made three holes on a rock according to its texture and then struck it in turn, the rock would fall apart with a loud crash along the texture. now, even hundreds and thousands of years later, the texture on the surface of the rocks can still be clearly seen and the rocks scarcely effloresce. from this we can see how hard the red sandstone rocks are.

through this fancinating place，you will come to baifu corridor. stand here and look forward, you will see a stone wall in front of you, on which are 100 chinese characters of “fu” (which means blessing). these 100 fus are put in order, but have different styles. take a photograph here will certainly make you live with 100 blessings.

guanyin rock was originally a stone room left over after quarrying. there are still many such stone rooms at lianhua mountain. it is originally a nunnery where people made offering to kwan-yin bodhisattva. inside the room, if you look up, you can still vaguely see such words “the seventh year of yongzhong (who is a qing emperor ruled from 1723 to 1735) on the rock wall, but until now there is no clue to show why there are such words.

lion rock is at the eastern foot of lianhua mountain. it looks like a lion lying at the cliff, look towards the east and and roar toward the mouth of pearl river. therefore, lianhua mountain is also called as lion mountain and that reach of pearl river in front of it is called as lion river. according to archeologist, lianhua mountain was only an island at the very beginning. millions of years later, with the subsiding of seawater and rising of land, the island became hills and the sea floor became land. lion rock was only a rock at the side of the island. after millions of years of beating of ocean wave and sea wind, eroding and weathering, it becomes what it looks now. it is like a loyal watcher of lianhua mountain, watching it day and night. it is also the best witness of the great changes of lianhua mountain.

through the deep flying eagle tunnel, you will come to flying eagle cliff, which is above swallow rock. stand here and look far into the distance against the banister, you will see a great amount of fertile land in length and breadth and pearl river winding to the east and extending into the distance. look back and downward, you will see stelaes and stalagmites towering towards the sky, which makes an imposing stone screen into your view. these sights come from our forefather’s constant hacking of stones, but not from the craftymanship of nature. of course, at that time, no one would think of such wonderful scenery.

lotus tower is 50 meters high, standing at the highest peak of lianhua mountain. it was initially built in 1612 in ming dynasty (when china was ruled by the emperor of wanli for 40 years) and has about 400 years of history. it is one of historical monuments & cultural relics under province protection. it has nine floors outside and eleven floors inside, looks like an octagon from outside, and is built by bricks and timber. inside the tower, there is a spiral staircase, which can help you reach the top of the tower. at each floor, there are various large or small gateways. since lotus tower is the highest point of lianhua mountain, from of old, all ships that enter pearl river from lingding river, use it as the navigation mark to enter guangzhou. hence, lotus tower has the honor of “ornamental column of the province capital”.

lotus tower has experienced and suffered all great changes. in 1938, when guangzhou fell, it was bombed and severely damaged by japanese army, with countless marks of bullet left on its body. in 1981 and 1997, lotus tower was renovated under the sponsor of hong kong and macao compatriots.

climb to the top of lotus tower and look far away to the lion river on its eastern sider, you will see mist-covered water extend to the distance. this may remind you of such a scene in former days that many ships rush to the starting point of silk road on the sea.

at the northeast corner of lianhua mountain, there is a castle, which is lotus city — the base for guangzhou patriotism education. the castle was initially built in 1664 (the third year of kangxi in qing dynasty) and has a floor area of more than ten thousand square meters, and looks like an irregular oval. the inside and outside city walls are both built by laying bricks and stones and are more than 10 meters high. the castle is at a strategic place and occupies a commanding position. it can control humen in the distance and lion river hard by. therefore, it is called “a strategic place”. since kangxi, this castle had been a campsite for soldiers. on january 26th, 1841, the british army forcibly occupied hong kong. on 27th, at this place, charles elliot coerced qishan to admit that hong kong would be ceded to the great britain, but qishan didn’t dare to do so. one year and seven months later, the qing government signed “nanjing treaty” with the british army and hongkong was formally ceded to britain.

now, the high city walls of lotus city and crenellations on walls still have the original appearance. climbing to the top of the city wall, you can look as far as to huangpu port of guangzhou on the north and to dongguan city on the east. inside the city, are dense trees and countless army tents, which include exhibition hall of “the eight banner” army, exhibition hall of the original appearance of lotus city, the hall for discuss official business, the tent for general, the tent for husband and wife, the tent for entertainment, etc. these tents show clearly the organization of “the eight banner” army in qing dynasty. besides this, there are files of people in the dress of qing soldiers standing outside the gate, which may remind you of the scene when lin zexun, the imperial envoy, was sent to garrison here.

walk from the lower part of lotus tower into guanyin sacred place, you will see a wide and straight pilgrimaging road extending to the square paved with bluestone. at the center of the square stands a glittering statue of guanyin appeasing the sea, who is stately, kind and amiable. looking up, you will see white clouds floating in the blue sky. against this scene, the buddha of guanyin looks like walking on clouds and wearing rosy clouds. the statue of guanyin is 10.88m high, cast with 120 ton of bronze and with 180 liang (90 kilogram) of fine gold on the surface. it is the highest standing gilt bronze statue of guanyin. the statue looks toward the southeast and looks far into the immense lion river. guanyin appeasing the sea was named for this reason.

the statue of guanyin was beautifully sculpted with stately and kind expression, so it is extremely worshipped by pious men and women and tourists. at the night of every birthday of guanyin, every first and fifteenth day of a month and other important festivals, with the light of the searchlights, the statue of guanyin appeasing the sea will send out golden light which will lighten an area of several miles wide and form an auspicious atmosphere. the building of the statue of guanyin appeasing the sea was initiated by he houhua (the governor of macao) and sponsored by he xian welfare fund association and other people. its construction was finished on october 23rd, 1994. since then, on january 26th and september 9th (the double ninth festival) of each year (that is calculated according to chinese traditional calendar), friends at home and abroad will roll in. it is really an unprecedented grand occasion.

the guanyin pavilion beside guanyin statue was built on october 20th, 1997 (september 19th according to chinese traditional calendar, on which day guanyin was born). it was grand and statedly with antique flavours. it is really an elaborate architectural artwork. all wood carvings inside the pavilion, including windows, doors, wooden square blocks inserted between the top of a column and a crossbeam, shrines and altars are all made of rare rosewood; floor bricks are the specially developed pseudoclassic step bricks; walls are all made by levigated old blue bricks; and the inside is decorated with 3362 elaborately painted caisson ceiling.

guanyin pavilion has a building area of 3872 square meters and its palace hall is great. inside the hall, 1000 differently sculpted ikons of guanyin are collected and made offering to. the ikons are made of various materials, such as jade, wood, copper and colorized porcelain. therefore, the pavilion is worthy of the name “pavilion of a thousand buddha’s”. in the middle of the first floor of the main hall is the guanyin with a thousand hands and a thousand eyes, whose statue is carved by fragrant camphor wood, and is 12 meters high. the buddha sits cross-legged and has serene appearance. the one thousand hands and one thousand eyes have a meaning of saving all flesh largely, satisfactorily and successfully. in common temples, the buddha has only 42 arms, but in this pavilion, he really has one thousand eyes and one thousand hands. if you are interested, you can count them.

on each altar of the two side gable walls of the first floor, there are 18 differently sculpted avatar statues of guanyin, which are based on the image of “thirty six guanyins” in chinese buddhism and have the advantage of guanyin’s models through the ages. they are characterized with civility, beauty and kindness, which greatly shortened the distance between human beings and gods.

on the two sides of the second floor of guanyin pavilion are the bronze standing statues of guanyin. there are totally 18 statues, which are all 1.7 meter high. among the statues, there are the ones for the guanyin with thirteen disguises and the guanyin who will let you have babies. if you were to have a child early, you may touch the guanyin who will let you have babies because there is no harm to do so. she is the only statue that tourists can touch.

in the middle of the third floor is the white marble statue of guanyin, which is 2.5m high and is the most precious treasure of guanyin pavilion. on both sides stand 18 differently sculpted colorized porcelain statues of the divine and kind guanyin.

on each floor of guanyin pavilion there is an outside corridor, which is the best place to have a view. stand against the banister and look far into the distance, you will see all the scenes around the mouth of pearl river. at this time, the wind brings you coolness. this will make you forget all your trouble and the noisy circumstance.

in front of guanyin pavilion there is a big garden, which is in concert with the pilgrimaging hall and guanyin pavilion. inside the garden there is a pool that has been built for people to free captive animals. in the pool there is a huge stone tortoise of more than six meters long. on its back and beside it there are still five lovely small stone tortoises. they respectively denote the meaning of “blessing”, “salary”, “longevity”, “happiness” and “having everything”, and the huge tortoise denote the meaning of “birthday after fifty years old”. it is said that if you can a coin that hits the head of the tortoise, you will have good luck. on the east and west lawn there is respectively a huge word of “budda” and “namo amitabha” made with flowers. the big garden, the guanyin appesing the sea and the guanyin pavilion makes a harmonious union and a transcendent and strong buddhist atmosphere.

lianhua mountain has two big celebrations in relation with flowers, which are the lotus festival and the peachblossom festival. lianhua mountain scenic spot has big lotus festival in kwan-yin area from june to august every year. at that time, 4000 jars and 100 species of lotuses decorate the kwan-yin area. lotus is the buddhist flower for its purity from the dirt. there would be top-quality lotus among the exhibits; it’s really rare for lotus appreciation. in spring, in the kwan-yin area in lianhua mountain and lotus tower, thousands of peachblossom are welcoming the spring, when is the annual peachblossom festival in lianhua mountain.