JIANGXI (pop 43 million)
Jiangxi is just east of Hunan and north of Guangdong and Hong Kong. It is an interconnected web of rivers, lakes and rice paddies. At the edges are low-lying hills and more substantial mountains, shrouded in perpetual mist. At the northern border is Poyang Lake, a wetlands area that swells to become the country’s largest freshwater lake in summer.
Nanchang (pop. 2.5 million) is the capital in the north-central part of the province. It is not on many people’s must-see list. All the major attractions are in the mountains: Lushan in the far north and Sanqing Shan (1820m), one of the country’s most underrated national parks, in the north-east corner. September to November may be the best months to visit as there is less rainfall and moderate temperatures.
History. Jiangxi’s Gan River Valley was the principal trade route that linked Guangdong with the rest of the country in imperial times. Its strategic location, natural resources and long growing season ensured that the province has always been relatively well off. It is most famous for its imperial porcelain, although its contributions to philosophy and literature are perhaps more significant, particularly during the Tang and Song dynasties. Lushan was an important Buddhist centre, and was with neo-Confucianism from 1130-1200 was the intellectual centre of the time. At Longhu Shan was centred Taoism under the powerful Zhengyi sect of the Song dynasty (960-1279).
Peasant unrest swept through the Yangzi River Valley in the 16th, 19th (Taiping Rebellion), and 20th century (Communists).
Climate. Central Jiangxi in the Gan River plain has a four-season subtropical climate. Mountains encircle the plain and locals escape the summer heat with temperatures averaging above 30° in July. Rainfall averages 120-190cm annually, heaviest in the NE, and half falls between April and June.
Transportation. Nanchang is connected by high-speed train to Beijing in the north, Changsha to the west, Shanghai to the east and Guangzhou to the south. Getting around is easy.
I took the bus four hours south-east from Zhangjiajie to Changsha (08:30-12:30), a bus one hour from the Changsha bus station to the Changsha South Railway Station, the high-speed train 1½ hours east to Nanchang (average speed over 300km/hour, top speed 306km/hour. 17:02-18:32), and then a local train 1 hour north to Jiujiang (20:09-21:10), the city closest to Lushan. It was a full day of travel. Total cost 300¥ ($50) to travel across 1½ provinces. The train stations in Changsha and Nanchang are amazingly huge, modern places. We have nothing remotely comparable in Canada. Vancouver’s train station may have 1-2 trains and a handful of bus departures per day moving a few hundred people.
I was hustled by an old guy at the train station and followed him to his budget place (80¥). It was basic to say the least – squat toilet, only one light bulb and junky but had a good bed, wi-fi and a water kettle. What more do you need?
LUSHAN. One of the great early monastic centres of Chinese civilization, the dramatic fog-enshrouded cliffs of Lushan have attracted monastics and thinkers for 1500 years. The monk Hui Yuan, one of the first Chinese teachers to promote meditation, founded Pure Land Buddhism here in the 4th century. Tao Yuanming, a contemporary, was China’s first landscape poet.
Many writers resided here over the centuries but the Taiping Rebellion destroyed almost everything of note in the mid-19th century. Western colonists and missionaries followed. The Nobel Prize-winner Pearl S Buck lived here. Following the CPP’s rise to power, it was transformed into an infamous political conference centre, today a draw for many domestic tourists.
Some of the notable residences are Meilu Villa (Chang Kaishek, 1930s), Zhou Enlai Residence (former premier), and the Lushan Conference Hall (CCP meetings in 1959 and 1970).
Some of the hikes are: 1. Wu Lao Feng or Five Old Men Peak (1358m), 2. Three Step Waterfall and 3. Dragon Head Cliff – a natural rock platform on the NW rim with a huge natural drop and spectacular views across Jiangxi’s plains.
After paying the exorbitant entry of 180¥ ($30) with no price reduction for seniors, it is 23km up the mountain into the cloud. You think you are headed to somewhere remote but there is a big town spread over the top of the mountain. I had no clue where to go without a map and walked around a lake and some forest, went to Villa Meilu and the Zhou Enlai Residence and finally found the Lushan Sightseeing Bus Map that directs you to stops at Five Old Men Peak, Three Step Waterfall and Guilin for the Dragon Head Cliff. But everything was in total cloud and visibility 20m. Lushan is a Unesco World Heritage Site, and to tick one more off may be the only reason to come here, especially for that much money.
NOMAD MANIA JIANGXI NORTH
World Heritage Sites:
China Danxia
Lushan National Park
Mount Sanqingshan National Park
Tentative WHS:
Imperial Kiln Sites of Jingdezhen
Jinggangshan–North Wuyishan (Extension of Mount Wuyi) (30/01/2015)
Poyang Nature Reserve (12/02/1996)
Sites for Liquor Making in China (28/03/2008)
Lushan-Sandiequan Funicular
Jiujiang: Donglin Temple
Jiujiang: Nengren Temple
Yongxiu: Zhenru Chan Temple
Lushan
Mount Sangingshan is a renowned Taoist sacred mountain 40kms N of Yushan County with outstanding scenery. Mount Sanqing is made up of three main summits: Yujing, Yushui, and Yuhua, representing the Taoist trinity. Yujing hill (1817 meters) is the highest. Mount Sanqing has been classified as a national park. It contains more than 2300 species of plants and 400 species of vertebrates.
NANCHANG
Nanchang Metro
Museums Nanchang: Jiangxi Museum
ANHUI PROVINCE (pop 64.1 million)
This province is in east-central China just west of Shanghai. The main attractions here are in the southeastern part of the province just north east of Jiujiang. Huangshan, a jumble of sheer granite cliffs wrapped in clouds is unquestionably the main attraction. At the foot of the mountain are the ancient villages of Huizhou. I came for both. Both these are accessed around the town of Tunxi, well-connected to the big cities that are relatively near.
History. The Qing dynasty brought together two disparate geographic regions – the arid, densely populated North China Plain and the mountainous terrain south of the Yangzi River. Traditionally impoverished, people left here to do business or fill official posts elsewhere, but who fulfilled their filial duty and sent their profits home. Today it is no different.
Climate. Anhui has a warm temperate climate with heavy rain in spring and summer that often brings flooding. Winters are damp and very cold. Raingear and warm clothing for the mountain areas are a necessity at any time of year.
TUNXI (pop 77,000)
This town is the main access point for trips to Huangshan and the surrounding Huizhou villages, much closer than Hefei, the province’s capital. The town’s main attraction is Old Street, a pedestrian street full of knick-knack shops and restaurants. The tops of most buildings have gorgeous woodwork. You might think it was cold here as every motorcycle has hand mitts and a “jacket” that covers their legs and middle. I went to the supermarket and found muesli and other basics. Trying to find sugar cubes was an adventure – with a bag of sugar in my hand, I drew small cubes and it took 5 women to figure out what I wanted. They didn’t have any. On my way back to Old Street, I passed several brothels with overdressed women lounging in the foyers.
I wanted to stay not in the main city but close to the bus station, 2kms west. There was a lovely hostel, The Cozy Hostel about a block away (40¥/night). It is joined to the Green Tree Inn and looks like a hotel. It is possibly the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in. When I first looked up hostels for Tunxi in Hostelworld and Ctrip, there were no listings, but later found out they are listed under Huangshan – very confusing.
HUIZHOU VILLAGES
This was the home of highly successful merchants dealing in lumber, tea and salt, in addition to running pawn shops throughout China. At age 13 men left home to do business elsewhere, sometimes returning only once per year. Their families stayed here in lavish residences with some of the largest ancestral halls in the country. This makes the villages some of the loveliest in China set in hills with bamboo and pine forests.
The villages are divided into Western (Xidi, Hongcun, Tachuana, Nanping, Guanlu, and Mukeng Zhuhai, all Yixian towns), rarely visited Northern (Chengkan and Tangmo) and Eastern (Shexian and Yuliang) groups. Xidi and Hongcun are Unesco World Heritage listed.
Huizhou Style Architecture is the main attraction. Yixian and Shexian towns have the most typical: whitewashed walls with inset stone lattice grills, topped with horse-head gables (originally designed to prevent fire traveling along the line of houses, later evolving into decorative motifs), dark tiles, and high narrow windows (designed to protect the residences from thieves).
Exterior doors are overhung with decorative eaves and carved brick or stone lintels often very costly, but the doors themselves very cheap. Lintel carvings are decorated with vases, urns, animals, flowers and ornamental motifs. The doors are flanked by drum stones or mirror stones. Interior courtyards are illuminated by light wells (rectangular openings in the roof).
Inside, intricately carved wood panels extend two floors. Upper floors are supported on wood columns. Furnishings consist of half-tables against the walls (if together, the master would be home), and mantelpieces with a clock and mirror symbolizing peace and harmony.
Decorative arch ways were constructed by imperial decree to honor an individual’s achievements (becoming a high official for men or leading a chaste life for women). Archways are common in China and don’t always carry symbolic meaning but in Huizhou they were of great importance because they gave the merchants – who occupied the bottom rung of the Confucian social ladder (under artisans, peasants and scholars), much-desired social prestige.
I caught the 07:00 bus to Yixian and then a local bus to Xidi (entrance 106¥, reduced to 53¥ for over 60), 75 minutes from Tunxi.
XIDI has for centuries been a stronghold of the Hu clan, descended from the eldest son of the last Tang emperor who fled here. It shows the benefit of Unesco status as, unlike all other ancient towns in China, is totally unrestored – a large three-tiered Ming dynasty stone arch, a maze of flagstone lanes, a creek bridged with gigantic stones, homes and halls.
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The aggressive vendors (a big selection of antiques and Mao memorabilia) keep inside their homes avoiding the jumble of businesses on sidewalks. Walk up to the Observation Pavilion for views down to the boat-shaped town. I then got a 30-minute bus directly to Hongcun.
HONGCUN. Dating to the southern Song dynasty, this village was built in the shape of an ox – the central Moon Pond is its stomach and the many canals its entrails. Enter at South Lake and explore the flagstone paths through narrow alleys, bridges, and lakeside views. The most outstanding hall is the 1855 Chengzhi Hall with fabulous woodcarvings on the heavy beams that required 4 years to complete. Two 500-year-old trees form the horns of the ox.
Wood cabinet
HUANGSHAN
With a 100% chance of rain, views were limited in the total cloud and hiking difficult. With its granite peaks and twisted pines, it may be one of China’s top five sites. The crowds are usually huge but coming on a bad day is one way to avoid them. It rains more than 200 days per year on the mountain – April to June tend to be misty, July and August are in the rainy season, and September and October are generally the best time to visit. It is generally cold on the summit. Huangshan is not one of China’s sacred mountains, so little religious activity is present.
Buses from Tunxi head to Tangkou at the base of the mountain. The dizzying entrance fee is 230¥. Three routes attain the top: the short, hard 7.5km eastern steps, the long, harder 15km western steps, or the very short, easy cable car (80¥, queues can be huge). I took the cable car. The summit has a network of trails to the various peaks. A recommended area with fewer tourists is the rugged, exposed West Sea Canyon, an 8.5km hike taking a minimum of 4 hours. It is difficult to see the entire mountain in one day so most hikers spend a night on the mountain. Dorm rooms ranged from 180-380¥. A hot springs (238¥) is at the base of the east steps and cable car.
World Heritage Sites:
Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui – Xidi and Hongcun
Mount Huangshan National Park
I didn’t go to the following but include them for completeness sake.
Alligator Sinensis Nature Reserve (12/02/1996) The Chinese alligator (Yangtze alligator, China alligator, or historically called the muddy dragon) is a critically endangered crocodilian endemic to China. Dark gray or black in colour with a fully armoured body, the Chinese alligator grows to 1.5 m (5 ft) long as an adult and weighs 36 kg (80 lb). It brumates in burrows in the winter and becomes nocturnal in the summer. It mates during the early summer, producing 20–30 eggs, which are smaller than any other crocodilian. The species typically lives to age 50.
Living mostly in bodies of fresh water, the Chinese alligator’s distribution range is restricted to six very small regions in Anhui as of 2015. The population in the wild was about 1000 in the 1970s, decreased to below 130 in 2001, and grew after 2003, with its population being about 300 as of 2017. Several breeding facilities, both in China and foreign countries, have bred specimens in captivity and later released them into the wild, increasing the population.
The reserve is on the outskirts of the town of Xuancheng reached by fast trains from Hangzhou/Shanghai. There is a bus from the city centre every half hour directly to the park. It tends to be rather empty. The lake and breeding pools are not very big. The pools do not have barriers but the alligators relax in the water. Overall there is not much to see. There are some information panels. Walk around the entire thing in half an hour, maybe 1 hour max, and take the bus back to town.
TIANZHU MOUNTAIN (Mount Wan) (30/01/2015) In Qianshan County, Anqing City, it has 45 peaks over 1000m with a high point of 1,760 metres. There are two paths to reach the top, either from the east or from the west; From Dalong, the west path is the easier one. National Park
Mystery Valley is a maze-like valley formed by the rocks falling from the mountain. The valley has 53 caves, which form a very complicated maze.
Sanzu Temple is a Buddhist temple located on Mount Tianzhu. Originally built in 505 in the Northern and Southern dynasties (420–589), the temple has a history of over 1,550 years, but it was destroyed and rebuilt many times because of war and natural disasters. The present version was completed in 1944.
MOUNT JIUHUA. One of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism, it is located in Qingyang County and is famous for its rich landscape and ancient temples. Many of the mountain’s shrines and temples are dedicated to Ksitigarbha, a bodhisattva and protector of beings in hell realms according to Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Pious Buddhists often visit Anhui to climb Greater Tiantai peak, regarded as Jiuhuashan’s most important peak, although not the tallest.
Baisui Palace, Chaxiao is a Buddhist temple located on the top of Chaxiao Peak, in Chizhou. Over the course of 400 years, the temple was destroyed and rebuilt several times, due to war and natural disasters. Alongside Zhiyuan Temple, Dongyan Chan Temple and Ganlu Temple, it was venerated as one of the “Four Great Buddhist Temples in Mount Jiuhua”.
Yingfeng Temple is a Buddhist temple located in Yingjiang District of Anqing, Anhui. The temple was first built in 974 by the Song dynasty (960–1279). Zhenfeng Pagoda. Originally built in the Song dynasty and reconstructed in 1570, the 64.8-metre (213 ft) high pagoda has the brick and wood structure with seven storeys and eight sides. Curved bars and cornices are set on each story, which are magnificent and become the symbol of Yingjiang Temple. Over 1,200 statues of Buddha are enshrined in its interior.
Mingjiao Temple, Hefei (formerly known as Iron Buddha Temple) is a Buddhist temple located in Luyang District of Hefei, Anhui. Mingjiao Temple was originally built in the early 6th century, but because of war and natural disasters has been rebuilt numerous times since. The present version was renovated and redecorated in 2015.
WUHU
Guangji Temple is a Buddhist temple located on the southwest hillside of Mount Zhe, in Jinghu District of Wuhu, Anhui. Alongside Puji Temple, Nengren Temple and Jixiang Temple, Guangji Temple is known as one of the “Four Buddhist Temples in Wuhu”. It has been expanded and repaired for many times and now still maintain the basic architectural pattern of the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368–1911).
Fantawild Adventure. Fantawild is a chain of amusement parks located in 33 cities of China – 23 are operating and 10 were under construction as of 2018). The first park opened in the mid-to-late 2000s in Chongqing. The mascot of the parks is a blue dinosaur named DuLuDuBi, and is typically used as the public image for the chain.
On the morning of November 30th, I got the 07:40 bus to Nanjing in Jiangsu Province.
I didn’t go to Anhui North but include this information.
NOMAD MANIA ANHUI NORTH
World Heritage Sites:
The Grand Canal
FUYANG is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Anhui province bordering Bozhou to the northeast, Huainan to the southeast, Lu’an to the south, and the province of Henan on all other sides. Its population was 7,599,913 with 1,768,947 in the metro area made of 3 urban districts Yingzhou, Yingdong and Yingquan.
Great Leap Forward. From 1959-61, 2.4 million people from Fuyang died from famine. Large water conservation projects led to insufficient irrigation for local crops, leading to mass starvation. A history of exceptional violence, torture and murder was carried out by local Party members. Since the 1980s there has been greater official Chinese recognition of the importance of policy mistakes in causing the disaster, and the Party has acknowledged that the disaster was caused mainly by gross mismanagement, using the expression, “Three parts natural disaster and seven parts man-made disaster.”
Blood selling. In the 1990s, commercial blood selling schemes led to entire villages in Henan and Anhui being infected with the HIV virus. The government encouraged rural villagers to sell blood as a way to supplement their income. The blood collectors would often draw too much blood, causing their feet to go numb, and sometimes people were even hung upside down against a wall to force blood to flow back into their arms. As compensation for giving their blood, participants were given 50 yuan along with some food and drink. Many people engaged in this practice due to rural poverty and local corruption, which placed them under great economic stress. As one woman from Fuyang recalls “We sold blood because we were poor. The government demanded that each farmer pay an extra agricultural tax. If you failed to pay, the officials would take away your pigs, corn, and grain. So the harvest was only good enough for a basic living. But keeping children at school was expensive. Giving out gifts every year cost a family nearly ten thousand yuan. Building rooms to bring in a wife cost thirty thousand to forty thousand yuan. But if the government did not encourage blood selling, we would not have sold blood to make money. In a 2004 epidemiological survey of Fuyang, it was found that at least three thousand farmers had conducted HIV due to the blood trade. Many challenges faced AIDS orphans.
Milk formula. In 2004, there was a food scandal involving fake infant formula being sold in Fuyang. 50–60 children in Fuyang died from the formula, with the children belonging mostly to poor rural families. 55 brands of cheap infant formula were banned after it was discovered they had only traces of the required nutrients.
Fuyang has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate
HUAIBEI is a prefecture-level city in northern Anhui that borders Suzhou to the east, Bengbu to the south, Bozhou to the west, and the province of Henan to the north. The population was 2,114,276 inhabitants 2010. Huaibei has vast quantities of mineral reserves including marble, iron, copper, gold, silver, nickel, cobalt, fire clay and limestone. It also possesses 2.726 million tons of coal. Huaibei is the home to numerous chemical, construction, machinery, textile, power, electronics, and mineral industrial firms. The city has over 2,000 industrial enterprises, of which 22 large and medium-sized ones are run by the state. The annual output of raw coal from Huaibei is 2,000 million tons, ranking first in eastern China.
The textile industry in Huaibei is ranked second in Anhui. Winemaking industry is over 1,000 years old. The Kouzi wine from the city has an annual output of 20,000 tons. The construction industry is developing rapidly with an annual cement output of 2 million tons. The chemical industry focuses on industrial products such as fertilizers, coke sulphuric acid and rubber. The metallurgy, machinery, electronics, and food industries have also produced more than 100 kinds of products have reached or been approaching the national or international level. Huaibei is one of the ten largest coal exporting cities in China
HUAINAN is a prefecture-level city with 2,334,000 inhabitants in central Anhui. It borders Hefei to the south, Lu’an to the southwest, Fuyang to the west, Bozhou to the northwest, Bengbu to the northeast and Chuzhou to the east. It is known for its coal industry and thermal power plants. It is also considered to be the hometown and birthplace of tofu.
The Piano House. This unusual piano and violin shaped building built in 2007 serves as showroom for exhibiting the plans for newly created district of Shannan in Huainan City, China. The transparent Violin houses the escalators and the staircase for the main piano building which displays various plans and development prospects for newly developed area. It was reportedly designed by Hefei University of Technology and has been built to a scale of 50:1.
Because of its unique shape it has become a popular tourist place and many newly weds have their photo taken in its front. The locals have dubbed it “the most romantic building in China”.
HEFEI is the capital, largest city, political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Located in the central portion of the province, it borders Huainan to the north, Chuzhou to the northeast, Wuhu to the southeast, Tongling to the south, Anqing to the southwest and Lu’an to the west.
Much of its new growth derived from its development as an industrial city: cotton, thermal generating plant, industrial chemicals and chemical fertilizers, iron and steel complex was built, machine-tool works and engineering and agricultural machinery factories, aluminum industry and a variety of light industries. There are several universities based in the city.
Anhui Museum
Chuzhou: Langya Temple is a Buddhist temple located on Mount Langya in Langya District of Chuzhou, Anhui.
