China vacations info - Xiangshan Moutain Park travel

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Xiangshan ( means Fragrant Hill in Chinese ) Mountain is also called "Jingyiyuan". It is located in the west of the Haidian District, Beijing, about 20 kilometers far away from the downtown of Beijing. It occupies 160 hektares. In the April and May of every year, there will be flower exhibitions holding in Xiangshan Mountain. You can see hundreds of beautiful flowers here if you visit Xiangshan Mountain during this period of time.

The most famous thing of Xiangshan Mountain is the red autumn leaves. Every autumn, the whole Xiangshan Mountain is covered with red leaves of the Rhus glabra trees. These red autumn leaves look like fire, very beautiful. Thousands of people come to see them every day in autumn. These Rhus glabra trees are planted 200 years ago (during the Qing Dynasty of China). Now there are more than 94,000 glabra trees in Xiangshan Mountain. Generally, the best time to see the red autume leaves of Xiangshan Mountain is October and November and you can have a very good view at Banshanting, Yuhuashanzhuang or Langfengting. (info for your China vacations and travel)

Why is this mountain called " Fragrant Hill " ?
(1). The stalactites of the Fragrant Hill look like Chinese incense burners. Because of this, this mountain is called Fragrant Hill by the local people.
(2). The flowers of the apricot trees in this mountain make it fragrant and lots of people start to call it the Fragrant Hill.(info for your China vacations and travel)

Two main routes through the Xiangshan Mountain Park:

One route goes through the north area, with Spectacles Lake (Yanjing Lake) and the bridge, Study of Reading Heart (Jianxin Zhai) and Bright Temple (Zhao Miao). Study of Reading Heart was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644) and is a landscaped park inside Fragrant Hills Park. Bright Temple is a large Tibetan style lamasery complex built in 1780 as the residence for the sixth Panchen Lama during his visits to Emperor Qianlong. Buildings in the complex have partially been burned down. Among the surviving treasures are a majestic glazed-tiled archway in front of the complex, a terrace and a glazed-tiled pagoda. Bells hung on the eaves of the pagoda chime in breeze.

The second route leads through the south area of the park. Main attractions along the route include Tranqulity Green Lake (Jingcui Lake), Shuangqing Villa, Fragrant Temple, and Incense Burner Peak. This route is more difficult because it leads across the highest peak, Incense Burner Peak.

Admission fees:

10 rmb for the peak season (04/01 - 11/15), 5 rmb for the slack season (11/16 - 03/31).
10 rmb for the Biyunsi Temple.(info for your China vacations and travel)
30 rmb for the Rope way (none holiday or weekend), 50 rmb for holidays or weekends. ( price for kids is 10 rmb )

How to get here?

The best option is to take the public transportation. The Line 733, 833, 714, 360, 318, 904, 331 city buses can take you to the Xiangshan Mountain. If you like the subway, you can take the Line 2 subway to the station named "Jishuitan", then transfer to the Line 331 city bus. Xiangshan Mountain is at the terminal of the Line 331 bus. You can take the Line 2 subway to the station named "Xizhimen" too. Then transfer to the Line 904 city bus.

Date: 05/04/2009.

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