Huangshan (Yellow Mountain)

Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) Review

Eastern China's most impressive natural landscape, Huangshan has peaks that rise like islands through roiling seas of clouds. A favorite retreat of emperors and poets of old, its peaks have inspired some of China's most outstanding artworks and literary endeavors. They were so beguiling that years of labor went into their paths, which are actual stone steps rising up—sometimes gradually into the forest, sometimes sharply through a stone tunnel and into the mist above. Since 1990 the area has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The common English translation—Yellow Mountain—is misleading. Huangshan is not a single mountain but rather a series of peaks that stretch across four counties. To complicate matters, the name is not a reference to color. The region was originally called the "Black Mountains," but a Tang Dynasty emperor renamed it to honor Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor. And according to legend, it was from these slopes that he rode off to heaven on the back of a dragon.

The mountain is renowned for its gnarled stone formations, crooked pines, and seas of mists. Most of these trees and rocks have names; some are obvious, whereas others require dedicated squinting and a leap of the imagination. Generations of Chinese poets and travelers have humanized these peaks and forests through this practice, and left their indelible mark on the area.

Be forewarned, though: Huangshan has its own weather. More than 200 days a year, precipitation obscures the famous views. It can be sunny below, but up in the mountains it's raining. But even on the foggiest of days the wind is likely to part the mist long enough to make out mysterious peaks.