Sanqing Mountain beckons visitors

Qilin Mountain A breathtaking spectacle of masses of clouds over Qilin Mountain in Fengkai Geological Park in South China's Guangdong Province. Stretching over hundreds of kilometers and with its main peak reaching 927 meters, the mountain resembles a Qilin from afar. In Chinese legend, Qilin, or the Chinese unicorn, is a holy beast with a scute on its back, representing auspiciousness and prosperity.

Sanqing Mountain Geological Park in East China's JiangxiProvince was officially opened to the public earlier this month, a representative of the park's administrative committee said.

Located in the northeast of the city of Shangrao, Sanqing Mountain is traditionally regarded as a holy mountain by followers of Taoism.

Further, geologists consider it an ideal spot for scientific research. The area, covering over 200 square kilometers, is among the most famous locations in the world for studying the earth's history and ancient plate tectonics, as it has been witness to almost 1 billion years of continuous geological evolution.

Years of tectonic erosion have sculpted the granite in Sanqing Mountain into a variety of landforms and shapes. Experts have high praise for the area as it provides a valuable study in geological science; they say the topography of the granite peak forest is a natural museum and a natural textbook of geology.

Sanqing Mountain is famous for its natural mountain landscape as well as various Taoist humanistic attractions.

Officials from the Ministry of Land and Resources and the Sanqing Mountain Geopark Administrative Committee attend the opening ceremony of the park in Jiangxi Province recently.

Approved in 1988 as a key national scenic spot by the State Council, the mountain has since developed 48 gorgeous peaks, 52 grotesque rocks and more than 500 spots of scenic beauty.

Sanqing Mountain is not only popular with experts and visitors from home and abroad, but has also gained official recognition from the government.

It was hailed as a national geological park in 2005 by the Ministry of Land and Resources, and is included in the list of natural sites nominated by the Chinese government this year for the 2008 world natural heritage project of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

(China Daily 03/30/2007 page20)