Sleeping Buddha.	Dongya Buddhist Temple.	Phoenix Pine.

World Tourist Destination, International Buddhist Venue

JIUHUA Mountain, in southwestern Anhui Province, is admired at home and abroad for its beautiful natural scenery, long Buddhist history, and splendid cultural heritage dating back to the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220).

To its north is the Yangtze River, and to its south, the fabled Yellow Mountain and Taiping Lake. The Jiuhua Mountain Scenic and Historic Interest Area covers an area of 120 sq km and has a peripheral protection area of 53.85 sq km. It was, on April 12, 2007, designated a "national key mountain scenic area characterized by Buddhist culture and natural and man-made sacred sights."

When famous Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) poet Li Bai visited the mountain he wrote a poem that compared its peaks to nine lotus flowers. Having been named Jiuzi (nine peaks) Mountain during the Southern Dynasties (AD 420-589) it was thereafter known as Jiuhua, or "nine flowers" mountain.

Jiuhua Mountain encompasses 99, mainly granite, peaks of jagged rocks in grotesque shapes. Its scenery, which changes every few steps, resembles one beautiful landscape painting after another. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) there were ten designated spots of scenic delight on the mountain. Since reform and opening, the eight scenic areas that have been opened encompass more than 100 scenic spots. They feature new and old, natural and man-made sights. Jiuhua Mountain’s enchanting sunrise, sunset, and sea of cloud vistas, and Buddha's haloes make it a beatifically aesthetic haven for all.

Jiuhua, along with Wutai, Emei, and Putuo, is one of China' four Buddhist mountains, and has been a sacred destination for Buddhist pilgrims for 1,300 years. Kim Gyo Gak, prince of Shilla at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, came to study Buddhism in Jiuhua Mountain during the Kaiyuan Reign of the Tang Dynasty. He was a Buddhist devotee for 75 years. Upon his death, his corpse did not decay for three years. This phenomenon was believed to indicate the "presence of Kshitigarbha" (Guardian of the Earth, the Bodhisattva who delivers those suffering the torments of Hell). A stupa was built to contain his remains; it was then that Jiuhua Mountain became a site of worship for Buddhists throughout China and Southeast Asia.

Today, 99 Buddhist temples, in typical Southern Anhui architectural style, stand on Jiuhua Mountain. The 1,000 monks and nuns within them live in harmony with the local inhabitants, forming a unique folklore based on agriculture and Buddhist devotions. The various temples on Jiuhua Mountain hold holy rites all year round. The tolling of bells and chanting of sutras give Jiuhua Mountain a spiritual ambience felt by all that come to visit, whether to admire the view from Lotus Peak, or simply stroll along the Jiuhua Street.

An Area of Scenic and Historic Harmony

Jiuhua was among China’s first group of key areas of national scenic and historic interest, and is the main northern scenic area of Anhui's "two mountains and one lake" tourism development strategy.

Chizhou City is a main port on the southern banks of the Yangtze River. The Jiuhua Mountain Scenic and Historic Interest Area is within Chizhou city territory. Fang Zhiheng, deputy mayor of Chizhou, detailed the geographical advantages of Jiuhua Mountain, its communications facilities and characterized resources to CT reporters. He brims with confidence when talking about Jiuhua Mountain's tourism development, especially in view of its three-dimensional air, land and water tourism communications network that has taken shape.

Visitors can now reach Jiuhua Mountain by expressway, rail, ship and, before too long, air. Jiuhua Mountain Tourism Airport, currently under construction, will open tourist routes linking main China’s main cities. The Hefei-Tongling-Huangshan Expressway, the Riverine Expressway and the Tongling-Jiujiang Railway meet at the foot of the mountain, and cruise ships now dock at Chizhou port.

Gui Lin, chief of Chizhou City Tourism Administration, says that since China’s opening to the outside world in 1979, and especially since the 1990s, large numbers of investors have poured into the scenic area. Hotels and shops have mushroomed, and Jiuhua Street is becoming more and more urbanized. This has resulted in an overcrowded environment. Administrators of the Jiuhua Mountain Scenic and Historic Interest Area, therefore, have been focusing on a human-oriented concept. They seek to maintain harmony between man and nature and among the people in their planned construction of the scenic area.

The Regulations on the Management of Jiuhua Mountain Scenic and Historic Interest Area of Anhui Province were enforced on January 1, 2003. This triggered off a series of comprehensive measures in the scenic area. They included strengthening measures to close mountain slopes to facilitate forestation. They were also instrumental in the launch of joint defense of the neighboring areas of Qingyang, Guichi, Shitai and Jiuhua Mountain, and also manifest in the setting up of the Jiuhua Mountain Scenic Area Forest Fire Prevention Remote Image Supervising and Control System. The regulations resulted in establishment of the ISO14000 Environmental Management System, and strengthened renovation and preservation of temples and cultural relics.

The Overall Plan of Jiuhua Mountain Scenic and Historic Interest Area (2007-2020) by its administrators launched the comprehensive “Subtraction” on mountains and “addition” on flat land regulation. No construction of new buildings is allowed on mountains, while investment invitations to accelerate construction of key projects on flat land have been intensified. This beneficial interaction has promoted coordinated development of mountainous areas and flat land in the scenic area.

The CPC Chizhou municipal committee and municipal people’s government promoted unprecedented development of Jiuhua Scenic Area in 2006 through its establishment of a leading group headed by Tong Huaiwei, secretary of CPC Chizhou municipal committee, which will coordinate the economic development of Jiuhua Mountain tourism economy. The group holds a meeting on the mountain every month with the aim of on-the-spot monitoring of key works and projects. In the course of these meetings, Mayor Fang Xiping has given direct guidance on the development of the scenic area, and led the departments directly under the municipal government in providing service.

The scenic area Party and administrative committee invested RMB 130 million in 2006 in improving the area’s environment. It pulled down more than 50,000 square meters of buildings, and re-planned the Yingxian and Diaolan Bridge entrance and exit sections to the core scenic area to separate pedestrians and automobile flows. The committee also completed the safety guarantee project along the 13 km winding mountain highway between Qiao’an and Phoenix Pine. This entailed pulling down 1,772 sq me of makeshift buildings and stalls along the route from the Zhiyuan Buddhist Temple to Baisui Palace to Physical Body Hall. The committee also publicized the unified symbol and logo of Jiuhua Scenic Area. Construction of the eco-environment comprehensive regulation project, funded by an Asian Development Bank loan, has started. It includes an overall, 24-hour three-dimensional monitoring and control system. The committee spent six months on ratifying the tourism network and standardizing the operation and service of travel agencies and tour guides. It also ratified issuance of transport and admission tickets, and strengthened construction and management of Buddhist rites and venues, including the sale of joss sticks and candles.

In a concerted effort to make more room for tourism, in 2002 the Party committee and administrative committee of the scenic area relocated the admission ticket office, the long-distance bus station, the headquarters of the group corporation, and rebuilt the traffic transfer center and administration center. The Party committee and administrative committee of Jiuhua Mountain Scenic Area and their subordinate departments moved from the core scenic area Jiuhua Street to Kecun New Area, 13 kilometers down the mountain on flat land on July 28, 2006. A 99-meter-tall bronze statue of Bodhisattva is being erected in Kecun Scenic Area.

Further Pioneering, further Development

The CPC Chizhou municipal committee and municipal people’s government, realizing that Jiuhua Mountain’s beautiful landscape is a main resource as regards capitalizing on its late-start advantage, have raised the strategy of eco-city construction. They regard Jiuhua Mountain Scenic Area as crucial to Chizhou’s urbanization process.

The Jiuhua Mountain Tourism Development Co., Ltd., which is responsible for operation and management of Jiuhua Mountain, signed an agreement with the Anhui Provincial Investment Group and the Anhui Jiarun Investment Group on increasing investment in June 2006. The two investment companies invested RMB 100 million in joining the Jiuhua Mountain Tourism Development Co., Ltd., thereby increasing its shareholders to seven.

In the coming five years, the CPC Chizhou municipal committee and municipal people’s government will expedite the strategy of “greater Jiuhua, greater tourism trade.” This entails intensifying opening and development, and strengthening Chizhou’s tourism development. The aim is to realize Chizou’s transformation from a big tourism resource city to a city of strong tourism economy within the 11th Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010).

Wang Guijie, Party secretary and permanent deputy director of the Jiuhua Scenic Area Administrative Committee, says that Jiuhua Mountain has upgraded its standards of “eating, lodging and touring” and created good economic returns. But it must adjust its development mode in order to achieve “secondary pioneering and secondary development.” The 11th Five-Year Plan period is crucial to Jiuhua Mountain’s projected development into building Jiuhua Mountain into a main international Buddhist venue and world first-rate tourist destination.