Dragon Totem
The dragon is the symbol of the Chinese nation, while the landform of landscapes and legends of Huanglong are in some relation with this symbolic animal, without artificial works nor farfetching romance. They are the very work of nature, strongly impressing visitors. Only the providence can work out such wonder, adding another layer of mystic color to Huanglong.
Huanglong Valley is a travertine ridge gradually rising up and running from south to north. The landform seems very similar to a jumping giant dragon in the embrace of the crystal glaciers. Climbing up the stone steps, visitors find the wandering ridge of the giant dragon, both dynamic and static. The giant dragon seems to play among diversi: fled flow beaches and waterfalls. Nearby azaleas, maple leaves, and hairy grass are decorating the large and small ponds, and radiating the vigor of the giant dragon.
The body of Huanglong (the Yellow Dragon) is 3.6 km long, with a drop fall of over 400 meters. The Fuyuan Bridge serves as the dragon's tail, and the five colored ponds the dragon head. Not far is a mountain sacred in the mind of Iocai Tibetans, contrasting the 5,588m Xuebaoding - summit of the Minshan Mountain Range. Blue clouds are floating in the sky, overlooking the crystal colored ponds below. One has to believe this is a sight only seen in Heaven. The dragon flashes its eyes, and jumps up to the sky, as if seeing visitors off on their way of Paradise. It is legended that, if one is able to walk one circle around the golden dragon, all his personal prayers on the way will eventually come true.
Fuyuan Bridge
Sitting at the west of Huanglong Valley entrance, the Fuyuan Bridge is built on the headstream of the Fujiang River, which is also called the First Bridge on Fujiang River Headstream. Here is a small basin land surrounded by evergreen mountains and meadows where the Fujiang River winds its way eastwards. In a distance are overlapping peaks and floating clouds, making up such a grand sight. The wood bridge, in a plain but vigorous style, is the entrance to visit Huanglong Valley. In the scenic sight are vast stretches of virgin forests. Visitors climb up slab or wood steps along the plank roads, breathing fresh air from woods and listening to ringing singings of birds. The place seems to be a huge "natural oxygen bar." The world of Huanglong is filled with greenness and freshness. Still uninterfered by human activities, its primitive looks have remained un-changed for centuries, In a world of the Jurassic Age, visitors are marveled at enigmatical and unimaginable beauty and wonders of Huanglong.
Yingbin (Guest-Welcoming) Pond
About 632m from the Fuyuan Bridge, the Yingbin Pond covers an area of 9,600m2, being made up of 350 delicate and peculiarly shaped small ponds. In varied sizes, these ponds overlap and join
each other that seem to play welcome notes to visitors.
Brilliant Pond
About 780 meters from the Fuyuan Bridge, the Brilliant Pond made up of 160 small ponds covers an area of 8, 670m2. Surrounded by pine trees, the Pond is a spectacular sight under the shining sun.
Lianyan (Billowing) Lake
About 943m from the Fuyuan Bridge, the lake covers an area of 2,000m2. Through the mirror-clear water, one is particularly entertained at seeing algae at the bottom.
Feipu Waterfall
About 857 meters from the Fuyuan Bridge, it is 14m high and 68m wide. Water rushes through the dense woods, pouring down to form dozens of terraces in travertine looks, golden and charming. The waterfall seems to drop from Heaven in great vigor and splendor.
Liantai (Lotus Stand) Waterfalls
About 1,121m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it is 167m long and 19m wide with a relative drop of 45m. Its golden travertine beaches look like a lotus stand, and its water runs from forests, pouring down with deafening noises.
Xishen (Body Washing) Grotto
About 1,273m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it is on the second terrain of Huanglong Valley. The travertine flows from the Golden Sand Beach and collapses, making up a wall 10m high and 40m wide - the largest of the kind in the world. Here, rushing water climbs over the dyke, leaving an impressive travertine waterfall, right at the bottom of which is the Xishen Grotto.
The Xishen Grotto is 1 m high and 1.5m wide. About 1 m inside the grotto, one sees light-yellow and white stalactites. Even though the grotto's length is still unknown, scientists believe that it is a water outlet of an ancient glacier as old as billions of years.
The grotto entrance is screened with water vapor, a legendary place for immortals who cultivated their virtues inside the grotto. Since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Taoist and Buddhist monks have been visiting the grotto to fulfill their religious desires. It is said that the reverend monk Dala Menba of the Benbo Religion used to cultivate himself in the grotto and eventually became immortal. So the Xishen Grotto is believed by Benbo believers as one of their sacred places.
It is said, moreover, that aphoria women can get pregnant once washing themselves in the grotto, though scientific grounds are hardly available, but a few women did have a try. A French woman visitor went with her husband into the grotto and bathed in the water for pregnancy. They stayed in
the grotto for quite some time, experiencing the cold air and divine enlightenment. It is a different kind of anticipation, indeed.
Golden Sand Cover
About 1,338m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it grows in a carbonate-free geographical condition. Here, with a maximum width of 122m and a minimum width of 40 meters, the 1.3m ridge-like slopes looks like patches of fish scales, and waves upwards with coagulated travertine at the water bottom ¨C another wonder of Huanglong. According to scientists, the Golden Sand Cover is the largest, most complete, and longest of the kind in the world, with the most abundant travertine beaches.
Bonzai Pond
About 1,601m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it covers an area of 20,000m2 with 330 small colored ponds of various shapes. The dykes change on the tree stems and landform, in yellow, white, brown and gray colors. Woods, cobbles, grasses and flowers stay inside the pond. It is such a natural Bonsai collection affectionately recorded by a Ming-Dynasty poet as follows: Exquisite colored ponds among woods Stand slim and graceful in green. Peculiar grass and flower strike your eye Wrought by nature's super force of beauty.
Mirror-Image Pond
About 2,019m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it covers an area of over 3,600m2 with 180 small ponds. Crystal-clear water reflects the clouds, peaks, like what has been developed from the film negative. 'Even cameramen themselves could hardly tell the real from the copied. What is equally interesting is the ponds are in varied sizes encouraging visitors to straighten up their looks and spirits.
Here are mirror-image ponds, reflecting the living beings from all angles. Watching the pond water, one seems to be sublimed to another world, being en-grossed in different experience of natural wonders.
Suoluo Reflection Pond
About 2,136m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it covers an area of 6,840m2 over 400 small ponds. "Suoluo" means azalea, and is called by local Tibetans as "Gesang Flower", by Qiang ethnic people as "Yangjiao (goat-horn) Flower", and by Yi ethnic people as "Pangponiang (fatty lady)." According to biologists, Huanglong is noted for the diversity of its kaleidoscopic azaleas, including Liexiang azalea, Touhua azalea, elegant azalea, yellow-haired azalea, Qinghai azalea, large-leaved golden-topped azalea, snow-mountain azalea, stemless azalea, mountain-shine azalea, red-back azalea, and dense-haired azalea. Between spring and summer, azaleas are in full bloom in
all colors, setting up the best image of waters and mountains and creating such a poetic atmosphere.
Dragon Ridge Waterfalls
About 2,200m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it is 84m long with a relative drop of 39m. Its spacious travertine slope seems to be fish scales in a form of a peculiar jade band, on which a thin layer of shiny water is running over, resembling a golden back ridge of a dragon. Here, golden color dominates the scenery; being decorated with white, silver and dark green patches. On the travertine beaches grow water willows and hilly flowers that look like colored boats in the river, featuring a dynamic and static harmony of the Nature.
Zhengyan (Beauty-Competing) Pond
About 2,447m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it covers an area of 20,000m2 consisting of 658 small ponds. Various plants grow in deep or shallow waters along on the bank. The sunlight is reflected on the water surface of the ponds that seem to contend for their best looks in a diversity of eye-striking colors. It is believed to be the grandest and most colorful travertine pond cluster in the world.
Yuyuan Kiosk
Every place has its moving story. Some of them happened in remote times, but others recent like the one of Yuyuan,
She is one of millions of visitors to Huanglong, but there are only few people like her who devote their lives to love and embrace Huanglong.
The first time Yuyuan visited Huanglong, she became so fascinated by local landscapes. And for years, she lived in Huanglong, greeting visitors to come. At dusk, she returned home to her tranquil world. This is a decision she made for her lifetime.
In a golden autumn day of 1998, she went to the embrace of the "Sleeping Beauty" and stayed there forever. That day, people saw a huge rainbow in the sky - a meteorological sight seldom seen for ages.
The place where Yuyuan rests forever faces the green mountains and woods. People of Huanglong built a kiosk and named it the Yuyuan Kiosk in honor of a young and beautiful lady who devoted all her entire life to Huanglong.
Here around us are holy snow-clad mountains, luxuriant pine forests, undulating ranges, and dark green waters. Those stories have been told and retold for generations, reminding us of everlasting memories.
Sleeping Beauty
Passing through the "Beauty Contending Pond", you might turn back and be surprised to look at a huge mountain ridge - the legendary incarnation of a Tibetan girl. She quietly lies in the embrace of mountains, her head in elegant wares and body in embroidered robes. You can even identify her nose bridge and smiling lips. Like a tired fairy, she lies forever in forests and snows.
Suyun(Sleeping on Clouds) Bridge
About 2,800m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it is a relic of Taoist culture in Huanglong Valley. The bridge was built in dense clouds appearing all the year round, and with a touching story. A visiting monk passed by the bridge and fell in deep sleep. In his dream, he flew over the clouds and became immortal. Hence the bridge is also called the Immortal-Greeting Bridge.
Jiexian (Immortal Meeting) Bridge
About 3,000m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it is a relic of Taoist culture. It is said that, walking on the bridge, a pious pilgrim heard some celestial music. At the end of the bridge, he was greeted by celestial beings dancing at the side of colored ponds, and he was eventually up-lifted to the Paradise.
Jade-Green Pond
About 3,200m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it wanders its way on the hillside, the water of which is bright and transparent. Here, visitors forget about their tiredness as being amazed at the sight of the water in alternating colors. The pond takes a shape of a jade standing out of the ground, glittering its crystal shines. Hence the name "Jade-Green Pond." This is a mysterious treasure stone given by Nature.
Huanglong Zhongsi Monastery
About 3,456m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it covers an area of 500m2. Built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), it is a Buddhist temple originally with five majestic halls that are respectively named after the five reverend Buddhist Masters. The architecture demonstrates strong features of co-existing Buddhist and Taoist cultures.
Dustpan Lake and Horse-Shoe Lake
About 3,900m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it comprises two colored ponds being called the "lakes" by local people Huanglong. The larger one resembles a dustpan, and the smaller a horseshoe. Both lie in tranquility of deep woods. No one has ever come up with an adequate interpretation for why they are called "lakes," which adds another mystic color to Huanglong.
Moon-Reflecting Pond
About 4,000m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it changes its color at different seasons, in spring, it looks elegant and graceful, and in autumn one finds it a red pond. In a moonlit night, visitors might find a moon in the pond in dead-quiet surroundings. A breeze passes by, waving up gentle ripples on the water surface, and creating a paradisiacal it is legended that Chang'e (the Goddess of Moon) came down to take a bath in the pond, praying for her dreams to be fulfilled. If you are interested, you may put your hands in the water while thinking of your fortune that might become true some day.
Ancient Huanglong Monastery
About 4,126m from the Fuyuan Bridge, this Taoist monastery covers an area of over 1,000m2. According to the County Annals of Songpan, "the Huanglong Monastery was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) by an army general, formerly called the Snow-Mountain Temple." It is legended that the Huanglong Immortal cultivated himself in this temple and eventually became immortal. There is a 10,000m open space in front of the temple, where the annual temple fair is regularly held with crowds of people. It is an important relic for studies of Taoist culture and history, and an essential evidence of the Dayu's deeds in water control works in Northwest Sichuan Plateau.
Huanglong Grotto
It is located 10m to the left of the Ancient Huanglong Monastery, 30m high, 20m wide and 50m long, with an area of over 1,000m2. The grotto length is still yet unknown. It is also called the "Self-Rediscovery Grotto" and "Buddhist Grotto." It is legended that the Huanglong Immortal cultivated himself inside the grotto. Here, as Buddhism and Taoism well integrate, the grotto is believed to a holy religious place.
*Entrance
The grotto entrance is about 2m2 in area, suddenly dropping downwards. Visitors have to move down along dozens of wood steps. In spring, blossoms almost entirely cover the grotto entrance, where a pine tree erects upwards with twigs and vines tied around its stem. In winter, the pine tree seems like a silver dragon jumping out from snows.
*Grotto
The Huanglong Grotto is in fact a stalactite grotto, where visitors may heal' sounds of dropping water and murmuring of the underground river which jointly play all immemorial song. There are stalactites everywhere in the grotto in varied shapes. Even in sweltering summer, visitors might feel a bit chilly inside.
*Buddhist Statue
It is tile most holy sight in the Huanglong Grotto. Three stalactite stones resemble three Buddhist statues of natural work, with their lotus lamps at side. It ix said that, at the temple fair, the chests of the statues would give off warm air mass. On the grotto roof are two flying, true-to-life dragons. On the grotto wall are lifelike Buddha images. All over the grotto are stone curtains, stone waterfalls, delicate and crystal, bringing visitors to endless imaginations.
It is said that these three Buddhist statues are respectively the incarnation of Huanglong Immortal and his two disciples all of whom accomplished their religious cultivation and became immortal. These in-carnations are meant to attract more people to join them.
*Holy Water
The water drips dropping from the roof of the Huanglong Grotto are said to be the finest wine from the Dragon Palace. This water is believed lo be able to cure all diseases and for good of longevity. Local Tibetans often fetch water from here. It is also said that, the water drips, made of the spirit of Huanglong Immortal, may not wet one's cloth if he is kind-hearted, otherwise he is a villain. Visitors can have a try, and may come up with unexpected gains.
*Hidden River
In the grotto cliff runs a hidden river of unknown depth. According to the County Annals of Songpan, a Lama monk came afar to worship the Huanglong Immortal. At his departure, he lost his monk hat. Several months later, ii so happened that he found it in the Kwan-yin (Bodhisattva) Grotto in south Songpan, some 56 km down. Now, this might be the measurement of the Hidden River.
Famous mountains contain famous grottos.
The wonders in the Huanglong Grotto, an important tourist attraction, cannot be told, but experienced.
Five-Colored Pond
About 4,166m from the Fuyuan Bridge, it covers an area of 21,000m2, with 693 small ponds - the largest pond cluster of Huanglong. It is filled with green water in shallows, making such a wonderful sight. The "jade tray" reflects the sunlight in red, purple, and becomes gandy with many other primary colors. In winter, everything is wrapped in white snow, except this pond reflecting the blue sky, as if a celestial emerald scatters on the ground. It is believed to be the eye of Huanglong -one of its greatest prides.
Stone Pagoda in the Lake
Built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), it stands in the Five-Colored Pond, It is said to be the tomb of some Tang Dynasty (617-907) general and his wife. Travertine covers the largest part of the Stone Pagoda, except two tips and eaves above the water surface, leaving a remote and mystic impression in visitors.
Revolving Flower Pond
About 10m from the Five-Colored Pond, it covers an area of 4m2, being tucked away in alpine shrubs. A number of fountains spring up from the limpid bottom, rippling the water surface into fine geometric patterns. The strange thing is that, if visitors throw in flowers or leaves, the ripples will revolve in different directions and at different tempos. Two flowers, if they happen to follow the same rhythm, will revolve in the same direction, a phenomenon not yet known even today. During the Huanglong Monastery Fair, young people would crowd around the pond and throw in flowers and coins to tell the fortune about their love affairs.
