Mount Bao

Overview

About

Mount Bao lies in Dagan township, Shunchang County, Fujian, part of the Green Triangle tourism circle of north-west Fujian and the greater Wuyi eco-tourism area, 40 km from the Shunchang county seat and 16 km from National Highway 316; the Yingtan–Xiamen railway passes through Dagan. Popularly called “Stone Treasure Mountain”, the scenic area covers about 25 km² with 17 km² under ecological protection. Strange peaks, grotesque rocks, the sea of clouds, sunrise and the Buddha’s halo are its “five wonders”; a grove of thousand-year gingkos, ten thousand mu of bamboo and an ancient temple of sandstone imitating timber are its “three treasures”. The main hall of Baoshan Temple, China’s only Yuan-dynasty building of sandstone wholly imitating timber construction, is a national protected site; the South Heavenly Gate ruins and the Great Sage Temple are material evidence for the novel Journey to the West and for folk animal worship in Fujian. Rare animals such as the bamboo partridge, flying fox and the golden kaiser-i-hind butterfly, a first-class protected species called “the fairy of butterflies”, are seen in the forest; ginseng, coptis, dendrobium, anoectochilus and other medicinal herbs and the red mushroom, purple bamboo and Guanyin bamboo grow here; quartz, crystal, lead, zinc, tungsten, copper, gold and silver give the mountain its “treasure”. A gravel forest road runs from Highway 316 to Shanghu village on the mountain.