World Cultural Landscape Heritage: Lushan National Park

Watch Video: Lushan, Sacred Mountain

Date of Inscription: 1996

Assessment of the World Heritage Committee

Mount Lushan in Jiangxi Province is one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. With its unique ways, the Buddhist and Taoist temples and the White Deer Grotto Academy representing the concept of idealist philosophy are blended into outstanding natural landscapes, forming cultural landscapes which have high aesthetic value and is closely linked with the national spirit and cultural life.

Chinese name: Lu Shan Guo Jia Gong Yuan

English name: Lushan National Park

Code: 200-015

Based on the standards C(II)(III)(IV)(VI) for selecting cultural heritage, the Lushan National Park was included in the World Heritage List.

Mount Lushan is located in southern Jiujiang City in Jiangxi Province, central China. It borders on the Yangtze River to the north, the Poyang Lake to the east, the Tengwang Pavilion to the south and Beijing-Kowloon Railway to the west, and is a horst-style fault block mountain. According to the legend, in the Zhou Dynasty, there were seven brothers who had cultivated themselves according to a religious doctrine on the mountain and built thatched cottages there to live. Therefore, the mountain was given name "Mount Lushan." The Lushan District is about 25 kilometers long and 20 kilometers wide, and the total area of the mountain is 302 square kilometers. The mountain has a total of over 90 peaks and the tallest is called "Hanyang Peak," which stands at 1,474 meters above sea level. There are many valleys, caves, waterfalls and streams between the peaks and the mountain has a complicated and diverse topography and landforms. Mount Lushan is a famous mountain with a history of 1,000 years, a collection of landscapes, culture, religion, education and politics, and has deep natural and cultural deposits. With its far-reaching academic cultural deposits, the time-honored White Deer Grotto Academy has spread its influence to people from generation after generation.