"Frosty leaves are redder than February flowers", which is another year to admire maples. After this wave of cold air in mid-November, the "Maple" sentiment index in Qixia Mountain in Nanjing quickly soared, and the red maple leaves attracted people to flock to see it. The "Autumn Xixia" dyed by the forest brings visual impact and spiritual shock to tourists. I couldn't resist the temptation. On the last day of my early winter tour in Nanjing, I also joined the crowded crowd of people.

Jinling is the elegant name of Nanjing. Every year, the autumn wind season puts Nanjing's Qixia Mountain in golden autumn clothes, and Nanjing truly becomes Jinling. In early winter, Qixia Temple, a thousand-year-old temple, is filled with smoke and smoke, and the mountains are full of red leaves and maple fires flowing with pills. It has become the most famous maple viewing resort in Jiangnan.

Qixia Mountain Gate

Qixia Mountain is located in the central and northern part of Qixia District, 22 kilometers northeast of the city from the city center. It is a branch of Maoshan Mountain embedded in Nanjing. Qixia Mountain consists of three peaks and two mountain streams. The middle peak is called "Sanmao Peak" and is the main peak of Qixia Mountain with an altitude of 284.7 meters. Qixia Mountain was originally called "Umbrella Mountain" because the entire mountain looks like an umbrella. Because there are many Chinese herbal medicines in the mountains, the word "photo" was taken to mean health preservation, and later generations called it "photo mountain".

Qixia Temple Bell and Drum Tower

In 480 AD, Ming Sengshao, a famous figure in the Southern Qi Dynasty, came to Sheshan to live in seclusion and built a "Qixia Jingshe" here. Before his death, Ming monk Shao donated his house to Monk Fa and converted it into a temple, so Qixia Temple was built on Sheshan." Later, Qixia Temple gradually became more famous, and people changed its name to "Shashan" to "Qixia Mountain".

There are many ancient and famous trees in Qixia Mountain, including ancient pine trees from the Six Dynasties and thousand-year-old ginkgo trees. What Nanjing people are most impressed by the red maple trees. It has been a long time to visit Qixia Mountain in late autumn and early winter. The custom of going to Qixia Mountain to admire red maples has lasted for nearly 400 years since 1640 in the late Ming Dynasty. In the winter of the 15th year of Shunzhi (1658), Du Jundong, a poet from the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, visited Qixia Mountain and wrote the poem "The red leaves are still trees when there is no wind, and the pine trees are fragrant in the sun."

Since the Ming Dynasty, there has been a saying that "visiting the ox's head in spring and visiting the Qixia in autumn". It is the end of autumn and early winter, and the maple leaves are all over the mountains, like sunset, which is spectacular. The maple trees in the mountains make Qixia Mountain one of China's four major maple-viewing resorts, which is as famous as Beijing's Xiangshan Mountain, Suzhou's Tianping Mountain, and Changsha's Yuelu Mountain.

There are two good maple appreciation routes in Qixia Scenic Area. One is Youshuanghong Garden-Qixia Ancient Temple-Taohua Fan Pavilion-Tiankai Rock-Huashan Pavilion-Leafanwen Road-Xiaoyingpan-Luyu Tea House; the other is Taohua Lake-Qianlong Imperial Garden-Hongye Valley-Fenglin Lake-Taixu Pavilion. If you don't have enough time, you can take the scenic area battery car to the top of the mountain, and then walk back to watch it. The left side of the "Qixia" stone sign is the road up the mountain, and the right side is just the way to Qixia Ancient Temple.

Behind the stone sign is Mingjing Lake to the west of the gate of Qixia Temple. This lake was built during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. The water was collected by spring water on the mountain. The lake surface is as clean as a mirror and clear as a crystal. The pavilion in the center of the lake is connected to the bank by a Jiuqu Bridge. It is exquisite in shape and is called the "Rainbow Mirror". This rainbow is probably taken from the reflection of red maples.

There are more than ten kinds of red leaf varieties in Qixia Mountain, including red maple, chicken claw maple, maple syrup, triangular maple, feather maple tree, beech tree, pistachia tree, Chinese tallow tree, rhus saltwood, mountain pepper, etc. Among them, maple syrup, red maple, and chicken claw maple are the most gorgeous in color expression. On the entire Qixia Mountain, there are more than 500 maple trees older than a hundred years old and more than 500,000 trees with various colored leaves. Even the latest "Red Leaf Forest" built is 30 years old.

The best places to admire the maple trees are the Taohua Fan Pavilion area, the surrounding area of Taohua Lake, the surrounding area of Mingjing Lake, the Tiankai Rock area, the Dufengge area, and the line from Yinma Chi to the tea house. Walking up the mountain, wandering on the red leaf trails, or traveling through the slopes and forests, you will always be dazzled by the colorful forests in front of you.

The beauty of Qixia Mountain lies in the mountains and rivers. "Fenglin Lake" is a must-visit place to enjoy the maple trees in Qixia. Fenglin Lake is the source water of Taohua Stream, backed by the main peak of Qixia Mountain. Every late autumn, the tall sweetgum leaves are as red as flames, and they appear red and orange after frost.

On the bank of Peach Blossom Lake, there is the largest maple tree in the scenic area, known as the "Maple King". It is tall, dense and very eye-catching.

The Taohua Lake in the Taohua River and Li Xiangjun's tomb are opposite each other across the road. During the trestle, ancient maples, peach forest, pavilions, lake water, Dielang Rock, Tiankai Rock, and Imperial Garden, Taohuawu is surrounded by tourists under the red maples.

Like Fenglin Lake, Hongye Valley is also a must-visit place to enjoy autumn in Qixia. Hongye Valley is not far from Fenglin Lake and is located at the junction of Imperial Garden and the southwest mountainside of Fengxiang Peak. In the Red Leaf Valley, which covers an area of about 50,000 square meters, there are strange rocks, swaying red maples, and winding ancient vines. The Red Leaf Valley is a red leaf viewing area integrating mountains, stones, water forests and pavilions. There are large red maple forests growing here. Walking on the wooden plank road set up in the maple forest can give you close contact with the beautiful red maples.

Many sweet maple, red maple, chicken claw maple, and feather maple are scattered high and low, showing goose yellow, yellow red, orange red, light red, bright red, purplish red and other colors respectively. The distinctive red leaf landscape becomes richer and fuller.

In late autumn and early winter, the maple leaves on Qixia Mountain turn from green to yellow and then red, and the golden ginkgo trees are dotted with red ones in the mountains. The red is intoxicating and the yellow is dazzling. In the secluded Qixia Mountain, they are open freely. The red maples of Qixia Mountain, coupled with thousands of colorful trees such as trees, cock-claw maple, and Chinese tallow that have been mixed and planted, form a colorful and gorgeous world.

A Qixia Mountain, half of Jinling's history. According to records, in history, there were five kings and fourteen emperors who climbed Qixia Mountain. Among them, Emperor Qianlong traveled to the south of the Yangtze River six times and stayed in Qixia Mountain five times. From 1757 to 1784, Qianlong, who had been obsessed for 27 years, had a special liking for Qixia Palace. "Photo Mountains" compiled by Chen Yi of the Qing Dynasty contains a picture of Qianlong's photo mountain palace. In the picture, there are Chunyu Mountain House, Taigutang, Wuyi Yiqu Jinglu, Huashan Pavilion, Xijialou, Baixia Juan 'a, Shibi Jingshe, Imperial Garden, etc. Today, you can still see some relics of broken tiles and residual rocks when you go to Qixia Mountain. Emperor Qianlong left 119 poems in Qixia, and wrote poems in his spare time praising Qixia Mountain as the "First Jinling Mingxiu Mountain".

In history, countless literati, literati, kings and generals have visited Qixia. The wall on the back of the Qixia Mountain Gate lists celebrities who have visited Qixia Mountain from the Six Dynasties to the Qing Dynasty. More than 80 historic sites left in the mountains confirm that Qixia Mountain is worthy of being a famous cultural mountain where religious culture, imperial culture, green culture, folk culture, geological culture, stone carving culture, tea culture and other diverse cultures blend together.

When people go to admire the red maples, don't forget that Qixia Mountain is also a famous Buddhist temple. After enjoying the colorful maple scenery, you can go to Qixia Zen Temple, one of the thousand-year-old temples of Buddhism located at the western foot of Qixia Mountain, for a prayer and meditation journey.

Qixia Temple is one of the four famous temples in China and the birthplace of the "Three Lun Sects" of Buddhism. It was built in the Southern Dynasties and has a history of more than 1500 years. At that time, Qixia Temple was the center of Buddhism in our country, on the same footing as Jiming Temple and Dingshan Temple. In the Tang Dynasty, it was called Gongde Temple. It was huge in scale. It was called the Lingyan Temple in Changqing, Shandong, Yuquan Temple in Dangyang, Hubei, and Guoqing Temple in Tiantai, Zhejiang, it was called the four major jungles in the world. It still occupies an important position among many temples to this day.

Qixia Temple was built in the seventh year of Yongming in the Southern Qi Dynasty (489). Liang Senglang made great contributions to the teachings here and was known as the first ancestor of the Three Lun Sects in Jiangnan. Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty, built a stupa in the 83 prefectures. His edict for establishing the stupa was headed by Qixia Temple in Jiangzhou.

In the second year of the Ming Dynasty of the Chen Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties (AD 588), this place was first called Qixia Temple in Shushan.

The trunks of bronze carved elephants on both sides in front of the gate of the ancient temple are shiny and shiny, and believers use them to pray for blessings.

The main buildings of Qixia Temple include Shanmen, Tianwangwu, Pilu Hall, Shecui Tower, Sutra Tower, etc. It is the largest temple in Nanjing.

The two century-old ginkgo trees on both sides of the Daxiong Hall in the temple may be the legendary "Ginkgo biloba of the Six Dynasties". Ginkgo leaves in late autumn are scattered in the ancient temple, giving a sense of Zen. The ancient temples have red walls, golden ginkgo, and the sacred tree of Buddhism, with profound spiritual brilliance.

Crescent release pond

Around the temple are cold-leafed tree species such as maple, beech, ginkgo, and sweetgum. In late autumn, red, orange, and yellow gradually, and the forest is dyed. It is really beautiful.

This compact and ornate stupa on the east side of Qixia Temple is a rare dense eaves pagoda in the south. This tower was built in 601 years and has a history of more than 1400 years. The entire stone tower is made of white stone and is 15 meters high and divided into seven levels and eight sides. It represents the stone carving technology of Jiangnan during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Although the tower body has been damaged and attached to yellowing water stains, you can vaguely see its exquisite shape and exquisite craftsmanship. This is a Buddhist stone pagoda from the Five Dynasties period in China and the largest stupa in China. It can be regarded as a masterpiece of Chinese stupa art.

Qixia Mountain also has many cultural landscapes dotted with red maples, such as Fengling, Thousand Buddha Rock, Sansheng Temple, Wushafeng, the Lijiang River of the First Emperor, Xiaoyingpan Ruins (where the Imperial Forest Army guarding Emperor Qianlong was stationed), Qianlong Imperial Garden, Luyu Tea House, etc. If you want to visit Qixia Mountain in depth, you can really forget to leave you throughout the day. Although the mountain is not high, it is extremely amazing everywhere.

The annual "Autumn Qixia" Red Maple Art Festival in the scenic area has been held for 19 times, and new models have been launched this year. Every week, tourists prepare exciting supporting activities such as ancient book restoration experiences, famous mountains and medicine themed activities, and mountaineering competitions. While enjoying the red leaves, you may wish to go to the scenic spot's Internet celebrity check-in point to participate in the experience.

friendly reminder

Public transportation to Qixia Mountain: 1. The Scenic Area Joint City Tour Sightseeing Bus has opened a through train from the Presidential Palace to Qixia Mountain, 15 yuan/person (during the Red Maple Art Festival). 2. Take subway to bus: Line 1 to Nanjing Railway Station, Line 3 to Xinzhuang, Line 4 to Jubaoshan, and you can transfer to bus. Metro Line 2 goes to Xueze Road Station and then transfers to Bus No. 138. 3. No. 138, No. 194, No. 195, No. 196, No. 206, No. 326, No. 327, and No. 332 will get off at Qixia Temple Station.

About tickets: During the Red Maple Festival, the adult price is 40 yuan/person. Scenic spot tour bus: 20 yuan/person/time for one way up the mountain and 10 yuan/person/time for one way down the mountain.