In the late autumn season, traveling and appreciating the maple trees is the most suitable way to travel. In Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, there is a maple-viewing resort called "Qixia Mountain". In late autumn here, red maples can spread across the mountains and plains continuously and burn all over the hills. The red maples in Qixia Mountain are also one of the four major places to admire maples in China, and the ticket is only 40 yuan.

Qixia Mountain is located in the central and northern part of Qixia District of Nanjing City. It is a branch of Maoshan embedded in the Nanjing area. Qixia Mountain consists of three peaks, two and two mountain streams. The middle peak is called "Sanmao Peak". It is the main peak of Qixia Mountain, with an altitude of 284.7 meters. The earliest name of Qixia Mountain was called "Umbrella Mountain" because the entire mountain looked like an umbrella. Later, because there were many Chinese medicinal materials in the mountains, later generations also called it "shooting mountains". Photo, the meaning of health preservation.

In 480 AD, Ming Sengshao, a famous figure in the Southern Qi Dynasty, came to Nanjing and chose to live in seclusion in Sheshan. He built a "Qixia Jingshe" here and spent his later years safely. Before his death, the Ming monk Shaoshe's house was turned into a temple, so there was a "Qixia Temple" on the mountain. Later, Qixia Temple gradually became more famous, and people changed its name to "Shashan" to "Qixia Mountain".

It has been a custom to admire red maples on Qixia Mountain as early as four to five hundred years ago. In the winter of the 15th year of Shunzhi (1658), Du Jun, a poet from the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, visited Qixia Mountain in winter and wrote the poem "The red leaves are still trees when there is no wind, and the pine trees are fragrant in the sun." This poet, who hid in Jinling after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, temporarily lived in a thatched hut between Jiming Mountain in Nanjing.

There is a local saying in Nanjing: Go to Niu Shou in spring and travel to Qixia in autumn. Niu Shou refers to another famous mountain in Nanjing,"Niu Shou Mountain". With the continuous development of future generations, more and more red maple trees are planted in Qixia Mountain. So much so that when modern people came to Qixia Mountain to admire the red maples, they only knew about Qixia Red Maples, but they had no idea that Qixia Mountain was also a famous Buddhist temple.

There are more than ten species of red leaf varieties in Qixia Mountain, mainly including red maple, maple bougainvilleum, pistachia, beech tree, Chinese tallow, Rhus chinensis, Acer chicken claw, etc. On the entire Qixia Mountain, there are more than 500 maple trees older than a century old and more than 500,000 trees with various colored leaves. Most of these trees were planted and cultivated after the founding of New China. The latest "Red Leaf Forest" was completed in the early 1990s.

Starting from early November every year, the red maples in Qixia Mountain begin to change color. From late November to early December, it is the best period to watch the red maples in Qixia. When autumn enters every year, Qixia Mountain will also hold the annual "Red Maple Festival", which cooperates with various experience activities to appreciate maple trees, allowing tourists to enjoy maple trees in a variety of ways.

To visit Qixia Mountain in autumn, it is necessary to climb high. Although the altitude of Qixia Mountain is not high, the area to visit in Qixia Mountain Park is quite large, and the best places to enjoy the maple are the Peach Blossom Fan Pavilion area and the surrounding area of Peach Blossom Lake., around Mingjing Lake, Tiankai Rock area, Dufengge area, and along the line from Yinma Chi to Tea House, etc., it takes some energy to complete the tour. The scenic spot tourist service center provides sightseeing battery car services. The one-way ticket up the mountain is 20 yuan, and the one-way ticket down the mountain is 10 yuan.

Qixia Mountain Red Leaf Valley covers an area of about 50,000 square meters and is located on the southwest half of Qixia Mountain. Not far above the Qianlong Imperial Garden, there are large red maple forests growing here and wooden plank roads erected in the maple forests., allowing tourists to get up close contact with the beautiful red maples. The Fenglin Lake in the Red Leaf Valley is made of diverting water to build a pool. The autumn water reflects the red maple leaves. The autumn scenery can especially purify people's hearts. It is recommended to go for a walk.

Of course, when visiting Qixia Mountain, it is worth visiting the Qixia Ancient Temple, Thousand Buddha Rock, Shamao Peak, Sheli Pagoda and other scenic spots in the mountain. For example, the ginkgo tree in front of the main hall of Qixia Temple is the legendary "Ginkgo biloba of the Six Dynasties". Folklore has it that it was first planted in the ancient Six Dynasties. Ginkgo leaves in late autumn are scattered in the ancient temples, giving them a sense of Zen.

This autumn, there is little rain in the Jiangnan area, which is extremely unfavorable for the growth of red maples. Some red maple leaves have begun to become withered and charred before they unfold. Therefore, going to Qixia Mountain to admire the maples, facing the lake, water, and the red maples growing in the valleys are more beautiful than the red maples in ordinary areas. Climbing high to admire the maples from a long distance is more eye-catching than observing them closely. About the author: Photography by Lu Jianhua (photographer, traveler, self-media person)