Jiuziyan

The Jiuziyan Scenic Area is located in Zhubei Town, Qingyang County, Chizhou City, Anhui Province, at the eastern foot of Mount Jiuhua, about 9 kilometers from the seat of Qingyang County. It is one of the core scenic areas of Mount Jiuhua UNESCO Global Geopark and a national AAAA-level tourist attraction. Covering an area of 2,000 hectares, with a forest coverage rate of 73.3%, its main peak, Tianhua Peak, has an elevation of 1,084 meters. The area is renowned for its unique peaks, strange rocks, waterfalls, and steep cliffs. The scenic area began construction in 1996, officially opened to the public on November 18 of the same year, built a passenger cableway in 1999, and was approved as a national AAAA-level tourist attraction in 2008.

Jiuziyan Scenic Area is the birthplace and cradle of Mount Jiuhua’s Buddhist culture. The original name of Mount Jiuhua, "Mount Jiuzi" (Nine Sons Mountain), derives from Jiuziyan. After traveling extensively through famous mountains and rivers in China, the Silla (ancient Korean) monk Jin Qiaojue (the incarnation of Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva) finally settled at Jiuziyan to study Buddhism. To this day, the relic of "The First Cultivation Site of Jin Dizang" remains. Within the scenic area, Huayan Zen Temple (also known as Guanghua Temple) was first built in the Tang Dynasty, and during the Qing Dynasty, it received imperial patronage to establish "Huayan University", the first institution of higher Buddhist learning in China. Shuangxi Temple was first built in 1935 and gave rise to the first flesh-body bodhisattva since the founding of the People's Republic of China – Master Daxing. His flesh body is enshrined in the Daxing Flesh Body Hall within the temple, making it a pilgrimage site for numerous devotees.

The natural scenery of the scenic area is beautiful. The great Tang Dynasty poet Liu Yuxi praised the precipitousness of Tianhua Peak with the verse: "At the sight of the strange peak, my soul is startled." The poet immortal Li Bai depicted the magnificence of Qibu Spring Waterfall with the line: "The Milky Way hangs down with green water." Qibu Spring has a drop of over 80 meters, cascading down in seven tiers, making it the largest waterfall landscape on Mount Jiuhua. Two of the "Ten Scenes of Jiuhua" – "Spring Sound of Jiuzi" and "Celestial Trace of Tianzhu" – are located within the scenic area. The area also features natural and cultural attractions such as Chuiyun Stream, Douji Rock, Tree-Embracing Rock, Diting Tower, Ancient Maple and Elm Trees, and an Ancient Stacked Stone Pagoda from the Tang Dynasty. In recent years, the scenic area has innovatively introduced new attractions such as "Lucky Dragon Pool – Waterfall Coffee" and created pet-friendly service facilities, attracting many tourists from the Yangtze River Delta region for leisure and experience.