Bamian Mountain 八面山

About Bamian Mountain

The mountain rises as a narrow north-south ridge walled by cliffs on every side, standing clear of the ranges around it. Its average elevation is a little over 1,200 metres and the highest point reaches 1,416 metres, but the top itself is open and almost level, covered in thick pasture rather than forest. Horses, cattle and sheep are grazed there, and the agriculture ministry has treated the grassland as a breeding base for grazing livestock in southern China, where high mountain pasture of this kind is unusual. The local names for it, a pearl among southern grasslands and a grassland in the sky, both point at the same contrast between the steep walls and the meadow on top.

The relief between valley and plateau is severe: a race route run from Liye up the mountain climbs from a little over 200 metres to more than 1,200 metres in 14.4 kilometres. Low cloud can fill the valley and cover Liye and the villages around it while the upper slopes stand above it. The mountain also carries memories of the bandit-suppression campaigns fought in Longshan, and caves on it, among them Yanzidong, are recorded as sites connected with that fighting.

What to look for

• The summit pasture itself, an open and nearly level grassland at over 1,200 metres grazed by horses, cattle and sheep
• The cliff walls that ring the ridge on all sides, read from the edge of the tableland where the ground drops away toward the valley
• Cloud seas filling the valley below, covering Liye town and the surrounding villages when conditions allow
• Yanzidong and other caves on the mountain, recorded as sites of the bandit-suppression fighting in Longshan
• The 1,416-metre high point at the head of the ridge

Location & getting there

Getting to Bamian Mountain

Check weather, trail access and the last return service. A mountain or forest area is not one entrance, and a map’s central pin may be far from the trailhead.

• Search for 八面山 with 湘西土家族苗族自治州 and 龙山县.