Yuelu Mountain 岳麓山

About Yuelu Mountain

Aiwan Pavilion is a natural starting point from the southern side; higher paths reach Lushan Temple and the Yunlu Palace area. The mountain’s religious and educational layers make it more than a skyline viewpoint. Choose a route suited to the time and walking effort available, and distinguish the separately managed academy visit from the public mountain paths and any paid internal transport.

Yuelu Mountain is counted as one of the 72 peaks of Mount Heng (南岳衡山); a Southern and Northern Dynasties text, the Record of Nanyue (南岳记), already described the range as running from Huiyan in the north to Yuelu at its foot. During the Western Jin the mountain was a Taoist site, and the official Tao Kan built a retreat hut there. Buddhism later reached the mountain: Huiguang Temple, now Lushan Temple, was founded in 268 and called “the foremost place of Buddhist practice in the Hu-Xiang region.”

The mountain was opened as Yuelu Mountain Park in 1975 and has since merged with urban Changsha. The State Council designated it a national key scenic area on 17 May 2002, covering Yuelu Academy, Aiwan Pavilion, Lushan Temple and Yunlu Palace, and it became a national AAAAA-level scenic area (国家AAAAA级景区) in January 2012. During the Third Battle of Changsha, in the later part of the Second Sino-Japanese War, Nationalist forces under Xue Yue directed artillery from the mountain.

Aiwan Pavilion (爱晚亭), built in 1792, was originally named Red Leaf Pavilion before being renamed after a Tang poem by Du Mu. The mountain's vegetation is mainly subtropical evergreen broadleaf and warm-temperate coniferous forest, comprising 174 plant families, 559 genera and 977 species, including old trees dating from the Jin, Tang, Song and Ming-Qing periods.

What to look for

• Aiwan Pavilion and the wooded Qingfeng Gorge setting.
• Lushan Temple and the higher Yunlu Palace area.

Location & getting there

Getting to Yuelu Mountain

For the academy and Aiwan Pavilion side, approach via Hunan University and the southern mountain entrance. The eastern entrance serves a different ascent; consult the current visitor map before selecting walking, sightseeing transport or cableway options.