Mangshan Mountain 莽山

About Mangshan Mountain

Mangshan Mountain (莽山) is a forested mountain at the southern tip of Yizhang County (宜章县), Chenzhou (郴州), where Hunan meets Guangdong. Mangshan National Forest Park (莽山国家森林公园) and a national nature reserve have been set up here.

The name joins two ideas: the pythons (蟒蛇) seen in the area and forest that spreads as far as the eye can see (林海莽莽). The Hunan provincial government gives the forest park an area of 198.33 km² and forest cover of 99.01%, and describes its primeval evergreen broad-leaved forest as the largest and best preserved on its line of latitude, calling the park a "green pearl" of that latitude and a "flora and fauna gene bank". The Changle River (长乐水) rises at Xiangsikeng (相思坑) on Mangshan, on the southeast side of the forest park, and runs northwest through Mangshan Yao Ethnic Township (莽山瑶族乡) before crossing into Lechang (乐昌) in Guangdong to join the Wu River (武水).

Mangshan is also a national 4A-rated scenic area, a national popular-science education base, a provincial base for ecological education and, by the provincial government's account, one of Hunan's ten leading summer retreats.

The mountain gives its name to the Mangshan pit viper (Protobothrops mangshanensis), a nocturnal snake first described from Pingkeng on Mangshan and found only in the mountains of southern Hunan and northern Guangdong, at 800–1,300 m. The IUCN lists it as endangered. Adults can reach 203 cm, and the snake wiggles its white tail tip like a grub to draw prey within striking range.

The core visitor area is Wuzhifeng Scenic Area (五指峰景区). The provincial government says it is the first mountain scenic area in China built for barrier-free travel, with cableways, step-free boardwalks, lifts, escalators, hoists and stair-climbing machines.

What to look for

• Wuzhifeng Scenic Area (五指峰景区), the core of the forest park, with cableways and step-free boardwalks
• Primeval evergreen broad-leaved forest in the 198.33 km² forest park, where forest cover is 99.01%
• Xiangsikeng (相思坑), source of the Changle River, on the southeast side of the forest park

Location & getting there

Getting to Mangshan Mountain

• Search for 莽山 with 郴州市 and 宜章县.