Lushan 庐山

About Lushan

Around Guling, historic villas recall its development as a summer retreat, while the Flower Path and Jinxiu Valley introduce a more intimate landscape of wooded paths and steep rock scenery. The mountain’s attractions are spread across several routes; choose a coherent section instead of assuming that every named sight belongs to one walk.

The name Lushan is first attested in the Records of the Grand Historian (史记); no earlier written record survives. According to local tradition, the name honours a recluse named Kuang Su (匡俗), whose secluded dwelling on the mountain gave it the name Lushan. In 126 BC the Han historian Sima Qian visited and recorded climbing the mountain in that same text, the earliest confirmed written use of the name.

After the Qing defeat in the Second Opium War led to Jiujiang's opening as a treaty port in 1860, Western merchants began arriving in the area, and in 1884 Russian merchants took over Lushan's Jiufeng Temple (九峰寺) as a summer retreat. The British missionary Li Bode (李德立) leased land at Guniuling (牯牛岭) in 1885 and, after the Qing defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895, secured an official 999-year lease with British government backing, laying the ground for the later resort town.

Lushan National Park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996 and is also a UNESCO Global Geopark; it is designated a national 5A tourist attraction (国家5A级旅游景区). Formed during the Quaternary glaciation as a horst-type fault-block range, its highest peak, Hanyang Peak (汉阳峰), reaches 1,474 metres.

What to look for

• The Flower Path’s literary landscape near the highland resort area.
• Jinxiu Valley’s rocky slopes and changing mountain views.

Location & getting there

Getting to Lushan

For the highland core, use the north or south visitor-transfer centre and continue on the scenic transport system, or use the Lushan transport cableway from its lower station. Jiujiang and Lushan railway stations connect with different approaches; choose the gateway before booking the final transfer.