Sanzhualun National Forest Park 三爪仑

About Sanzhualun National Forest Park

Sanzhualun National Forest Park (三爪仑) lies in the north of Jing'an County (靖安县), Yichun (宜春), Jiangxi, and is one of China's national demonstration forest parks.

The park brings together four scenic sectors: Kuang Zhong Garden (况钟园林), Luojiaping (骆家坪), Baofeng (宝峰) and Panlong Lake (盘龙湖). Rafting is the park's signature activity.

Baofeng Temple (宝峰寺), in Baofeng Town (宝峰镇) and counted within the park area, was founded in the Tianbao (天宝) reign of the Tang. The Chan master Mazu Daoyi (马祖道一), a second-generation heir of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng (慧能) through his teacher Nanyue Huairang (南岳怀让), died here, and his relics lie in the Mazu Pagoda Pavilion (马祖塔亭) behind the temple. His tomb pagoda was first raised in 791, wrecked in the Huichang (会昌) suppression of Buddhism in 846 and rebuilt in 850, when the court named it the Great Adornment Pagoda (大庄严塔) and gave the temple the name Baofeng. A pavilion was built over it in 1085 under the Northern Song. During the Cultural Revolution the pagoda was destroyed but the pavilion survived, and a stone casket holding a gold-and-silver lidded jar of ashes was found in the crypt below. The pagoda was restored to its old form in 1993: a two-tier square tower of white marble inside a six-sided granite pavilion. Jiangxi made the site a provincial protected relic in 1957, and it became a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level in 2013.

Jing'an is the home county of Kuang Zhong (况钟, 1383–1442), a Ming official who governed Suzhou (苏州) as prefect for thirteen years from 1430. He cut the prefecture's grain tax, built charity granaries and repaired waterworks, and the people of Suzhou called him 'Kuang Qingtian' (况青天, 'Kuang the Clear Sky'). The garden built in his memory holds his tomb, the Qingfeng Pavilion (清风亭) and a bronze statue of him.

What to look for

• Mazu Pagoda Pavilion (马祖塔亭) at Baofeng Temple, a white-marble tomb pagoda in a six-sided granite pavilion, national protected site since 2013
• Baofeng Temple (宝峰寺), founded in the Tang Tianbao reign, where Mazu Daoyi died
• Kuang Zhong's tomb, the Qingfeng Pavilion (清风亭) and his bronze statue in Kuang Zhong Garden (况钟园林)
• Rafting, the park's signature activity
• The Luojiaping (骆家坪) and Panlong Lake (盘龙湖) sectors of the park

Location & getting there

Getting to Sanzhualun National Forest Park

• Confirm the visitor entrance and access to the named areas before departure.