Xiaowutai Mountain Scenic Area 小五台山开放景区

About Xiaowutai Mountain Scenic Area

Xiaowutai Mountain Scenic Area (小五台山开放景区) is the visitor area on Xiaowutai Mountain (小五台山), on the border of Yu County (蔚县) and Zhuolu County (涿鹿县) in Zhangjiakou (张家口), Hebei. The mountain is the main peak of the Taihang Mountains (太行山), and its East Terrace (东台), 2,882 m high, is the highest point in Hebei.

The name means "Little Wutai": the mountain has five raised summits and took the name to set it apart from the Buddhist Mount Wutai (五台山) in Shanxi, which lies to its west. The five summits are the East, West, South, North and Central Terraces, all above 2,500 m. The massif measures about 40 km east to west and 45 km north to south. Forest reaches its upper limit at about 2,000 m; above it lie subalpine meadows that fill with mountain flowers.

Buddhist activity on the mountain dates from the Northern Wei and peaked under the Liao. Chinese Wikipedia counts more than 20 temples from the Liao, Ming and Qing periods, including the Ming-era South Terrace Maitreya Temple (南台弥勒院) at 2,737 m, described as the highest temple in Hebei. In Jinhekou Gorge (金河口峪) stands the Jinhe Temple and Xuankong Nunnery pagoda group (金河寺悬空庵塔群), dating from the Yuan to the Ming; Hebei listed it in 1993, and it became a national key cultural relics protection unit in 2013.

The Jinhekou Scenic Area (金河口景区) is based at West Jinhekou Village (西金河口村) in Changning Township (常宁乡). It takes in part of the national nature reserve and non-reserve land to its west, and all five terraces fall within it. The Yu County government lists leopards, black storks and brown eared pheasants among the mountain's rare animals. A 2014 survey by the reserve recorded a group of more than 20 black storks, the first time the species had been found there.

What to look for

• East Terrace (东台), at 2,882 m the highest summit in Hebei
• The ridge linking the South, Central and West Terraces, all above 2,500 m
• Subalpine flower meadows above the treeline at about 2,000 m
• South Terrace Maitreya Temple (南台弥勒院), a Ming temple at 2,737 m
• Jinhe Temple and Xuankong Nunnery pagoda group (金河寺悬空庵塔群), Yuan to Ming, in Jinhekou Gorge, a national key protected site since 2013

Location & getting there

Getting to Xiaowutai Mountain Scenic Area

• Search for 小五台山开放景区 with 张家口市 and 蔚县.