Overview of Mt. Lu Scenic Spot

Mt.Yuelu is the last peak of 72 peaks of South Yue, with elevation at 300.8 meters. Located on the west coast of Xiangjiang River, Mt. Lu Scenic Spot with an area of 5.28m2 is one of the core scenic spots of Mt. Yuelu Scenic Spot, which is a very rare urban mountain scenic area.

Mt.Yuelu is a huge ‘Botanical Museum’, in which there are 174 families, 977 species botanies, and the typical subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest and Warm sub-tropical forest of needle leaves are the main forests ,and part of which still conserves original evergreen broad-leaved forest.

Mt.Yuelu is a propitious place with scenic spots around. There are 15 cultural heritage units over the provincial level here. The quiet Aiwan Pavilion, profound Yuelu Academy, the old house of Yuelu temple and others are attractive. Besides, the Mausoleums of Huangxing, Cai’e and other celebrities look more solemn and serene among luxuriant cypresses and pines.

Mt.Yuelu integrates Buddhism , Taoism , Confucianism of Chinese ancient culture essences and Mt. Yuelu’s culture connotation were created by thinking giant, great monks, and famous writers. At the foot of Mt.Yuelu stands Yuelu Academy, which is listed as the first of china’s four ancient academies. Yuelu Academy has never stopped teaching for more than 1000years, fostering a larger number of the backbones of our nation. At the mountainside stands the Ancient Mt. Lu temple with a history of more than 1700years, which is the source and center of Buddhism of Hunan province. At the top of the mountain is Yulu Tao palace, which is the 23rd paradise among 72 paradises of Taoism. Till now it has a history of more than 500 years. Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism coexist and integrate with each other, composing the epic of culture development of Mt.Yuelu.

Party and state leaders such as Jiang Zemin, Hu Jingtao, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Zeng Qinghong, Wu Guanzheng, Li Changchun, Luo Gan, Wu Yi and others visited Mt. Yuelu scenic spot many times and gave great care and encouragement to the development of Mt.Lu scenic spot. Now, Mt. Lu scenic spot administration established in 1951 is a public unit at the vice-county level. The approved personals in the scenic spot are 480, among which there are 44 administers at vice-section level, 1 at county level, 2 at vice-county level. For the administration part, the scenic spot has two agencies, the Regulatory Agency and Industry Management Agency.

With the 60-year painstaking efforts, Mt.Lu scenic spot develops quickly, especially after quality-improvement conservation in 2006, the scenic spots, the landscape environment and the management level in the area improve a lot. The scenic spot was open to the public for free on June 1st, 2009 and are visited by over 3 million people annually.