Posted 2017/7/12
Located on the northwest of Dandong City (dān dōng shì 丹东市), Wulong Mountain (wǔ lóng shān 五龙山) (Five Dragons Mountain) Forest Park is 20 kilometers’ distance away from the center of the downtown and is with an area of 64 square kilometers. Mt. Wulong is a part of Changbai Mountain (cháng bái shān 长白山) range with a length of 20 kilometers. The whole mountain is lofty and splendid, just like ridges of five flying dragons. Mt. Wulong has more than 90 peaks, the highest one among them reaches 708.5 meters. Dense trees, mysterious caves, old temples and various animals and plants compose the rich natural and human resources, making the mountain an ideal place to enjoy your vacation.
The first thing comes to your eyes is the gate of Wulong Mountain which is considered the most impressive park gate in northeast China. The gate is 17.9 meters high and 27.9 meters wide with carvings of five flying dragons. There’s a legend about the mountain. A devil occupied this place and did a lot of bad things, so the five dragons decided to kill the devil. After a fierce fight they all died. The five dragons transformed to rolling hills to protect local people. Wulong, which means five dragons hence became the name of the mountain. Beside the gate sit five ponds called Wulong Pond which is said to be a resting place for the dragons while now it has become fishing areas.
Four Most Beautiful Sceneries
The first scenery is the mist. When spring comes, the whole mountain is enveloped in mist and clouds, making the area looks like in heaven. The second scenery is the rainbow. Mt. Wulong has heavy rainfalls in summer, the rainbows are everywhere just like bridges during the valleys after rains. The third scenery is maple. It's particularly nice in the autumn when the leaves change colors, the mountain is like in fire. The fourth one is the snow. When winter comes, the flying snow drops on trees and grounds, painting the mountain dazzlingly white. Therefore, Mt.Wulong will feast your eyes whenever you come.
Wulong Mountain is a natural arboretum as well as a natural stone carving park. Despite several kinds of rare plants, above Lingfeng Buddhist Temple (líng fēng sì 灵峰寺), there are so many big and small imaginable stone figures which make people imagine endlessly. The Wulong Mountain, famous for grandness, danger, quiet, queerness and wonder, is always tourists’ resort.
Covering over forty thousands square meters including building coverage of over ten thousands square meters, Lingfeng Buddhist Temple is the largest Buddhist Temple in northeast of China. Constructed during the period of Zhengde (zhèng dé 正德), the temple was in the south of the main peak and was quite popular in the old times. In 2001, Lingfeng Temple was reconstructed at the original site. The entire temple was built by the mountain and has a precise layout. The Grand Hall is majestic and grand, and Cangjing Ge (cáng jīng gé 藏经阁) stills keeps Sakyamuni’s relics.
Rains on a Sunny Day
There is a weird phenomenon in Mt. Wulong. As soon as you reach either ground 20 meters’ away from Foye Cave (fó yé dòng 佛爷洞), you would feel that it drizzles. Once you leave, it’s sunny again. Both grounds have trees to make shadow, if tourists stand under the trees and speak or applaud or make noise, it rains more heavily with the sounds get louder. It’s a very strange phenomenon and nobody could give a reasonable explanation till now.