Yandang Mountain

Description

Famous as " wonderful scenery in China" for a long history, Yandang Mt. is among the first state-level scenic spots. With a core area of 186 km', the mountain is based on the natural landscapes with high aesthetic and scientific value and has become a spatial complexity that can greatly satiate travelers' eagerness of beauty as the integration of natural and historical civilization. Peculiar and excellent natural landscape, universally significant and prominent scientific value as well as profound national mountains-and-waters culture are 'in perfect harmony in Yandang Mt. Yandang Mt.'s altitude is 1056 meter. Yandang Mt. is a stereoscopic model of Cretaceous revived caldera made by nature and is a natural museum for rhyolitic volcanic rocks. Geologically speaking, it is the natural record of continent marginal magmatism and deep geological evolution process and thus is the most representative ancient caldera of the huge volcanic belt of Asian continental margin 'in west Pacific. The peculiar natural landscape itself of Yandang Mt. is a Cretaceous revived caldera whose age is 120-100 million years and is earlier than those Cenozoic ones of the world. The caldera exposed its inner geology and rocks after having been dissected and lifted, recorded distinctively the forming and evolving history and revealed the evolving model of the Mesozoic caldera. Yandang Mt. is the product of crust-mantle interaction during the dynamic process of the subduction of ancient Pacific Izanagi plate to Asian Continent. Therefore, it is not only of typicality but also a marking revelation of Cretaceous acidic magmatism of the continental margin and deep geological evolution. Yandang Mt. has mid-subtropical oceanic and monsoon climate, characterized by abundant heat, enough light and rich rain in synchronization. The average temperature per year is about 17.5'C and the average humidity is about 77. The amount of precipitation each year is over 1700 mm. There are three ecosystems in Mt. Yandang region, forest ecosystem, fresh water ecosystem, and ocean ecosystem. The geographical regions of Yandang Mt.'s vegetation should be obviously divided as tropical or subtropical zone and are 'in the transitional areas from eastern China to southern China. Its forest vegetation is heterogeneous and is mainly composed of mid-subtropical ever-green broadleaf trees. With different living environments from low hill to beach, Yandang Mt. owns a large variety of species. Mt. Yandang is not only a famous place of natural beauty, but also a key region of high biological diversity. Mt. Yandang demarcates the floristic regions of south subtropical flora and the mid-subtropical flora. Therefore, the flora of Mt. Yandang region are of transitional characteristics. In this small region, there are 1248 seed plant species belonging to 160 families. Many plants, such as Machilus minutiloba S. Lee, Cercidiphyllwn japonicum Steb. et Zucc. ex Hoffm, et Schult., Psilotum nudum Griseb., Platycrater arguta Sieb. et Zucc., SemiliquidaTnbar cathayensis H. T. Zhang, Glycine soja (L.) Sieb. et Zucc., and Strobilanthes sarcorrhizus (C. Ling) Z. C. Zheng, are threatened or endangered species. Some species, for example, Machilus minutiloba, are endemic to this small region. Many species were described based on the specimens collected from Mt.Yandang. As a traditional famous mountain, Yandang Mt. has a high level aesthetic value for its distinctive and abundant characters. Its figurative beauty includes magnificence, wonder, danger, elegance, seclusion, mystery and vastness etc. The most striking is its various wonders. In the area of 186 km2, there exist complicated terrain and abundant scenery, especially for a scenic spot with various images. Appreciating from overall perspective, Yandang Mt. is a scenic region of high aesthetic value. Yandang Mt is well known for its various wonders. Its natural landscapes are unusual, unexpected and changeable, mainly being exhibited by the peculiar shape of rhyolites, the combination of various excellent peaks, screen-like mountain peaks, caves, waterfalls and deep pools, which can evoke travelers' strong sense of beauty and spirit. In addition, there are still the magnificence of Yanhu Hill, Longqiu Peak, the dangers of ravines and plank roads along cliffs, the elegance of brooks and streams, the seclusion and mystery of Chuyue Gorge, Mingyu Stream, Ling Rock etc. Yandang Mt. has various water landscapes such as brooks, springs, ravines, ponds, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, swamps and oceans etc. Furthermore, Yandang Mt. has rich historical and cultural connotation: The development of Yandang Mt. began from Tang Dynasty in seven century and prospered in Song Dynasty in thirteen century. For the thousand years great deal of historic cultures have been accumulated. In Song Dynasty, there were famous " eighteen ancient temples". After that, with the rebuilding of hill roads and the renovation of temples, travelers began to visit Yandang Mt and left many poems and 'inscriptions. In Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, this continued to develop. More and more poets, painters and writers are illuminated by the large scale peculiar landscapes of Yandang Mt. and left a large amount of work. Such enlightening and scientific roles of Yandang Mt. are the very important functions of modem national parks.