(National 4A-class)
Away from the Huangbai River, we will reach the tour site around the mouth of Xiling Gorge. It is a National 4A class one, and will be an important site for us to discover the new Three Gorges. And it is only 8 km away from the Yichang downtown.
This site covers an area of 142 km2, east to the Gezhouba and west to the Three Gorges Dam, usually called “the gate of three gorges, the throat of Sichuan and Hubei”. Here is a world of mountains, caves, shoals and valleys, just as a poem or painting. Recent years, here has developed several tour sites, such as the Leizu Temple, the Taohua Cun (the Peach Blossom Garden), the Baima Cave (the Whitehorse cave), the Happy Valley of Xiling Gorge, the Xialao River, the Longquan Cave, and the Xianren River (the Immortal River) etc. Among them, you can enjoy yourselves in a world full of flowers, valleys, bird songs, and clean spring and rivers etc. So, it gains the name of “Gallery of Mountains and Rivers”, and “Alive and Charm Ba & Chu Culture”.
Leizu Temple
That archaize construction over there is the Leizu Temple, also called the “Mountain Temple of Xiling”. Standing on the 108 m Xiling Mountain, it was built to memory Leizu, wife of the Yellow Emperor.
Leizu, called “the goddess of Chinese silkworm” or “the Fist Lady of Ancient China”, was the principal wife of Yellow Emperor. It is said that, the Yellow Emperor fought a war here, then met and married her for her smart and intelligence. Leizu started the Chinese sericiculture and silk fabric weaving by her own, and later lad people to create the Chinese culture together with the Yellow Emperor. On March 15 every Chinese lunar year, people will gather here to celebrate Leizu’s birthday.
Here, the Leizu Hall is the main building of Leizu Temple. This hall covers 1000 m2, with 1217.27 m2 construction area. This 4-floor building looks like a 2-floor one with multilayered eaves. It is 26.53 m in height. And the 24 groups of wind-bells will sound peculiarly in the wind.
The three statues are Leizu and her maidservants. Leizu statue is 6.3 m in height, surrounded by maidservants at each side. One maidservant holds a pod, while the other holds a golden shuttle. The three statues look like they are still giving the lecture of sericiculture and silk fabric skills.
Taohua Cun (the Peach Blossom Garden)
Just as its name implies, here is a garden of peach blossom. It’s the first garden in Yichang to gather and preserve kinds of peach blossoms. Combined with the relevant culture, this garden will provide you abundant knowledge about peach blossom. In the garden, there are Taohua River Fall, the Sphinx rock, the homesick bridge, the Zhaojun dock, the peachblossom fish library, and the water-drop pavilion etc. Here, you can enjoy peach and cherry blossoms in Spring, peculiar fruits in Summer, and sweet osmanthus in Autumn. This garden is also called Zhaojun Garden. It’s said that, in the West Han Dynasty, Wang Zhaojun had a short break here, when she was sailing to the Palace to marry the Emperor.
At present, there are about 50 species of peach over 8000 peach trees. Among them, the “5 Peach Fairies” are most famous. In fact, the 5 peach fairies are 5 species of peach, named each as the 5-treasure peach, the sun-moon peach, the Fei (pink) peach, the human-face peach and the flowering peach.
And a poet of the Tang Dynasty wrote a poem for this garden, it said: “Last year I saw a young girl in this peach garden, her face was like a peach blossom; since the first sight, I fell love with her; and this year, I came here, wishing see her again, but there’s only peach blossom left”.
The Baima Cave (the Whitehorse Cave)
This scenic spot is located at the Yangtze riverside, near the mouth of Nanjin Guan. The Whitehorse Cave got it name from a remote legend. It’s said that, long long ago, there was a magic white horse living in this cave.
The whole scenic site consists of the Whitehorse Cave Square, the Start Point of Yangtze Three Gorges, and the Whitehorse Cave. At the center of square, there stands a visual white horse heading to the west. It’s said this white horse help Tang Xuanzang to the pilgrimage for Buddhist scriptures once. After this task, it travelled around the world and was stopped here by the beautiful Three Gorges. The start point of Yangtze Three Gorges is at the mouth of Nanjin Guan. It is the dividing point of the up and central streams. Standing on the memorial platform, we can enjoy the magnificent mountains and broad water level. In the Whitehorse cave, there are lots of peculiar stalactites. And we will enter this cave by boat. Passing bout 200 m, we are entering the world of stalactites with different shapes.
The Happy Valley of Xiling Gorge
This happy valley is the only well-being body-building and tour sites, located near the Xialao River Bridge, echoing at the Sanyou Cave. Here, you can enjoy the Bungee jumping, the Sliding, the Rock climbing, the swing and the flying car etc. Besides, here is the place for the exclusive real world show “Dream, Three Gorges”. This show is to show the real life in the Three Gorges area. It’s divided into over 10 chapters, such as the work songs, the cowboy fluting among mountains and river, the Tujia ethical wedding, and the double flying swallows etc. In addition, there are lots of archaize and elegant villas built at the front of mountains and beside the river.
The Xialao River (the Down Lock River)
This river originates from the Niuping Ya of Yichang, and follows about 26.7 km to meet the Yangtze at Nanjin Guan. The name sounds strange, doesn’t it? It’s said that, in the ancient time, the father of Dayu locked a devil dragon here to stop its disasters in the river. So, this river was called Xialao (Down Lock) then.
Along this river, valleys are steep while water is clean and green, which bring us some well-known sceneries, such as the Yixiangtian (Seeing sky from a narrow gap between two mountain tops), the Baota Peak (the Pagoda Peak), the Lion Mountain, the Dragon King Cave etc. Besides, you can enjoy drifting along the river, or even bathing in outdoor natural bathing center.
The Longquan Cave
This tour site is located in the north bank of the Xialao River. Its name came from a legend that Dayu subdued a devil dragon here in ancient time. On our way to the cave, we will pass the Memorial Archway, the Former Sanguan City of Wu Sangui, and the 4-season rock flowers etc. The Memorial Archway was built with the style of Song Dynasty. The couplet on them means this place is full of peculiar mountains and caves. And the former Sanguan city only remains an earth city with large scale. The 4-seaon rock flowers are the peculiar plants living on rocks for 4 seasons. And the Longquan Cave is about 1000 m in length. This cave, like a underground palace, is divided into “Talin Palace (tower palace)”, “Yaochi Palace”, “Fall Palace”, “Wanshou Palace” and “Crystal Palace”. Among them, the fall palace is most attractive by its kinds of stalactites and a magnificent fall.
The Xianren River (the immortal river) Ecotourism Site
This tour site consists of the Fairy ropeway, the Stork Cave and the Immortal River. The fairy ropeway is 888m in length, with a fall of 123.8m. There set 64 twin seats. Sliding along the ropeway, you can overlook the entire immortal river. The Stork cave is 1180 in length with interior area over 3000 m2. The inside temperature is kept around 18℃ through the year, which make you fee cool in summer and warm in winter. This cave is famous for its deep cave, various sights, and stalactites of peculiar shapes etc. In the deep cave, you can enjoy a world full of stalagmites, stelae, stalactite curtains and etc. The immortal river is about 6.8 km in length. The name is from a folk legend that there was fairy bathing and making-up besides the river. Along the river valley, there live over 100 kinds of plants, and over 30 kinds of animals, which make the forest coverage up to 98%. Walking through it, you will breathe the peculiar forest air, which is good for health keeping. Here is the famous green ecotourism site of Yichang. During our journey, we will visit 4 falls (the Xiaozi Rock Fall, the Galaxy Fall, the Tri-cascade Fall, and the Fairy Fall), 4 ponds (the Yunv Pond, the Sheshen Pond, the Double Ponds under Moon, and the Qianfu Pond), the Ba house on the rock, and the Mussel Shoal etc.