Anhui: The Landscape Philosophy of Ink-Wash Huizhou

Anhui, a land nourished by Huangshan’s clouds and the Xin’an River, is renowned as the “Home of Huizhou Merchants” for its Confucian elegance, “Return from Huangshan and no other mountains intrigue” for its majesty, and the “Four Treasures of the Study” for its cultural lineage. Here, white-walled, black-tiled pastoral poetry coexists with bizarre-pine-and-sea-of-clouds landscape paintings; Xidi and Hongcun’s family codes meet Tongling’s Yangtze River industrial epic. Anhui’s charm lies in blending landscape philosophy, Huizhou merchant wisdom, and north-south fusion into a three-dimensional epic blooming on xuan paper.

Top Attractions

1. Sacred Landscapes · Heaven-Earth Scroll

• Huangshan’s Four Wonders & Three Waterfalls: Bizarre pines born from granite crevices, seas of clouds rolling before Jade Screen Pavilion, winter rime ice with hot springs creating an “ice-fire trio.” The Western Sea Canyon rail glides through ink-wash panoramas.

• Jiuhua Mountain’s Flesh Bodhisattvas: Mystical solemnity at Ksitigarbha’s sacred site, where Ming dynasty Monk Wuxia’s preserved body at Centenarian Palace dialogues with millennia-old phoenix pine shade.

• Tianzhu Mountain’s Pillar to Heaven: 48 peaks, once fengshan-sanctified by Emperor Wu of Han, emerge through mist; Mysterious Valley’s cave complex forms a natural labyrinth.

2. Huizhou Codes · Architectural Epic

• Xidi’s Hu Clan Ancestral Hall “Jing’ai Hall”: Best-preserved family shrine in Southern Song village. Ceiling caissons’ 64 “longevity” characters and carved doors depicting Tao Yuanming’s poems attest to “farming-study heritage.”

• Hongcun’s Moon Pond & South Lake: “Ox stomach” and “ox intestines” water systems still flow in this ox-shaped village; Chengzhi Hall’s “merchant”-shaped doorframes reflect in Ming-Qing ponds.

• She County’s Tangyue Memorial Archway Group: Seven Ming-Qing stone arches chain Confucian ethics of loyalty, filial piety, chastity, and righteousness. The women’s shrine “Qingyi Hall” subverts patriarchal norms.

3. Cultural Legacy · Artisan Universe

• Xuancheng Jing County Xuan Paper Cultural Park: Witness sandalwood bark and rice straw transform through 108 steps into “paper lasting millennia.” Experience ancient sheet-forming and laser-engraved stationery.

• She County’s Old Hu Kaiwen Ink Factory: Pine and tung oil soot condense through 100,000捶打 (hammer strikes). Dragon-patterned ink sticks pressed from molds still supply the Palace Museum’s restoration.

• Jing County Chinese Xuan Brush Museum: Mountain hare spine hair and bitter bamboo become “sharp, even, round, resilient” in masters’ hands. Customize a “Huangshan Pine Cloud” brush.

4. River Symphony · Past-Present Dialogue

• Tongling Yangtze River Bridge & Tongguan Mountain: Ancient bronze mining area since Shang-Zhou dynasties. Today, ecological restoration fern murals grow on cliffs at the mining heritage park.

• Wuhu Fantawild Oriental Heritage: Ride trackless auto-guided cars through Nüwa Mends the Heaven myth; bullet-train-shaped roller coasters roar past Qingyi River.

• Ma’anshan Caishiji Taibai Tower: On cliffs of the foremost of Yangtze’s Three Promontories, legends of Li Bai drunkenly catching the moon face smart control centers of modern steel plants across the river.

Essential Anhui Experiences

• Huangshan Sunrise Ritual: Climb Shixin Peak at 4 a.m. with flashlights, watching golden-red clouds, sharing Huangshan sesame cakes kept warm in porters’ cotton-padded coats.

• Huizhou Banquet Codes: Taste “Hu Shi First-Grade Pot” in Huizhou merchant hometown Jixi—36 ingredient layers echo I Ching hexagrams; fermented mandarin fish philosophy dances with hairy tofu’s mycelium art.

• Xin’an River Landscape Gallery Drift: Boat from Shendu Town downstream past loquat groves, rapeseed-flower terraces, and Huizhou villages unfolding through mist.