Sightseeing in Fu Yang – 9 Things You Must Do

Longmen Ancient Town is located on the South bank of Fuchun River. More than 90% of the villagers in Longmen are the descendants of the Sun Quan clan, who was the Great Emperor of Wu during the Three Kingdoms Period. It is the largest settlement of Sun Quan's descendants.The village is famous for its unique ancient Ming and Qing buildings that lie within. It is an ancient town in the mountain area that has a relatively complete preservation of the ancient Ming and Qing buildings in the Jiangnan Region today.The ancient town follows a winding course, and the crisscrossing streets and houses are connected to each other. The constructed buildings are accessible from all sides. An outsider entering the ancient town feels like an army breaking through a battlefront during the Three Kingdoms Period.Additionally, this place is also the filming site for movies such as “The Music Box” and “Switch”.For most part, the ancient town is divided into 10 sections, such as The Origin of Ancient Town, Homesick Old Street, Creekside Family, Hundred Step Traces, Inkstone Night Moon and the Sun Clan Family. The town is not big, and it usually takes just 1-2 hours to finish walking around the place.

The best place to view the ancient buildings out of the entire ancient town lies in the vicinity of Inkstone Pool. The scenery of ancient Ming and Qing buildings surrounding this pool of water glowing just like an inkstone, is indeed a pleasant one.The best route is to follow the old street to Longmen Creek and traverse to the Inkstone Pool by following the stream, before finally heading north back to the old street. That way, you will not get lost easily and can even get to visit the main attractions of the ancient town.

Sun’s Ancestral Hall can be considered as the sacred place of Longmen Ancient Town. The memorial tablets of the 65th generation of the venerable Sun clan are enshrined here. Sun’s Ancestral Hall is also called Yuqing Hall. It was initially built during the Song Dynasty and has undergone many expansions. The place is said to be built by Sun Kuang, the physician of Sun Quan’s twenty-sixth generation of descendants, Song Fenyi.Yuqing Hall is an important place for Sun’s family celebrations and ritual activities. It is also a place where many major events in the town are held, one of which would be the worship of ancestors. There will be a second ritual during spring and autumn every year. The second would be to discuss major issues among the clan, and the third would be to act as a primary entertainment venue for ethnic celebrations.

Yimen Archway is made of birch wood. There is a double lion carved on the lintel of the door, signifying good luck and fortune, and a red-crowned crane at the back, signifying longevity. The place is historically said to be built to remember patriot Sun Chao's contribution of his family's property in aid of disaster relief victims.Sun Chao, the 38th grandson of Sun Quan, lived for 45 years. He was good a good businessman and became wealthy. Despite this, he usually dressed simply and ate simple fare, and was kind and charitable. During the Jiajing Emperor period of the Ming Dynasty, there was a famine in Longmen. Sun Chao not only contributed imperial funding on behalf of the entire village, he also provided disaster relief in the form of about 69,000kg of rice.In the 23rd year of the Jiajing Emperor period, the county head magistrate of Fuyang personally wrote the two words “Yimen” and built the archway. Yimen is not only a physical construction but also an intangible monument. As a result, the moral characteristics of being “kind and charitable” and “do good and be happy” are engraved on the hearts of the Longmen villagers. “Do good and there will be an abundance of celebrations” has also become the belief and family practice of the Sun Clan for thousands of years.

Longmen is known as an ancient town which was built on cobblestones. Among which, there is a cobblestone street which is about 400m long. You can step on it bare-footed to massage your soles. The stores on both sides of the streets have been preserved intact, and the ancient signs are still faintly visible.

Sun Quan flour balls are a traditional dish of Longmen and is unique of Longmen Ancient Town. It is said that Sun Quan used fried flour balls to reward his soldiers after he emerged victorious back in the days. Hence, this food symbolizing victory was passed down from generation to generation in the ancient town. You will not usually stay over at scenic places when having fun at Longmen Ancient Town. However, you must to try the Sun Quan flour balls here.Apart from the meat in the balls, there are bamboo shoots, leeks, carrots as well. The dish is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It tastes very good and is affordable, costing only a few dollars for one serving.

Fuchun Taoyuan is located in Xukou Town. You will have to pass through this place when travelling to Qiandao Lake from HangzhouThe landscape is pretty nice here, with karst caves and lakes. As such, it has also become one of the popular attractions for leisure sightseeing around Hangzhou.There are 3 main places of interest: Jiuxiao Biyun Cave, Tiancheng Yeyu Forest and Xiaoyao Lingling Lake.Among them, the karst cave landscape of Jiuxiao Biyun Cave is the reason why most tourists come here.The entrance to the karst cave is located halfway up the mountain. When travelling to the karst cave, you will have to take the rail cable car for a while to get up the mountain. After you get off the cable car, you will see the signage for Biyun Cave and Yeyu Forest. One will normally follow the walkway, and head over to Biyun Cave first.

Huang Gongwang's Reclusive Place is where painter Huang Gongwang from the Yuan Dynasty lived in seclusion and spent his final years. It is also the actual site where he created the famous landscape painting “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains”.The scenic area is located at the mountain pass of a place called Miaoshanwu in Fuyang. You can take an electric vehicle up the hill within the area. There is a train as well. If time permits, we recommend that you climb the mountain yourself in order not to miss out on the wonderful scenery of this reclusive area.The mountain is inundated with vegetation, and the air is fresh and clean. The best time to go sightseeing would be before springtime.

Yong'an Mountain is a paragliding base in China, which is currently the largest man-made paragliding base in Asia.Here, you can get to experience the feeling of flying in the air at least once. Although the process only lasts for 10 to 15 minutes, the thrill of flying is generally very appealing.The scenery at the top of Yong'an Mountain is fantastic, with lush mountains and vast fields.It is highly recommended that you go during spring. The vast rapeseed fields are unbelievably beautiful. You will have to queue up to experience paragliding whenever the weather is good.