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Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
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 Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is ten miles from Lijiang, piercing to the elevation of 5,596 and standing aloft on southwest plateau of Yunnan in the south of the Hengduan Mountains, its landscape includes one of the southernmost glaciers in the modern world. Shanzidou, the main peak of the mountain at 18,000 feet above sea level, looks like a gigantic dragon twist in white snow all year round. Access to the mountain is provided by a cable lift to Dragon Spruce Meadow, halfway to the glacier peak. About half of China's plant species originated in Yunnan province, and Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is home to about half of these, including trees, flowers, and medicinal herbs and plants. The mountain's many ravines, creeks, cliffs, and meadows all have Naxi names and provide settings for the myths and legends of the people who have made the plain their homeland for 1,000 years. Still heavily forested, the mountain bursts into bloom every spring with camellias, rhododendrons, and azaleas. Herders take their cattle, goats, sheep, and yaks to graze on its slopes. In autumn, some of the pine trees turn amber yellow, while the deciduous trees transmute their green leaves into patches of bright yellow, orange, and scarlet. With its extraordinary elegance and unique natural scenes, the Mountain draws a lot of scientists as well as tourists from both domestic and abroad not only in the past but also at the present. A virgin peak, the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain has never been conquered by the Man. Coming to Lijiang, visitors get a chance to admire the wonders of the Snow Mountain, and to enjoy the kaleidoscopic elegance of the highland forests and the myriad of delights of the rare animals and plants. Visiting the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain which is praised as the "Museum of the Contemporary Glaciers" and "Kingdom of Plants", the visitors would be so deeply enchanted that they just hate to leave the scene. |
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