Introduction : The HuangLong which means Yellow Dragon in Chinese, is a scenic and historic area in the northwestern part of Sichuan and lies 150 km from the capital city of Chengdu. It is an extremely scenic place in the region and is famous for its snow capped moutain peaks and mineral pools together with a landscape of yellow rocks formed by calcite deposits that ships it like a yellow dragon. The altitude in HuangLong is 3200 metres and the highest scenic spot measures at 3600 metres. Along the way, visitors have to pass by the XueshanLiangZi which is 4200 metres in altitude and offers the view of the XueBaoDing which is the highest peak of the Min Mountains range. The HuangLong is also home to many endangered species like the Giant Panda and Golden Snub Nose Monkey. The HuangLong Temple is built during the Ming dynasty and offers rich religious culture in the integration between Buddism and Taoism.
How the Yellow Dragon looks like from far
Image attribution to Chen Siyuan @ Wiki
Falls at the HuangLong
Image attribution to Lacitadelle @ Flickr
History :
The Huang Long travertine(a form of limestone) landscape was formed by thousands of years of geological evolution and has a length of 3.6km looking like a golden dragon in the valley. The source of water starts from the ancient HuangLong Temple at the top of the valley and ends in the Xishen Cave Waterfall. The preservation of the area has been largely due to its inaccessibility and its importance in local culture to the Tibetan villages. HuangLong received official legal protection from the Chinese government in 1987 and attained World Heritage Status in 1992.
The HuangLong Zhongsi Temple
Multi Colored Pond in HuangLong
A view of the Snow Peak XueBaoDing in XueShanLiangZi
Getting there :
The nearest airport to the HuangLong is the Jiuzhai Huanglong Airport(IATA) in Song Pan and is around 53 km from the place of interest. The nearest international airport is the Chengdu ShuangLiu International Airport(CTU) and is 150 km northwest to HuangLong.