Autumn Colors of Huizhou – Jiuhua Mountain

"Anhui" takes the "An" from Anqing Prefecture and the "Hui" from Huizhou Prefecture as its province name. Huizhou is both a geographical concept and a concept of history, culture, and thought. The more I visit, the more I become captivated by Huizhou’s beauty.

This year, my autumn appreciation of Huizhou still begins with Jiuhua Mountain. As usual, I first pay homage to the Buddha at Jiuhua.

Due to the sudden intensification of the pandemic, entering Jiuhua Mountain requires not only a green health code but also a nucleic acid test certificate. My husband’s test result, taken when he set out in the morning, wasn’t uploaded to the cloud until around 4 p.m., so we arrived at the top of Jiuhua Mountain near dusk.

We went to Banchu Meisu again, and this time we changed to a different room.

The Japanese-style tea seating complemented the adjacent dry landscape garden perfectly.

In the evening, we sat in the public area on the first floor, drinking tea and chatting with the guesthouse owner. It was a rare treat to meet by chance and talk about all sorts of things from all over, enjoying ourselves immensely.

Every year when I come to Jiuhua Mountain, I go to Baisui Palace and Flesh Body Hall to worship the Buddha, so sightseeing is secondary. Even so, the beautiful scenery of Jiuhua Mountain still appears before our eyes unintentionally.

As the saying goes, 'There are many monks on famous mountains under heaven.' I think it’s a mutual achievement between the temples and the famous mountains. Look! We didn’t specifically seek out autumn colors at Jiuhua Mountain, but when we got off the cable car at Baisui Palace, a persimmon tree nearby, with its red, lantern-like persimmons, presented the full autumn atmosphere to people’s eyes.

The temples, full of historical weight, seemed especially matched with the deep red maple leaves.

The maple leaves were a flowing crimson, and the temples were serene.