Qianshan National Park

Qianshan means thousand lotuses mountain, from the resemblance of its granite summits to lotus buds, and the range holds something close to nine hundred peaks across a compact area, wooded with pine and scattered with more than twenty temples and monasteries of both Buddhist and Daoist tradition, several dating to the Ming and Qing. Longquan Temple is the largest. A natural rock formation on one ridge resembles a seated Buddha of over seventy metres, identified in 1993 and now a focus of pilgrimage. Paths and stairways link the temples and summits, with a cable car to the upper ridge. Autumn colour in October is the busiest season.

What you actually see

• The granite peaks - hundreds of summits in a compact wooded range.
• The temples - more than twenty Buddhist and Daoist complexes among the rocks.
• The natural Buddha - the rock formation resembling a seated figure.
• The autumn colour - maples and larch turning through October.

When to go

May to October, with October colour drawing the largest crowds; winter is cold and icy on the stairways. Spring brings pear blossom in the surrounding valleys. Weekends are busy year-round.

Honest expectations

The park involves a lot of stair climbing between temples. Entry plus cable car and internal transport adds up. Anshan is a steel city with heavy industry and often poor air.

Nearby

Anshan lies northwest; Shenyang is about an hour north.