Classic Zhangjiajie Landscapes (11)
Baofeng Lake Premium Tour Route: Baofeng Lake Scenic Area is a high-gorge lake surrounded by mountains, named after the nearby Buddhist site Baofeng Mountain. Covering 274 hectares, it consists of Baofeng Lake and Yingwo Village, combining mountain-and-water scenery with ethnic customs. The lake in the southeast is famed for its remarkable waters and beautiful views.
This article is compiled from the original travel notes on the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com); it is a record of trips from earlier years. Time-sensitive information such as ticket prices, schedules, and accommodation prices is subject to the latest announcements from scenic areas and transportation authorities; the itinerary ideas and attraction introductions still have reference value.
Baofeng Lake Premium Tour Route
Baofeng Lake Scenic Area is a high-gorge lake embraced by mountains, named after its proximity to the Buddhist site Baofeng Mountain. The Baofeng Lake Scenic Area covers a total area of 274 hectares. Comprising two major scenic zones—Baofeng Lake and Yingwo Stockade—it integrates mountain and water scenery with ethnic customs. In the southeast is Baofeng Lake, remarkable for its water, a picturesque Chinese painting blending beautiful lake and mountain scenery with wild cave-heaven charm. It is the only water-focused scenic area in Wulingyuan. Baofeng Lake has a water surface of 30 hectares, a dam height of 85 meters, an average water depth of 72 meters, and at its widest point spans over 150 meters. Its water storage capacity is over 4 million cubic meters, and the lake is 2.5 kilometers long. The lake water is deep and emerald green, surrounded by fantastic peaks. Boating on the lake is like traveling through a painting, which is why visitors call Baofeng Lake the "World's Classic Lake" and "Earthly Jade Pool." In the northwest is Yingwo Stockade, which excels in its mountains. Strolling along the trails of Yingwo Stockade, visitors can both feast their eyes on the spirit of fantastic peaks and experience the rich Tujia customs. Among these, Yingwo Stockade, Small Buer Gate, and South Sea Emerald Waves are the most wondrously beautiful. Since Zhangjiajie Baofeng Lake Tourism Industrial Development Co., Ltd. took over leased operations in 2001, it has opened to visitors such attractions as Baofeng Flying Waterfall, One-Line Sky, Cloud Cliff Plank Road, Jiejian Pavilion, Canxiu Terrace, South Sea Emerald Waves, and Yingwo Stockade. In 2004, Baofeng Lake was approved by the National Tourism Administration as a AAAA-level tourist area (site).
[Baofeng Flying Waterfall] The first sight of Baofeng Lake is Baofeng Flying Waterfall. The cascading waterfall is over 60 meters high, a perfect combination of nature and human craftsmanship, the landmark attraction of Baofeng Lake Scenic Area, the venue of the 2001 Zhangjiajie National Forest Protection Festival, and the best setting for visitors' photography.
[Baofeng Lake] Visitors board boats at Huixian Dock and cruise around the lake, seeing fantastic peaks encircling the water on all sides and lush trees. Peaks embrace the green water, water kisses the blue peaks, mountains and water reflect each other—a feast for the eyes. Boating on the lake, the water ripples and the mountains shift, a gentle breeze brushes the face, occasionally mandarin ducks play in the lake, and occasionally Tujia songs and dances are performed on the tour boats. Those small islands piled with emerald green in the lake are like green jewels, adding divine grace to Baofeng Lake. Baofeng Lake possesses both the overall beauty of mountains and water reflecting each other and complementing movement with stillness, and the individual beauty of fantastic peaks and exotic rocks. That stone pillar standing alone by the lake, silently upright, is called "Fairy Mirroring Herself." A hundred meters by boat from "Fairy Mirroring Herself," there is a rock protruding from the water that closely resembles a crocodile with its mouth wide open, called "Crocodile Rock." Opposite Crocodile Rock is "Divine Wandering Peak," rising a hundred meters above the lake surface. After passing "Gate-Closing Rock," which tightly locks the lake surface, the lake suddenly opens up, and one can enjoy the "Golden Turtle Playing in Water" landscape. There is a rock in the lake like a turtle, hidden in the water in spring and summer, only revealing its noble appearance in autumn and winter. At the end of Baofeng Lake's tailwaters, two peaks slant upward, shaped like rock frogs. One frog opens its mouth to croak, the other listens quietly—like "Two Frogs Announcing Spring."
[Folk Song Pavilion] Located opposite the Duoguan Bridge in Baofeng Lake Park. The pavilion is octagonal, in Tujia stilted-house style. The Folk Song Pavilion serves as a performance room and rest area, a stage for Tujia male and female singers. Thirty meters to the north is an Echo Wall. If visitors learn to sing Tujia folk songs such as "Xilang Kapu Re You Re" sung by young men and women, joyful songs and laughter fly out from the Folk Song Pavilion and are immediately bounced back by the Echo Wall opposite, with lingering echoes—a unique charm.
[Eagle Beak Peak] To the right of "Duoguan Pass" lies a horizontal rock that closely resembles a dinosaur, which the local Tujia people call "Dinosaur Stone." The peak diagonally opposite Dinosaur Stone is "Eagle Beak Peak." Look at it—head raised to the sky, wings spread as if about to fly. Eagle Beak Peak is 680 meters above sea level, with steep cliffs that even eagles and apes would dread to climb, ancient trees reaching the sky and blocking out the sun, and springs tinkling in the forest like chiming jade pendants.
[Yingwo Stockade] The highest peak is 720 meters above sea level, named because the mountain stockade resembles an eagle's nest. Climbing along stone steps, the path is narrow like a sheep's intestine. Entering the stockade and looking up, stone peaks surround it like a giant barrel. Standing atop the stockade and gazing westward into the distance, one can see the majestic South Sea Emerald Waves of the mountain ranges.
[Baofeng Temple] Baofeng Temple was first built in the Song Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, the abbot Li Bigui practiced here, and it was renovated in the Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty "Yongding County Annals" records: "This temple is said to have been built between the late Song and early Yuan dynasties, connected to Yangzhi Boundary, extremely steep, with Tianmen Cave, Yunpan Rock, Stone Bell and Drum, Stone Pestle and Mortar, Five Elders Peak Shrine, West Peak Palace, and other scenic sites." Eight steles and other religious artifacts survive, such as the temple stele inscription: "Baofeng Immortal Mountain is the mountain where Iron Zen Patriarch practiced Gui Zhi and became divine." From the surviving temple architecture, it was built of quartz sandstone blocks, with pottery tiles and iron tiles, covering over 200 square meters. According to the "Dayong County Annals," Baofeng Temple had three halls. The first hall was the Hall of Heavenly Kings, with "Surpassing Wudang" inscribed on the front gate. On both sides of the mountain gate were inscribed the couplet "The temple's appearance remains to illuminate the land below; the divine spirit ever manifests to protect all beings," enshrining the Four Heavenly Kings and the Eighteen Arhats. The second hall was the Mahavira Hall. The third hall was the Guanyin Hall, enshrining Amitabha Buddha and Shakyamuni Buddha, with Guanyin Bodhisattva and Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva on either side. The couplet reads: "Sitting atop the earth's axis, rivaling immortal temples; facing Tianmen, expressing ancient Sanskrit." In 1990, the Baofeng Lake Management Bureau of Wulingyuan District, for the convenience of tourist transportation, relocated and rebuilt Baofeng Temple, constructing a Guanyin Hall in the mountain hollow of Yingwo Stockade, enshrining Guanyin Bodhisattva. Baofeng Lake Tourism Company established the Baofeng Temple Affairs Committee in March 2002. In April 2002, the Wulingyuan District Religious Affairs Bureau legally issued a registration certificate to Baofeng Temple, making it the first legally registered Buddhist activity site in Zhangjiajie City and a well-known Buddhist site in Zhangjiajie.
[Peak-Counting Terrace] On the left side of the summit of Yingwo Stockade, a peak stands perilously at the cliff edge, with sheer walls on three sides. It was named after the Ming Dynasty Jiuyong Vice Prefect Xia Ziyun wrote: "Counting green peaks in ordinary mountains, jade bamboo shoots take shape and pierce the Chu frontier." Peak-Counting Terrace is located northwest of Canxiu Terrace. The pavilion is square, 3 meters high, covering 4 square meters. Standing on the terrace and looking around, the peaks and pillars around Baofeng Mountain are like fists, jagged and continuous. The peaks of Zhangsanjie, Wangjia Valley, Chaqi Valley, and Dongjia Valley are arrayed in rows, clearly countable. If one encounters a sea of clouds, the peaks appear like wandering dragons or immortal mountain pavilions, hence the reputation of "South Sea."