Hong Shan
Encyclopedia
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Hóng Shān) is an inner city mountain
Mountain
Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...
in Ürümqi
Ürümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. The mountain, sometimes referred to as a hill for its smaller size than a mountain in landform, is the symbolic scenic spot of Ürümqi
Ürümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
. The local Ürümqi Television Station
Urumqi Television Station
Urumqi Television Station is a local television station in Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China. It was established in April, 1985 as a cable network and started broadcasting on September 28 in the same year...
adopted the shape of Hong Shan in red as its logo.
Etymology
Red
Red is any of a number of similar colors evoked by light consisting predominantly of the longest wavelengths of light discernible by the human eye, in the wavelength range of roughly 630–740 nm. Longer wavelengths than this are called infrared , and cannot be seen by the naked eye...
color, people call it Hong Shan ("Red Mountain" in Chinese). The red rocks are composed of dark purple sand gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
laid down during the Permian period. Hong Shan Mountain lies at the intersection of Hongshan Road (红山路) and Riverside Road (Hetan Road) (河滩路), Urumqi, and is best viewed from Xi Daqiao Bridge.
History
The Hong Shan Park is in the center of Ürümqi with the 1391-meter-high mountain. The temple lying on the hilltop is called Yu Huang Ge ("Chamber of Heavenly King"), said to have been built during the Tang DynastyTang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
(618-907 A.D.), when many monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s studied scripture there. Since then, this chamber has become a place of tourism
Tourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
for business people from Central Asia
Central Asia
Central Asia is a core region of the Asian continent from the Caspian Sea in the west, China in the east, Afghanistan in the south, and Russia in the north...
and tourists from all over the world. Yu Huang Ge was famous and prosperous until a riot in 1930 destroyed this popular chamber.
There is a nine-storey pagoda
Pagoda
A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist,...
named Zhen Long Ta at the top of the mountain. It was built in Yuan Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty
The Yuan Dynasty , or Great Yuan Empire was a ruling dynasty founded by the Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who ruled most of present-day China, all of modern Mongolia and its surrounding areas, lasting officially from 1271 to 1368. It is considered both as a division of the Mongol Empire and as an...
(1277-1367 A.D.). This 25-meter pagoda has been preserved carefully ever since it was built. When the nightfall or sunset begins, the pagoda is marvelous; this view was one of the eight most famous scenic spots in ancient Ürümqi
Ürümqi
Ürümqi , formerly Tihwa , is the capital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, in the northwest of the country....
.
Before the Chinese government
Government of the People's Republic of China
All power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the People's Republic of China, State Council, and the People's Liberation Army . This article is concerned with the formal structure of the state, its departments and their responsibilities...
began the cultivation-planting project in Xinjiang
Xinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, the mountain was bare and emerged without any trees. In the 1950s, therefore, after several years of cultivation planting, the mountain gained a brand-new look; the hill is covered with trees, and the mountain is beautiful.