Lushan District, also anglicised as Kuling, is the name of a district in Jiujiang

Jiujiang

Jiujiang , formerly transliterated Kiukiang, is a prefecture-level city located on the southern shores of the Yangtze River in northwest Jiangxi Province, China. It is the second-largest prefecture-level city in Jiangxi province, the largest one being Nanchang...

, Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. With a history dating back thousand of years it is a popular domestic and foreign tourist attraction as well as home to the mountain resort town of Lushan and the 1474 metres (4,836 ft) high Mount Lu.

History

The resort town of Lushan was established in the late 1800s by and for European and American travellers and is distinguished by the colonial architecture of its buildings. Because of its mild summers, the mountain town of Lushan is often referred to as 'Natures' Air Cooler'. Many travellers spend the summer months in the mountains to avoid the heat of nearby cities.

Prior to 1949, Lushan was a frequent training and marshalling area for the nationalist Kuomintang

Kuomintang

The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...

 army. The then President of China, Chiang Kai-Shek

Chiang Kai-shek

Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....

 often visited Lushan whilst on vacation and many tourist attractions commemorate this fact. It was here that in 1946 the U.S. special diplomatic mission representing the President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 led by General George C. Marshall met with Chiang Kai-Shek to discuss the role of post-WWII China.

After the communist revolution in China in 1949, it became famous as a favoured meeting place for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is the highest authority within the Communist Party of China. Its approximately 350 members and alternates are selected once every five years by the National Party Congress....

. It hosted the Eighth Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee, also known as the "Lushan Conference

Lushan Conference

The Lushan Conference , officially the 8th Plenum of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, began on July 2, 1959 and was an informal discussion about the Great Leap Forward...

" or "Plenum", which began on 23 July and convened on 2 August, 1959. Lushan also hosted the Second Plenum of the Ninth Central Committee in August 1970.

The movie "Lushan Lian

Romance on Lushan Mountain

Romance on Lushan Mountain is a 1980 colour film produced in China. It was in its entirety shot at Lushan Mountain in Jiangxi province of China and was directed by Huang Zumu...

", which has been shown in the Lushan theatre non-stop since 1980, was recognised by Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records

Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...

 as the longest running movie in theatres. Each ticket sold to this movie is numbered according to ticket sales to date. As of May 2006, this number is close to 140 million tickets.

In 2007, a biography of Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...

 pioneer Harvey Butchart

Harvey Butchart

John Harvey Butchart was a mathematics professor who was well-known for his hiking exploits in and around the Grand Canyon. Over a period of 17 years Butchart hiked the entire length of the canyon, making him the first person known to have done so.Butchart was born in Hefei, China, to missionary...

 entitled Grand Obsession: Harvey Butchart and the Exploration of Grand Canyon by Elias Butler and Tom Myers

Tom Myers

Tom Myers is a former American football safety in the National Football League. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the third round of 1972 NFL Draft...

 was published. This book contains several chapters about Mount Lushan where Butchart spent several years as the child of missionaries.

The town was also the birthplace of English author Mervyn Peake

Mervyn Peake

Mervyn Laurence Peake was an English writer, artist, poet and illustrator. He is best known for what are usually referred to as the Gormenghast books. They are sometimes compared to the work of his older contemporary J. R. R...

.