Yuelu Mountain lies in the west bank of Xiang River in Changsha City. The landscape is mainly composed of Lushan Mountain along with the nearby rivers, ponds, plants and animals gardens and personnel landscape. Here at the mountain the climate is warm and comfortable with the main peak at 300 meters high.
Yuelu Mountain is composed of natural scenery and personal landscape. The natural scenery is strange, quiet, treasured and beautiful. A poet, Du Mu once wrote about the beauty of the Yuelu Mountain, “Stop the car and watch the maple leaves until late, the leaves covered by frost are more red than the flowers in February.”
There are a lot of scenic spots in Yuelu Mountain such as Qingfeng gorge, Aiwan Pavilion, Lushan Temple, Yunlu Palace, White Crane Spring and Flying Stone.
Qingfeng Gorge lays in the low place between the Yuelu Academy and Lushan Temple, where the scenery is gorgeous. Within Qingfeng Gorge lies Aiwan Pavilion, which was built in A.D.1792. Its original name is Red Leaf Pavilion and later according to the poem written by Du Mu, it was changed the name. Mao Zedong once played and studied here for a study period. There is a tablet with the poem, “Qinyuanchun-Changsha” written by Mao Zedong in the 50s, which is supported by four red poles. The history of activities for Taoism in Yuelu Mountain is quite long. The Yuelu Palace was built in A.D.1478 and the region has been as the activity center of Taoism since then.
Within the landscape there are several thousand kinds of plants, among which there are many famous and rare plants such as: privet, ginkgo, camphor, spinulose tree, quassia, sweet gum, and Chinese honey locustbladder catchfly. Besides the plants, there are a number of famous and rare animals such as: babbler, loriot, cuckoo, owl, woodpecker, parrot, fox, goat, and pheasant. Yuelu Mountain is one of Eight Attractions in Xiaoxiang.