The Jinjiang Mountain Park

The beautiful Jinjiang Mountain Park is located on the Jinjiang Mountain in the north of Dandong. Around the park are the green mountains and peaks rising one higher than another. The park was built at the foot of the Mountain. The roads in the park are zigzag and the winding path leads to a quiet place. It’s beautiful, quiet and natural. In the park, the pavilions are here and there. The trees make a pleasant shade. The scene here is as beautiful as a painting all the year. The Park is a necessary scenic spot for the tourists from home and abroad to visit and is head of the eight scenic spots in the Northeast.

The area of the Park is 91.06 hectares. The Park was started to be built in 1916. Its original name was Zhenjiang Park. The Park got its present-used name in 1965. The memorial archway gate of the Park, which is full of the national features, stands at the entrance of the Park. With the red round pillars and decorated with frescoes, it looks resplendent and magnificent. The gate was started to be built in 1924 and was made of wood at first. In 1935, it was rebuilt and made of concrete. In 1959, it was built to be the memorial archway, which is full of the national features. The gate is 34 meters’ long and 17 meters’ high. The total area is 396.7 square meters. It looks great and magnificent. The upper part of the memorial archway is carefully carved and has some painted classical patterns. The yellow and green glazed tiles are arranged and formed in the shape of 32 vivid lions whose emotions are different from each other. Under the roof, there are 52 mountains-and-waters paintings. The paintings are wonderful with the simple and elegant color. On every festival day, the 560 lights on the memorial archway are lightened, which are very bright and colorful. Seen from a far place from it, it looks more magnificent. Entering the Park and turning left, you will see a big flowerbed with patterns made up of different flowers. Across the flowerbed is a lotus pool. The slim and graceful lotus, the plump leaves and the sporting goldfish in the water often attract many visitors and stop them from leaving. Over the pool is a small and unique zigzag bridge. In the middle of the bridge is a beautiful six-angle pavilion which shelters people from sun and rain while appreciating lotus and goldfish. Stepping up along the road, you will come to a world of rare birds and strange animals. There are over 50 animals and birds, such as the northeast tiger, the sika, the camel, the black wolf, the wild boar, the macaque from Guangxi, the seal, the lynx, the red-crowned crane and the peacock. They are in different poses and with different expressions. Walking up along the winding and clean road, people can see various electric recreation facilities, such as electric horses, battery trucks, bumper cars, racing bicycles, shooting facilities, flying Apsaras, flying chairs, little trains, gyrocars, flying elephants, air-visiting-cars and the “pearl on the sea”. There are over 100,000 pots of peonies of more than 200 kinds and over 300 pots of chrysanthemums. No matter which season it is, the wide and bright flower exhibition hall is always full of colorful flowers. They compete with each of her for beauty of looks. The rational distribution and the special position of the flower pots, the little flowerbed, the fountain, and the stream running through the little bridge show people the buildings of the Chinese traditional courtyard style, which makes people recall the Zhuozheng Garden in Suzhou and the Mochou Lake in Nanjing. However, the most attractive and most beautiful flower is still the colorful azalea, which includes various single-colored ones; compound-colored ones, such as the ones that have lace edge, strips and lining; the 15-centemeter’s big ones; and the half-centimeter’s small ones. The names of the flowers are also quite beautiful, such as “Five Gems and Jewel”, “Pink Tianhui”, “Sea Waves”, “Crown”, “Overjoy”, “Drunk Imperial Concubine” etc. People seem to be in a world of flowers and wander about the sea of the flowers when they come here. Go up alone the road in the Garden, you will get to the “Return Cabinet”. The “Return Cabinet” is a two-floor building with national styles of northern people. The ground of the Cabinet is a square. In the middle of the square is a “回” shape written in red and green. On the marble tablet of the face of the Cabinet is inscribed “Our Basic Standpoint at the Problems On Hong Kong” talked by Deng Xiao-ping and Mrs. Thatcher in 1982. On the second floor are the eight-angle eaves. The eight sides of the Cabinet are painted the eight scenes of Hong Kong, which is beautiful and magnificent. The “Return Cabinet” is 12-meter’s high, which symbolizes the 1,200,000,000 people of Chinese descent. The outside square is paved with 1997 pieces of granite, which symbolizes the year 1997 when Hong Kong returns. The establishment of the “Return Cabinet” not only adds a new human scene to the Park, but also provides another educational base to the people in Dandong.

The Cultural Garden is located in the central area of the Park and is a new-type cultural garden for visit where visitors will see books, paintings, riddles and other works by famous people in Dandong. They can go sightseeing, copy some works and have a rest there. There are six scenic areas in the Garden. They are the handwriting tablet, the long-life woods, the riddle circles, the song corridor, the painting corridor and the wall of Dandong’s history. The Garden occupies about 10,000 square meters and is surrounded by the green mountains. Within the Garden stand different tablets, which are classic and elegant. Here people will find the inscription of modern writers, such as Guo Mo-ruo, Mao Dun, Bing Xin, and the calligraphers, such as Shu Tong, Qi Gong and Shen Peng. People will also see the inscription written by some leaders, revolutionary predecessors and some other famous people. The handwriting has different features, either vigorous, or natural and beautiful. The poems are full of strong affections and witty remarks. The well-known works by some famous composers and painters born in Dandong, such as Lu Yuan, Zhen Qiu-feng, Yang Ming and Shao Yu, are collected in the Song Corridor and the Painting Corridor. The Wall of the “Picture of Culture and History” displays the brilliant national culture of Dandong since the people in Qian Ming Carve period. The proverbs and the riddles given by the newspapers, “Health and Glad Tidings” and the “Chinese Riddles”, are deep in meanings, which may enlighten people. Surveying from a high point, people will see many high buildings, dense woods, beautiful scenes, and the long flowing river. When people go out of the Garden and climb on, they will arrive at the top of Jinjiang Mountain and find a quiet two-floor pavilion. This pavilion that stands on the wide lawn at the top of the Mountain is the well-known “Jinjiang Pavilion”. It was started to be built in 1934 and was rebuilt in 1965. In the pavilion, there are some stone reillings, stone pillars, stone tables and stone stools that provide visitors with a place to have a rest. Seeing from this place after a little rest, visitors will have a panoramic view of the scene of both China and Korea.

“The Commemoration Tower for the Martyrs to Liberate Liaodong” is located in the center of the Park, which add some solemn atmosphere to the beautiful Mountain. It becomes a historic evidence for the revolutionary martyrs who died for the liberation of Liaodong, with its special shape and distinct feature. The Tower was built in the winter of 1948 and was completed before the foundation of the People’s Republic of China. The whole Tower is made up of a round tower base, a tower pedestal, square body and a bronze statue. Its height is 10.73 meters. It faces south and is 10 degrees by east. The tower oversees the urban area of Dandong City. On top of the Tower, stands a bronze statue of a PLA soldier who holds a rifle in his right hand and raises his left arm, which looks as if he were calling all the people to fight for the country. The expressions of the statue are almost as alive as a real man. The statue is 2.08 meters high and weighs 2 tons. This tower is not only the pride of Dandong people, but also a historic relic that the visitors to visit. This Tower is a key historic relic of the province-level. In 1995, the municipal Party committee and the municipal government conferred it as the educational base of patriotism.