Mount Sanqing (Sanqingshan)

UNESCO World Heritage Site (2008); UNESCO Global Geopark; National 5A Tourist Attraction · Shangrao, Jiangxi

A Taoist sacred mountain in northeastern Jiangxi whose granite peaks and pillars rise from forest and cloud like a painted landscape, protected as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. Its name comes from its three highest summits - Yujing, Yuxu and Yuhua - said to resemble the Three Pure Ones, the supreme deities of Taoism, and the mountain has drawn hermits and alchemists since the fourth-century sage Ge Hong is said to have refined elixirs here. Weathering has carved the granite into extraordinary shapes: the Goddess Peak, a slender pillar resembling a woman with long hair gazing into the distance, and the Python Rising from the Mountain, a pinnacle more than 100 metres tall shaped like a snake's head. Visitors reach the heights by cable car and then walk the plank roads bolted onto sheer cliffs, including the Sunshine Coast and West Coast trails, which run for kilometres along the rock face at around 1,600 metres above seas of cloud. The Sanqing Palace, a Ming-dynasty Taoist complex of stone halls and bridges, lies deep in the southern forest. Frequent mist, rime ice in winter and azaleas in spring make it a favourite of photographers.

Sanqingshan Scenic Area, Yushan County, Shangrao, Shangrao, Jiangxi, China

Daily, about 7:30-17:30 from April to October, with shorter winter hours; last cable car up about 17:30 in peak season and 16:30 off-season. Closes in typhoons and heavy rain; timed reservation required July-September 2026.

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