A graduation trip to Mountain Huang

To celebrate the graduation of Jian Zhang, Liang Qian and Feifan Ye, GRC organized a graduation trip to Huangshan city from May 28^th to May 30^th. Six GRCers, Jian Zhang, Siyuan Yang, Kai Wang, Yiqing Liu, Zhihao Wang and Feifan Ye, joined the tour. It is unfortunate that other GRCers were either busy with their work or injured and thus unable to travel.

 

The tour begin with the climb of Mountain Huang on Wednesday when the admission is free. Mountain Huang is the most famous scenic spot in Anhui Province, and most of USTCers have visited this mountain more than once. But for most of members in this expedition group, it was the first time. That makes the trip unpredictable and anticipated.

 

Following recommendations of online resources and the hotel manager, we climbed the mountain on foot from Ciguang Pavilion so that we can see the Tiandu Peak, welcoming Pine, West Sea Grand Canyon and Bright Summit on the way. We came down by cable car from the goose ridge in order not to be too exhausted. There is no doubt that Mountain Huang is as beautiful as it’s advertised. But the pressing crowds on Mount Huang was even more impressive and breathtaking than the scenery. At the entrance of Tiandu Peak, the line was hundreds of meters long and blocked the entire road. The crowd were so dense that people can hardly move.

 

After the exhausting climbing, Jian Zhang and Feifan Ye decided to continue their trip, while others went back to school. Our new Dr. and MSc buddied up and visited the traditional-style villages, Hongcun and Xidi in the follow day. The villages are UNESCO World Heritage Sites and have kept the major traditonal Chinese styles, known as ”A Village in Chinese Paintings”. This is the last stop during their tour, but their lifetime journey is continuing. Hope everything goes well with them!

Group photo before the Bright Summit (the white small ball in background).

Group photo before the West Sea Grand Canyon.

Jian Zhang, Feifan Ye and Yiqing Liu on the baibu ladder.

The beautiful view of the Welcoming Pine.

The meteorological observatory on the Bright Summit.

The night scene of Hongcun.

The beautiful view of the Xidi.

-- Written by Yiqing Liu on May 31th, 2024.