Human activities in Lushan
Visits
610

The human activities in Lushan Geopark could be back to as early as 6,000 years ago (Late Neolithic age), Dayu, a great ancient man famed by building water conservancy projects, once climbed on to the Lushan Mountain. A great philosopher, Laozi, also visited here during the period of Warring States (475-221 B. C). Emperors Qinshi Huang of Qin Dynasty(259-210 B.C.) and Hanwu Di of Han Dynasty(157-87B.C.) came to the Lushan Mountain. After then, the Lushan Mountain gradually became an ideal place for hermits of many generations.

In the East Jin Dynasty(317-420), the political, social and economic center was moved southward, many writers, poets and monks scrambled for climbing the Lushan Mountain. Wang Xizhi, a greatest calligrapher in the Chinese history, gave up his home to be a temple; Huiyuan, a famous monk, built the Donglin Temple, there were about 700 temples afterward (in about 1,600 years). After Taoist Lu Xiujing built the Chongxu Taoist Temple, there were 18 Taoist temples in the Lushan Mountain. Some of the Taoist temples are large in scale, there were about 3,000 Taoist people in the Taiping Palace at its most flourishing time. The Bailudong (White Deer )Academy of Classical Learning had lasted for over 1,000 years from the Tang Dynasty(618-907) to Qing Dynasty(1644-1912). At the end of Qing Dynasty, foreign missionaries started to build buildings in the Lushan Mountain, about 2,840 priests and businessmen from 17 countries lived in the Lushan Mountain in 1931. During the period of Republic of China, it once became a summer capital. In April 1939, the Japanese troop invaded and occupied the Lushan Mountain, 2,971 innocent people were killed. After the found of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Chinese people started to protect and beautify the Lushan Mountain, it is estimated that about 2,000 farmers came to the Lushan Mountain for afforestation in 1953. During the period of 1959~1970, the three important meetings of the CCCP were held in the Lushan Mountain. The Lushan Mountain has gradually become an ideal convalescent place. On December 6, 1996, the Lushan Mountain was approved as the World Cultural Landscape and to be inscribed on the World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee under the UNESCO. It indicates that the exceptional and universal value of the Lushan Mountain has been notified by the world.