Sun and Moon Mountain (Sun-and-Moon Mountain), which is part of the Qilian Mountain Range, is located on the west of Huangyuan County, Qinghai Province. In the past, it was a vital communications centre between Central China and the southwest frontiers as well as the west regions. In 420, the first year of the Shengui reign under Emperor Mingdi in the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), the monk Song Yun left Luoyang City for India to learn about Buddhism via Sun and Moon Mountain. Later on, Princess Wencheng passed Sun and Moon Mountain when she was going to marry Songtsen Gampo, King of the Tubo tribe.

Sun and Moon Mountain was called Chiling Range (Russet Ridge) during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) because of its grassless russet mountaintop. Legend has it that when Princess Wencheng left for Tubo for her marriage, she passed the Chiling Range. At the thought that she would enter a remote land, she took out the Sun-and-Moon Treasure Mirror given by her mother at departure, and saw her homeland Chang-an (today's Xi-an City). For the unity of the two nationalities, she threw the mirror onto the mountain. The mirror turned into the Qinghai Lake, and her tears flowed into a river named Daotang River (flowing back river). To commemorate the princess, the mountain was renamed the Sun-and-Moon Mountain, and the Princess Wencheng Temple was built at the foot of the mountain.

Sun and Moon Mountain can be divided into agricultural area and pastoral area. To the east is the Huangshui Valley; to the northwest is the Qinghai Lake; to the southwest are continuous rolling mountains, vast grassland and scattering tents. The famous Daotang River is located 40 km from Sun and Moon Mountain; at the foot of the West Hill; and tens of kilometers to the south are the Yellow River and the Longyang Gorge.

Name:Xining Sun And Moon Mountain (Riyue Shan)
City:Xining
Address:40km southwest of Huangyuan County
Admission:CNY20

This article was posted on 2007-08-22
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