A mountain of rarities

Fenghuang Mountain, or Phoenix Mountain, is one section of the Changbai Mountain Range which extends through northeast China's Heilongjiang province. A popular summer resort for tourists and locals, Phoenix Mountain, with its abundant forests, is home to an array of rare vegetation and wildlife.

Large numbers of red pine trees, ginseng, and Hericium erinaceus (commonly referred to as the monkey head mushroom) grow in the mountains, which is also home to tigers, bears and red deer. It possesses the most diversified bio-species in the whole of Heilongjiang province.

Summer on Phoenix Mountain is brief and full of rain, filling its creeks and waterfalls with torrents of water. The most magnificent area of scenery is its canyon, a chasm measuring over ten thousand meters long and one thousand meters deep, complemented by the largest group waterfalls within Heilongjiang province, constantly replenished by the frequent rainfall.

Visitors usually take a cable car to the mountain's 'waistline', and climb to the open area on the peak, nicknamed the "garden in the air". The view is very similar to those areas of wide open plains, with vast wetland among which wild flowers bloom.

Tickets for the mountain resort cost 140 yuan per person, with visitors able to stay overnight at family hostels located at the foot of the mountain.