# Xianshuiyan Scenic Area (仙水岩景区)

Longhu Mountain, Jiangxi Province · East China, China · Guidebook rating: 4/5
Canonical: https://cnatrip.com/en/places/xianshuiyan-scenic-area
Language: en

## Key facts

- **Admission:** Included in the Longhu Mountain scenic area entrance ticket
- **Opening hours:** 8：00—17：00
- **Time needed:** 2-3 hours
- **Address:** Xujia Village, Xianshuiyan Scenic Area, East Bank of the Luxi River, Yingtan
- **Getting there:** Inside the Longhu Mountain scenic area, take the shuttle bus to Xianshuiyan Stop, or take a bamboo raft/boat upstream along the Lu River from the Visitor Center
- **Good for:** Photography, Waterfront, Nature

## About Xianshuiyan Scenic Area

Without exaggeration, Xianshuiyan Scenic Area brings together the best of Dragon Tiger Mountain. Green hills, bamboo groves and a jumble of peaks and rocks that look like whatever your imagination suggests are all here. The clear water of the Luxi River and the bamboo rafts gliding across it give the area a calm that city dwellers rarely find. If you have the chance, climb to Xianren City for a view over Xianshuiyan.

## Tips from the guidebook

- 1. Cliff tombs: The cliffs of Xianshuiyan are dotted with hundreds of cliff tombs dating back more than 2,600 years. The caves vary in size and hold ancient coffins, arranged as single-cave single burials, single-cave group burials, or linked-cave group burials. So far, 39 coffins, 16 complete skeletons and more than 200 items, including pottery, celadon, silk and hemp textiles, musical instruments, and wooden and bamboo objects, have been excavated. Experts have dated the tombs to the early Warring States period. To help solve the mysteries surrounding them, the Yingtan Tourism Bureau offered a cash reward of ¥300,000.
- 2. Hanging coffin show: If you want to see the thrilling "Hanging Coffin" performance, plan your time in advance (it starts daily at 14:00). The show looks quite different from a bamboo raft than it does from the shore.
- 3. Heavenly Master chestnuts: The chestnut trees on Dragon Tiger Mountain are said to have been planted by the Heavenly Master himself, which is how "Heavenly Master chestnuts" got their name. The Heavenly Master was said to know a great deal about healthy living, so if you are interested, try some yourself and bring a few back as gifts for friends and family, so they can share a little of the "immortal essence" too.
- 1. Dashangqing Palace is a reconstruction: Dashangqing Palace has fine architecture, but most of it is modern reconstruction, and it is less renowned than the Heavenly Master Palace. If you are planning a one-day trip, you can skip it. Instead, take a bus from Yingtan straight to the Heavenly Master Palace in Shangqing Town.
- 2. Visiting time: If you simply want a taste of the Taoist atmosphere, one day is enough.
- 3. Zhengyi Temple: Zhengyi Temple is the birthplace of Taoism. Its grey tiles and white walls, set against the surrounding Danxia landforms, give it a striking, otherworldly presence.
- Within Xiangbi Mountain Scenic Area, a high-altitude plank walkway is built along the cliffs of red sandstone (Danxia). It winds across the sheer rock like a dragon, linking one peak to the next. Walking it gives you the best angle for admiring Xiangbi Mountain, known as the "First Divine Elephant Under Heaven," with the beauty of the Danxia landscape spread out before you.

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Source: China Self-Guided Travel 2025 (《中国自助游》, Tianjin Science & Technology Press, Aug 2024), p. 1466. Prices, hours and transport details are as printed in the August 2024 edition and may have changed. Always confirm with the venue before you travel.
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