Baiyun Mountain (Guangdong) Explained

Baiyun Mountain (Guangdong) should not be confused with Baiyun Mountain (Henan).

Baiyun Mountain, also known as White Cloud Mountain, is a mountain located a few miles to the north of Guangzhou, China. It has a height of .^[1]

Name

Báiyún is Mandarin Chinese for "White Clouds", derived from views of the mountain's peaks shrouded in mist during late Spring or after a rain. Its former English name, Pakwan, is a form of the Cantonese pronunciation of the same name. In English, it is also known as or—since the "mountain" is, properly speaking, a "mountain range"—the "Baiyun Mountains".

Baiyun is informally known as the "City's Lung" (Chinese: {{linktext|市|肺), from its greenery. It is also acclaimed as the "First Beauty in Guangzhou” (Chinese: {{linktext|羊城|第一|秀) or the “Most Famous Mountain South of Ling” (Chinese: {{linktext|岭|南|第一|名|山). Moxing Peak, its highest point, is similarly sometimes called the “First Peak under the Southern Sky” (Chinese: {{linktext|天|南|第一|峰).

History

Scenes on Baiyun Mountain named in Eight Sights of Guangzhou
Time	Chinese	English
Song Dynasty	Chinese: 蒲涧帘泉	Lianquan Fountain at Cattail Gully
Yuan Dynasty	Chinese: 蒲间濂泉
	Chinese: 白云晚望	Evening Vista from Baiyun
	Chinese: 景泰僧归	Jingtai's Returning Monks
1963	Chinese: 白云松涛	Baiyun's Pine Sea
1986	Chinese: 云山锦绣	Cloudy Mountain's Grandeur
2002	Chinese: 云山叠翠	Cloudy Mountain's Lush Greenery
2011	Chinese: 云山叠翠	Cloudy Mountain, Green and Tidy

Baiyun Mountain has been famed as a scenic spot since ancient times.^[2] Its visitors predated the foundation of Panyu (now Guangzhou) in 214 BC, with various celebrities of the Warring States period (5th–3rd centuries BC) known to have traveled there. Its beauty was again celebrated during the 3rd–5th century Jin dynasty and the 7th–9th century Tang.^[3] Since the Song, various scenes at Baiyun have been named among the Eight Sights of Ram City, lists of Guangzhou's loveliest spots.^{[3] [4] [5]} However, few of the historical sites have survived to the present day^[2] and others—such as the view of Guangzhou's old walled city at dusk—have changed drastically as the city has expanded to and around the mountain.

In its most recent years, Baiyun has become home to a small Kung Fu community. Baiyun Kung Fu or White Cloud Kung Fu. Named after the landscape they train in.

Wildlife

The White Cloud Mountain minnow, now a popular aquarium fish worldwide, was discovered in this area in the 1930s.^[6]

External links

• Official website

23.1866°N 113.2947°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: White Cloud Mountain (Baiyun Shan). Guangzhou. Michelin. 21 August 2018. 22 August 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180822014710/https://travelguide.michelin.com/asia/china/guangdong/guangzhou/white-cloud-mountain-baiyun-shan. dead.
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