Chizhou

Chizhou is a small, green prefecture on the south bank of the Yangtze in southern Anhui, marketed as an ecological and cultural tourism city. Its crown jewel is Mount Jiuhua, one of the four sacred Buddhist mountains of China and the bodhimanda of the bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. Shengjin Lake is a nationally important wetland and a wintering ground for rare migratory birds such as cranes. The poet Du Mu wrote his celebrated quatrain about Apricot Blossom Village while serving here. Chizhou Jiuhuashan Airport and the Nanjing-Anqing high-speed line make the mountain readily accessible.