Huanglong Scenic Spot

Chinese name: 黄龙风景区 ( Huang Long)
Location: Pingsong Road, Songpan County, Aba Tibetan Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
Ticket: Entrance ticket CNY170.00 during 01Apr to 15Nov, CNY60.00 During 16Nov to 31Mar, upway cable car CNY80.00, downway cable car CNY40.00.
Estimated tour time: 3-5hours
Recommended time to visit: May to Oct
Nearby attractions: Jiuzhai Valley, Songpan Ancient Town, Fairy Pool, Mouni Valley, Ruoergai Flower Lake, etc.

Huanglong National Park is widely known as the Fairy-pond on the earth. Huanglong literally means yellow dragon. It is called Se’ercuo in Tibetan language, which means golden lakes. The park is located in Songpan County, around 100 km(62 miles) away from Jiuzhai Valley. Huanglong Valley is famous for its four wonders, including colorful pools, beach flows, snow-caped mountains, and virgin forests. The altitude of the park ranges from 3,000 meters(9,842 feet) to 3,900 meters(12,795 feet) above sea level.

A folk tale goes that a long time ago floods frequently occurred in the surrounding area and local people suffered a lot. A legendary figure whose name was Dayu arranged his people to join the work for the water control. The pools were supposed to be the water conservancy created by Dayu. The Yellow Dragon went to take part in the water control work. He helped Dayu a lot to complete the water control system. After the flood was controlled, Dayu became the king of his land. He passed his throne to his son, then the first dynasty was founded. It was called Xia Dynasty which lasted from 21st century B.C. to 16th century B.C.. It is said that the Yellow Dragon stayed and safeguarded the valley. In order to commemorate the Yellow Dragon, the valley was named after him by people.

It is a rare type of Karst topography. In fact, the pools are formed due to calcification. There are more than 3,400 colorful terraced pools in the valley. The highlight is the Multi-colored Pools which scatter on the top of the valley. 

● Highlights of Huanglong National Park

The Multi-colored Pools

Located on the top of Huanglong Valley, the Multi-colored lake is the highlight of the whole scenic area. It consists of 693 calcification barrier pools. Its altitude is about 3,900 meters above sea level. The pools look like mirrors reflecting various light, some green, some sapphire, some yellow.

Huanglong Temple

Huanglon Temple was built in Ming Dynasty(1368--1644). It was built in memory of the Yellow Dragon. Its altitude is 3,558 meters(11,673 feet) above sea level, and three and a half kilometers away from the exit.

The Golden Shoal 

The shoal is 1,500 meters(4,921 feet) in length, and 100 meters(328 feet) in width. It is covered with calci-deposition. Water flows over the calcification. The shoal appears yellowish under the sunshine, dotted with colorful patches, some gray, some pale and some green. It looks like a yellow dragon covered with coloured scales.

The Terraced Waterfall 

The Terraced Waterfall is 10 meters(33 feet) in height and 60 meters(197 feet) in width. Water rushes out of the bushes, splashes onto the rocks, and turned into small drops.

Yingbin Pools

Yingbin means to welcome a guest. It consists of over 100 terraced pools. Most of those pools are blue. The pools are embraced by the surrounding verdant trees. Mountains, clouds and trees are reflected in the mirror-like pools.