Shennong altar

Shennongjia altar is located in Muyu Town, Shennongjia tourism open area, Hubei Province. It is not only the South Gate of Shennongjia tourism, but also the central tourism area. Surrounded by green hills, the whole scenic area is beautiful and quiet. The scenic spot is divided into five parts: the main sacrificial area, the ancient botanical garden, the Millennium ancient fir, the butterfly museum, and the chime hall. The main building of the scenic spot is Shennong's giant ox head statue, which is 21 meters high and 35 meters wide. Standing among the verdant mountains, the statue is driven by the earth, with its eyes slightly closed, as if thinking about the mysteries of the universe. In the sacrificial area, the round and square patterns representing heaven and earth are trampled on. In the square pattern of the representative place, the five colored stones are gold, wood, water, fire and earth in the five elements theory.

Shennong altar

Shennongjia altar is located in Muyu Town, Shennongjia forest region, Hubei Province. It is the South Gate of Shennongjia tourism and the central tourism area. The famous Xiangxi River flows slowly southward. Surrounded by green mountains, the scenic spot is beautiful and quiet, attracting countless Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and overseas Chinese to seek their roots and offer sacrifices to the ancestors of the Chinese people, Emperor Yan Shennong.

Basic introduction

Surrounded by green mountains, Shennong altar scenic area is beautiful and quiet. The scenic spot is divided into five parts: the main sacrificial area, the ancient botanical garden, the Millennium ancient fir, the butterfly museum, and the chime hall. The main building of the scenic spot is Shennong's giant ox head statue, which is 21 meters high and 35 meters wide. Standing among the verdant mountains, the statue is driven by the earth, with its eyes slightly closed, as if thinking about the mysteries of the universe. In the sacrificial area, the round and square patterns representing heaven and earth are trampled on. In the square pattern of the representative place, the five colored stones are gold, wood, water, fire and earth in the five elements theory.

Characteristic tourism

The special tourism project of Shennong altar is the bonfire barbecue party, where there are performances such as hunting, marriage, stick dancing and so on. Local young men and women also sing love songs and make love with shoes. Of course, you can also taste the game barbecue. During the dinner, the local mountain girls will offer Shennong yellow rice wine and teach you to sing folk songs.

Shennongjia altar is located in Muyu Town, Shennongjia tourism open area, where the famous Xiangxi River flows slowly southward. Surrounded by green mountains, the whole scenic area is beautiful and quiet.

The scenic area is divided into five parts: the main sacrificial area, the ancient botanical garden, the Millennium ancient fir, the butterfly museum and the chime bell hall. According to historical records, Shennongjia, the ancestor of China, tasted grass and other grains to cure diseases for the people, which created a precedent of Chinese medicine and agriculture, and made immortal contributions to the production and life of the people. Shennongjia was once the place where he tasted grass and collected herbs. In order to commemorate the great achievements of Shennong's life and let the Chinese people worship for generations, he built an altar in this geomantic treasure land.

Geographical area

Shennong altar is located in the mid latitude north subtropical monsoon area, controlled by the atmospheric circulation, the temperature is cool and rainy, and with the increase of altitude, it forms three climate zones: low mountain, middle mountain and sub mountain. The annual precipitation is 761.4-2500 mm from low to high, so the three-dimensional climate is very obvious. "The foot of the mountain is in summer, the top of the mountain is in spring, the foot of the mountain is in autumn, the top of the mountain is in ice, red, orange, yellow and green are not enough, and it is the most difficult to separate spring, summer, autumn and winter" is the true portrayal of the climate in the forest area. Due to its unique geographical environment and three-dimensional microclimate, Shennongjia has become a transitional area of plant species between the north and the south of China and a cross area of numerous animals. It is the only well preserved subtropical forest ecosystem in the middle latitude inland area of the northern hemisphere. The forest coverage rate is 88% and 96% in the reserve. A large number of precious and ancient relict plants such as Davidia involucrata, Liriodendron chinense and Lianxiang are preserved here. Shennongjia has become a green treasure land in the same latitude area of the world, which has global significance for the study of forest ecology.

Geological wonders

Shennong has many wonderful geological wonders. There is a Chaoshui River in Honghua township. The river flows three times a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon and once in the evening, lasting for half an hour each time. At high tide, the water color varies with seasons. In dry season, the water color is turbid. In rainy season, the water color is clear.

There is a water cave in Songluo township. As long as the natural temperature outside the cave is above 28 ℃, the water inside the cave begins to freeze. The water in the mountain cracks seeps along the cave wall to form a crystal clear ice curtain, which extends down to more than 10 meters. The water dripping at the bottom of the cave forms icicles in various forms. The top is generally mushroom shaped and hollow. In late autumn, the ice begins to melt. In winter, the temperature inside the cave is higher than that outside the cave.

Historical overview

Walking in Shennongjia, I always feel that there are tens of thousands of years of time around me. History and myth are intertwined. There is no boundary between legend and reality. After passing a mountain peak, Shennong collected medicine there, and made the first bowl of medicine soup to cure the disease and save the young with a clay pot. It seems that Shennong may come down from the mountain at any time. After passing through a tea forest, it was said that Shennong discovered that tea could detoxify hundreds of poisons when he tasted herbs, so he took his people to plant the first tea forest on this hillside. The towering ancient trees in the mountains are often tied with red cloth strips. It is said that this is the way for mountain people to sacrifice to mountain gods, trees and gods. In the morning when the sun was born, some mountain people wrapped in thick "Baotou" lit candles on the top of the mountain to burn incense. Facing the rising sun, they recited the book of the sun and worshiped the sun god devoutly. The ancient and fresh myths and legends, the primitive and simple folk customs, the words in the history books, the stones and pottery in the museum, are the unique mystery, strangeness, strangeness and supernatural of Shennongjia. The Shennong family, who "tasted the grass for the valley to teach the people's skills; tasted the grass for the medicine to save the people's lives", was always the most reverent ancestor god of Shennongjia mountain people, and received the most solemn sacrifice in the festival.

In addition to the name of "Shennongjia", Shennongjia people have specially built Shennong altar on Shennong mountain near Muyu, so that visitors to Shennongjia can have a place to hang up the past and offer sacrifices to their ancestors in memory of this great ancestor of the Chinese people.

Although there are few trees in the forest, and most of them can be grasped by both hands, they are quite different from the trees in other places. Because almost every tree under the tree has a two foot square stone, engraved with the words somewhere someone adopted, it turned out to be a unique adoption forest. Seeing so many strange names engraved on the stone in front of the altar of Shennong, almost everyone is ready to move. Who doesn't want to carve their own names on the way of pilgrimage? What's more, it's a wonderful and attractive idea to have a tree in Shennongjia with the aura of ancestors that belongs to you. For every tree adopted here, the adoption fee is 500 yuan. It seems that this right of adoption is not easy to deal with. If you want to engrave your name in stone, you have to first see if your waist is thick enough. No wonder these trees with steles are clustered on both sides of the road, and the trees in a little distance become deserted and no one adopts them! If Shennong on the altar had a spirit and saw so many stones with names piled under his feet, he would have no idea how compassionate and anxious he was: the people of the world were still dead, but the herbs he had painstakingly collected were helpless.

Introduction to scenic spots

The main building of Shennong altar is a giant statue of Shennong. It is 21 meters high and 35 meters wide, adding up to 56 meters, showing the close unity and prosperity of the 56 ethnic groups in China. Standing among the verdant mountains, the statue is driven by the earth. Its eyes are slightly closed, and it looks like it is thinking about the universe. Five colored stones are gold, wood, water, fire and earth in the theory of five elements. Nearby, the 10 meter high totem pillars stand on the left and right sides of the altar. The big and small cattle heads on the pillars show that Shennong is the head of cattle, and that the descendants will reproduce. There are two large relief sculptures in front of the totem pole, which show the great achievements of Shennong's life. Between the two reliefs, there are nine tripods and eight tripods (which were used to cook in ancient times and are now the highest sacrificial utensils of the Chinese nation) and the bell and Drum Tower for the Chinese people to worship their ancestors and seek protection. After climbing 243 steps, you come to the platform in front of the statue.

cultural heritage

The barbecue bonfire party at Shennongjia altar, with the background of Shennongjia people's life, reflects the folk customs, strong expression and strong local characteristics. Hunting, marriage, double flower stick and other dances show the real life of the mountain people incisively and vividly. The duet of love songs reflects the eternal love expression of young men and women in Shennongjia. The party also included tasting game barbecue food, mountain girls drinking Shennong yellow rice wine for guests, teaching and singing folk songs, etc. the whole party was full of climax and fun.

Traffic information

Yichang to Shennongjia

It's better to take the express bus from Yichang to Xingshan County, every 30 minutes, 3.5 hours on the way, and then take the bus from Xingshan to Shennongjia Muyu, 1.5 hours, which is more convenient. If you go to Shennongjia directly from Yichang, there is only one bus every day, which is inconvenient.

Shiyan City to Shennongjia

Shiyan City is about 202 kilometers away from Shennongjia. It takes about 7 hours by car. It runs every day and leaves at 7:00 a.m.

Chongqing → Shennongjia

You can get off at Badong port by boat. There is a shuttle bus to Shennongjia at 5:30 every day in Badong. You can also get off the ship at Xiangxi Wharf (small passenger ships only stop), and then take a bus to Xingshan, and then take a bus to Muyu Town, Shennongjia. The traffic is very convenient.

Wuhan → Shennongjia

You can take a long-distance bus at Xinhua road long-distance bus station. There is a bus from Wuhan to Xingshan at 8:00 every evening

Chinese PinYin : Shen Nong Ji Tan