Among the Henduan Mountains, there are four adjacent peaks that comprise the Four-Girl Mountain Range. They are located in Rilong Town on the border of Xiaojin County and Wenchuan County in Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. It is 3,160 meters high above sea level and 220 km from Chengdu.

It lies among several tributaries on the northern bank of the Wori River, which flows on the southern side of the mountain. The total area is 450 square km. Some gullies stretch to more than 10 km and even to scores of km from the north to the south.

The Four-Girl Mountain is covered by snow and ice all year round and is called “the Alps in the East? It is a scenic area at national Four-A level and has become a tourist site frequented by domestic and foreign mountain climbers.

Mysterious Mountain

The four mysterious peaks of the Four-Girl Mountain are surrounded by more than 10 snowy peaks, among which, the 4th peak is the highest with an elevation of 6250 meters, second only to Gonggar Mountain with an elevation of 7,556 meters, which is the King of Shu Mountains?in the Sichuan area. The elevations of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd peak are 5,355 meters, 5,454 meters and 5,664 meters respectively. Like four girls, they are as white as ice and as pearly colored as jade, and are very pretty and charming. The precipice of the 4th peak is so high that nobody has ever climbed it.

Just some ten years ago the Four-Girl Mountain was absolutely isolated from the world. On the mountain, some original ecological sceneery is preserved, attracting people to appreciate its mysterious beauty.

Today, the Four-Girl Mountain consists of a group of scenic areas and is a tourist site with multiple functions for people to enjoy sightseeing, mountain climbing, exploration, scientific investigation, holidays and outings. Within the area, the four scenic tourist routes of Shuangqiao Gully, Changping Gully, Haizi Gully and Gozhuangping seem like four movements of this excellent music of nature.

Colorful Shuangqiao Gully

Shuangqiao Gully extends 34.8 km and covers an area of about 216.6 square km. This scenic area consists of three sections. In the gully, people can view more than 10 snow mountains with the height of over 4,000 meters above sea level.

The lower section is Yangliu Bridge with some mysterious scenes such as Yinyang Gully, poplar forestry strip, Sun and Moon and Precious Mirror Mountain, and Five-Color Mountain etc.


The middle section is Nianyu Dam, including Renshenguo Level Ground, sand thorn forest, Jianshanzi, Jiujiahai and other scenic sites.

The upper section is Niupengzi Lawn and Changhe Beach, including Hunter Peak, Niupengzi, Changhe Dam and other scenic sites.

Among the scenic sites, the Ape Peak and Hunter Peak are very astonishing, and those mountains and stones with various mysterious legends such as Five-Color Mountain and Plenilune Mountain show their special spirit.

The highways winding through Shuangqiao Gully string together all the mysterious and beautiful scenic sites like a dazzling brilliant necklace.

Shuangqiao Gully is wide and flat with running brooks. Mountains are covered by original forests. About ten mountains there, including Five-Color Mountain and Hunter Peak, are lofty and steep like sharp swords being pulled from their sheaths to protect Four-Girl Mountain. They make a great background to the scenes in Shuangqiao Gully.

Romantic Changping Gully

Changping Gully was developed earlier and is comparatively mature. It mainly consists of forests, valleys and snowy mountains towering over valleys. It extends 29 km and covers an area of some 100 square km. The Four-Girl Mountain lies 16 km inside the gully. Only part of the roads are open to traffic and the rest are only suitable for people to walk or ride horses. The alley to the Four-Girl Mountain through Changping Gully is very narrow and winding. Coniferous forest, broadleaf forest, sub-forests, shrub wood and weed clusters joggle together and exhibit their contrasting charms.

In Changping Gully, there are ancient cypresses, lama monasteries, Dried Haizi and a waterfall scores of meters high. Tourists generally like to visit it. When they cross Changping Gully riding on horses, pass through original forests, bestride brooks, and surmount the snow-covered mountains, they can eventually camp after a trip of six or seven hours.

On the long trip, tourists can gradually adapt to the jolting of the horses and start to take more interest in the scenes along the gully. When tourists enter the forests, they step on soft and deep moss and fallen leaves, breathe the tangy fragrant and humid air and hear birds singing. Negative oxygen are very abundant there and it is worthy of the name of natural forest bathing place. The cypress forest along the mountain alleys hides the sky and sun, and each bulky trunk can be held by several people together. At Erdaoping, the Four-Girl Mountain looms within the view of people.


Attractive Haizi Gully

Haizi Gully derives its name from the fact that in the gully are a dozen alpine lakes including Huahaizi, Fohai, Baihai, Lanhai and Huanghai. It extends 19.2 km and covers an area of 126.48 square km. Its entrance lies in Rilong Town, and is the most beautiful gully from the first to the third gullies of the Four-Girl Mountain. The scene there is completely different from that in Shuangqiao Gully and Changping Gully. Gozhuangping and Chaoshanping in the first half mainly consist of plateau lawns and are the best places to view Four-Girl Mountain and to take a photo of the “sunlight on the golden mountain? Every year, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, people of the Tibetan ethnic group will hold a grand worship ceremony there facing Four-Girl Mountain.

Haizi Gully contains a mysterious and beautiful group of plateau lakes. On the surrounding mountains, forests are thick and lush, water and soil are well preserved and water sources are abundant. The water in Haizi Gully is not polluted. There is a shady alley accessing Haizi Gully. Along with various mountain postures more than 10 Haizi scattering in valleys and forests present various colors. Trees shadows and sunlight fallen down from forest gaps can reflect sometimes on water of lakes, and sometimes the water overflows on some large stones with moss on. A kind of ancient fish without scales moves about in the lakes and can be seen clearly in the pure water, adding to the feeling of natural quiet and beauty.

In the Four-Girl Mountain, it is rainy in summer, and ther water run-off makes it hard to enter Haizi Gully.

Charming Gozhuangping

Gozhuangping lies on a lawn in the green and sequestered mountain forests. Every year, on the third day of the first Tibetan month, people of the Tibetan ethnic group will gather there spontaneously and hold a grand worship ritual to the mountain gods. They are all dressed up in their finery, and burn joss sticks or aromatic plants for auspicious smoke, take ritual walks around the holy mountain, plant sutra streamers and display Tangka paintings....With the end of the ritual, the most lively annual activity starts as the Tibetans form a circle to dance.

The most original local dance of the people of the Tibetan ethnic group is the circle dance surrounding a bonfire. They dance from right to left and sing at the same time. This dance with lively and powerful rhythm has been part of this ethnic group for innumerable years. Every one of the Tibetan ethnic group people is surrounded by song and dance all life long. The people of the Tibetan ethnic group dance in a circle not only on festivals but also during the slack season or when celebrating the harvest.

In the Four-Girl Mountain the people of the Tibetan ethnic group not only dance by themselves but also invite tourists to join them. Those in the circle sometimes join hands or form the shape of a snail with ring upon ring within the original circle. When they dance with high fervor, the air is full of the sounds of kicking feet and chanting...

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Zhuang Chunhui