Good Weather, Good Mood, Suzhou Trip (9): Tianping Hill

Beijing's Fragrant Hills, Nanjing's Qixia Mountain, Changsha's Yuelu Mountain, and Suzhou's Tianping Hill are the four best places to see maple leaves in China. Tianping Hill Scenic Area is located on Lingtian Road in Wuzhong District, Suzhou. It is only 221 meters above sea level and is named after its flat top. It is the burial place of the ancestors of Fan Zhongyan, a famous official of the Northern Song Dynasty. The scenic area covers nearly 100 hectares and is famous for its "red maples, unique rocks, and clear springs." It has 18 scenic spots, including "Ten Thousand Tablets Facing the Sky," "High Righteousness Overlapping Green," "Ten Thousand Feet of Red Clouds," and "Jade Spring Light Chanting." There is a large maple forest to the south of Baiyun Temple, which is said to have been planted by Fan Yunlin in the Ming Dynasty with 380 sweetgum trees from Fujian. After more than 400 years of wind and rain, more than 120 trees are still alive. Since the middle of the Qing Dynasty, it has become a custom in Wuzhong to see the maples in autumn. Tianping Hill has the largest ancient sweetgum forest in East China and is known as "the best red maples in the world." Its scale is rare in China. In 1984, the Suzhou military and civilians jointly built the Tianping Green Sea. In two years, more than 1,000 "successor sweetgum trees" were planted between Gaoyi Garden, Zhonglie Temple, and Tianping Villa to ensure that the "mountains are covered in red" in autumn. In fact, in this late autumn/early winter season, the maple leaves change color after frost. In addition to cinnabar red, there are also golden yellow, orange red, purple, and maroon, like a painter's palette, colorful and beautiful. On a sunny day, the colors in the forest are layered, looking like colorful brocade from a distance, and reminiscent of Suzhou's famous "double-sided embroidery" up close, especially where there are reflections in the water. Spring flowers have their own beauty, and autumn leaves have their own beauty. Seeing the maple leaves in late autumn at Tianping Hill is like going to an appointment with the maple forest. Tianping Hill