Being called the 0kms Gallery Taihang Canyon is the typical representative of Chinese Northern Scenery. The grotesque peaks thrust themselves toward the sky, the waterfalls fall swiftly down to the deep valleys, the precipitous cliffs interlink with green terraces and from a magnificent scenery. The Grand Taihang Canyon is also called the Natural Ecological Museun?by geologists because it keeps the primitive natural from and the rocks of different geologic periods can be seen clearly. Meanwhile, its unique local stone residences and simple folklore from an integral whole with nature. And what's more, its three marvellous natural phenomena, namely, peach blossom in the coldest days of winter, winter frozen in dog days and a stone giging a sound of pig grunting make it a place of mystery and wonder.

　　The story of Taihang Valley is connected with Linlu Mountain, which in turn can be traced to Taihang Mountain. Taihang Range originates from Laohai and stretches down to Hengshan and Longlu Mountain, cradling Hebei Province. The Longlu Mountain locates in Linzhou City along the western border of Linzhou Basin. About 40 kilometers from north to the south, the towering cliffs and peaks of Longlu provide a natural defense. In the inauguration year of Yuanping Administration in Eastern Han Dynasty (B.C.25 -B.C.200), Longlu Mountain was renamed as Linlu Mountain or South Taihang Linlu Mountain in full. The valley between Linlu and Taihang's highest peak is Taihang Valley.

　　A narrow plank road

　　The man-made tunnel is something one cannot miss in the tour.

　　Different from other mountains, the veins and cracks of Linlu Mountain are all horizontal parallels. Magic power of the nature offers all the hills and peaks the similar features and tries to frighten people away. No matter how perilous, spectacular or magnificent all other Mountains like Hua, Tai and Huang may appear, they all leave room for man to drill ladders all the way up. Linlu Mountain stands unique. However, the local folks who have been dealing with it for generations knew exactly how to tackle the mountain. They drilled rocks along and built a plank rock, rooting in thousands of firm yet delicate reinforcing bars. The mountain holds various views and sights; accordingly those plank roads take on different forms and looks. When touring around the precipitous and dramatic mountain along the roads, one may feel it threatening and thrilling. Just stay as ease. Some part of the roads is chain bridge, some part is reinforcing-bar ladder, some is Swing Bridge, and some is air cable way that goes all the way down from 448 meters above. It takes a brave man to walk through: Looking down is bottomless abyss and roaring waters, looking up is soaring cliff and intimidating rocks, and looking ahead is a blurred path wandering towards afar. One may not help exclaiming, it is more difficult to climb Taihang Mountain than to climb the Heaven.?

　　With an ever-changing mood, sometimes you can feel so nervous as to cry and sometimes you can be overwhelmed with rejoice. In the course of the tour, one experiences both the high of joy and the low of dread.

　　There is a popular saying, one can hardly move if he wants to enjoy the mountain view and one can hardly enjoy the mountain view if he wants to move.?Yet all tourists to Linlu Valley would say no to this. Just imagine you are standing on a narrow path among cliffs.

　　The path is high up in the air and the view around you is breathtaking. One step ahead you will face a new angle and a completely different picture. New colors, new dimensions and new visions keep on throwing at you. How can you focus yourself on the concerns over abyss and rocks around and miss the wonderful landscape then? At this moment the plank road will appear so smooth and stable that you can even walksintosheaven along it. The very originality of the creativity of the road-builders will just overcome you.

　　There are many valley chains in Linlu Mountain, Wangxiangyan is a typical one. It looks like the lord's armchair. High precipices surround the valley on three sides. In the center are waterfalls and springs. The cliffs are just like pavilions and towers.

　　With a plank road running through the air, the valley forms one of the most beautiful views in the valley. As others described, fed peacock in the front, tortoise at behind, black dragon on the left and white tiger on the right.This was a favorite travel destination of monks and scholars. With green forests, high mountains and flying waterfalls, tourists name the place the bar of oxygen.

　　It goes through three stages before one can reach the top of the mountain. The first part is a cable with a 70-meter-high plank road. The second is 80-meter-high spiral ladder and the third part is stone steps leading all the way up to the top.

　　The peach valley is just the opposite way. A plank road threads through in the mountain like a brook. Sometimes the cliff is just within arm distance; sometimes it is a dozen meters away. For about over an hour, the tortuous road runs through together with the changes of the mountain.

　　Two supreme views

　　The famous Alaska canyon in United States is 20 kilometers long, however the Linlu Valley in Linzhou City of Henan Province, also know as 100-li Painted Corridor, extends as long as 50 kilometers. It is indeed a masterpiece of the Nature. A tree has many branches; likewise the valley also gets a chain of branches. Acting as naughty kids of the main valley and hiding deeply in the mountain with cascades and pools, these branch valleys unfold before us a majestic scroll of landscape. Among other things, Wang-xiang-yan, Peach Valley, Paradise Glow Valley, Dragon Bed Valley and Carriage Buddha Gully are the most well-known sightseeing spots,swheresa greedy tourist may easily spend a whole day.

　　Since it is impossible for us to list out all of them, let us just show you Wang-xiang-yan and Peach Valley as two examples.

　　With an opening in the eastswheresthe sun rises, Wang-xiang-yan is a valley surrounded by hills on three sides. According to the traditional theory of feng-shui, this is a lucky place for fortune. While one standing by the archway and viewing around, the red rock in the east pops out just like the head of a peacock and the background cliff serves as the greenish and colorful tail of the bird. Looking northward, one may take the mountain range as a black dragon stretching from east to west.

　　In the south, the peak towers the foot of the hill like a white tiger. Looming ahead is the peak called Golden Tortoise Watching the Sun. The shape feature here coincides sharply with what was described in traditional Chinese culture, fed peacock in front, and tortoise behind, black dragon on the left and white tiger on the right.?In ancient times these four so-called lucky animals represented both four different directs and modules of feng-shui.

　　Perilous, difficult to reach yet spectacular and dramatic, the scenery of Wang-xiang-yan is the right embodiment of the poem, the most difficult summit gets the most wonderful view.?There are pretty views everywhere in the area, like the unique Yangtian Pool, the high-up Xuanshi Bridge, the interesting Haishi Cave, the echo from Xianren Platform, the secret Xifu Cave, the delicate Liushuichu, and the incredible Shuzhongshu and so on.

　　The tour is a tour of delightful surprises. Deep in the valley there is a village called Wangxiancun. Those old oaks, scholar-trees and Chinese-honey-locusts around may tell you the age of the village. The red walls and the green trees set each other off. The villagers are very simple, yet the village itself carries a mysterious atmosphere. The stone streets, courtyards, pillars, walls, ladders, buildings, rollers, mills, warehouse, tiles all take you to a wild primitive worldswheresman and the nature sing together a song of harmony.

　　The Peach Valley is another wonder worth visiting. How come the Peach Cave can have blossom in frozen winter and Icy Rock can have ice in scorching summer? There is no key to the puzzles. Besides, here is blessed with the 346-meter-high waterfall and the Flying Dragon Gorge. While the clouds coming and going, the mountain goes through different shades of colors. All around you are the song of birds, the fragrance of flowers, the hanging waterfalls, the crystal pools, the barking dogs and the crowing cocks.

　　Three Wonders

　　No one shall miss the three wonders in the Linlu Valley.

　　The first one is Peach Cave. Within the range of 5 kilometers of the Cave, each frozen winter will see peach blossom over the mountain. Draw a picture in your mind. It is a frozen day. The mountain is covered with snow and ice. Everywhere is white. Suddenly, just on the very top of the mountain, you see bight peach blossom shinning at you. Isn't it a miracle?

　　The second is Icy Rock. 3 kilometers away from the Peach Cave stands a Mountain called Taiji. On the mountain there is a rock covered with ice in scorching summer days. How cool you may feel at the sight of it.

　　The third wonder is named as Pig-cry Rock. It is said that the rock will mumble or cry like a pig whenever there will be some big event or incident in China.

　　It is not easy to witness the three wonders. First of all, timing is a problem. The first one happens in winter, the second one is in summer. No one can predict when the rock will give a cry. All the same it would be extremely lucky if one could even encounter only one of the wonders.

　　Four stories

　　First Story: In the Ridge of Linlu Mountain, there is a obvious break called Lu-ban-break. Lu Ban is the legendary ancestor of carpenters in China. It is said that once Lu Ban traveled to Linlu and was stopped by the high mountain. The powerful man took out his axe and cut through a break. The first path leading to the beauty and grandeur appeared.

　　Second Story: Wang-xiang-yan is a very famous branch chain valley in the locality. The story of slave chancellor started here.

　　Wang referred to Wu Ding, the 22nd kind in Shang Dynasty (B.C.1600-1100). Xiang referred to Chancellor Chuan Shuo who used to be a slave. Wu Ding was the 10th Generation's descendant of King Shang Tang and the nephew of King Pan Geng. His father was called Xiao Yi, the second younger brother of Pan Geng. Xiao Yi was not the Crown son and did not think that he would become a king, let alone his son Wu Ding. As a result, Wu Ding was neglected and sent to live with together with common people because the father wanted him to understand the society better. According to the Book of History, Wu Ding became the Crown Prince when Xiao Yi came to the throne, but the son kept his contact in the past. Nobody knew who he was. That was how he met with the intelligent slave Chuan Shuo. The latter was interested in politics and seemed to have the potentials to calculate the future.

　　When Wu Ding came to power, he was under pressure all the time. The country had been enjoying prosperity for half a century since King Pan Geng moved the capital to Anyang. Nobles and officials turned corrupted and extravagant. Conflicts and wars cropped up in border areas. The state was in crisis and influential officials wanted to control the king. Wu Ding remembered his slave friend Chuan Shuo. He wanted to promote Chuan and sought after help from him, but the slave society was hierarchy and how a slave could become an official. Wu Ding had no way out but to keep silent. Three years passed. Fu Hao, Wu Ding's wife and the first female general in Chinese history, realized what the husband wanted and encouraged him to make the slave an official.

　　Finally Wu Ding came up with an idea. One day when his officials gathered together and delivered report to him, he fell asleep. They dared not disturb him nor leave the court. After two hours Wu Ding suddenly woke up and laughed out. He said that in his dream former King Cheng Tang had sent him a competent official to help him as chancellor. He ordered painters to draw a portrait on the skin of sheep. Soldiers were sent out to look for the candidate accordingly. They succeeded and Chuan Shuo became the chancellor of his old friend. With the assistance of Chuan Shuo, Shang Dynasty grew prosperous again and people named this period the Wu Ding's Rejuvenation. That is how the story Slave Chancellor came from. Insgroupsto commemorate the two, people called the place they did farming Wang-xiang-yan, the tree they planted Wang-xiang Tree, the nearby valley Wang-xiang Valley, and the village they stayed Wang-xiang Village.

　　Third Story: Peach Cave was the placeswheresEmperor Gao Huan of Northern Qi (550-577) station his troops. Gao Huan used to be a powerful general in late Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534). The emperor had no way to control him but to please him with promotions. Er Dongzhao, another important official, wanted to defeat him. The two of them had a battle in Linlu region and Gao lost. He retreated from Yijianzhai to Peach Cave. It was winter and he had little grain left. Gao became very anxious. One night in his dream he met with an old man, who told him that he could not go out of the cave until the peach blossomed. It was frozen winter and how it was possible to get peach blossom. However, Gao was too anxious to wait. Everyday he asked his men to go out for peach flowers. If the answer was no, the angry general would kill the soldier. Over ten days passed and Gao killed all the men who reported truth.

　　At last he sent out the man that he trusted most. This soldier was very smart. He realized that it made no difference whether he told the truth or not. All the same he would die. Therefore he told Gao that the peach was in blossom. Gao felt very doubtful and went out of the cave himself. He did see that the blossom was coming out. Being overwhelmed with joy, he led the troop out and broke out enemies?siege. This time he won and fought all the way to Luoyang, the capital. There he founded Northern Qi Dynasty. It was since then that the peach blossom would come out even in frozen winter.

　　Fourth Story: In the valley we saw a big rock on the top of mountain. It looked like to fall down when wind passed by. People named it Shaky Rock with Wind. It was said that there was a beautiful girl living in this area. Insgroupsto escape the humiliation and exploitation by a landlord, she became a nun. However, the lustrous landlord came to the temple and chased after her. In despair the girl hanged herself on a gingko tree. From then on the fruits from the tree turned very crisp and tasty.shavingslearnt the news, the landlord came for the fruits. As it turned out the fruit turned smelly and puckery in his mouth. He was so disgusted and disappointed that he went back home. On his way the landlord felt very sick and sat down on a piece of big rock. A strong wind came and the rock began to shake, throwing the man off the cliff. The landlord died and the rock was named Shaky Rock with wind.

　　Glamorous view

　　The unique geographical condition of Linlu Mountain may be one of the reasons why the famous Linlu International Ski Base was located here. Mountainous ski is a sensational new sport invented by a French mountaineer called Baden. In 1978 the French guy successfully landed from the slope of the Alps with the help of a square parachute. A lot of people started to follow the example and a new sport camesintosbeing. In 1980s the sport developed very fast in some western developed countries.

　　People are fascinated by the sport because the facility is simple and the experience is thrilling and interesting. It is also very easy to participate in. The Linlu base offers an ideal place for the sport due to its geographical feature, wide space, windy climate and easy transportation. The Secretary-general of the international association even praised it as the best one in Asia and the top one in the world. Linzhou has hosted many national and international games here since 1992, like the Strait Cup, Asia Cup, and World Tournament and so on. The base is drawing more international visitors here.

　　感谢林州市委宣传部、林州市旅游局提供图片资料。

　　Courtesy of the Propaganda Department of Linzhou Party Committee for the photos.The reporter of Chinaweek, Liu Jianhui also offered some photos