Western Hills

The

Western Hills

, about 15km from Kunming city, is located on the edge of

Dianchi Lake

  in the western suburbs of Kunming. The scenic area is stretching from north to south for 40km with an altitude of some 2500m above the sea level. It looks like a sleeping lady lying on the bank of Dianchi Lake with her long hair drooping into the lake. So the

Western Hills

 are also called "a sleeping beauty". In fact, the Western Hills mean a forest park. When you are walking in the round path in the hills, flourish trees, beautiful flowers and fountains provide you with a pleasant feeling. However, the most important thing is that the Western Hills scenic spot consists of

Huating Temple, Taihua Temple, Nier'er Tomb, Sanqing Pavilion and Dragon Gate

.

There is a saying - "If you do not visit Western Hills, you haven't visited Kunming; if you do not come to Dragon Gate, you haven't been to the Western Hills." Being the outstanding scenic place in Western Hills, Dragon Gate looks like a big exquisite stone carved edifice. The stone paths, stone rooms, stone grottos, and stone Buddhist figures are all carved with excellent craftsmanship on a large natural rock. Like Sanqing Pavilion, Dragon Gate was also built on cliff. You can stand on the edge of the cliff holding the railing, looking downward to experience the steepness of the hills and enjoy the spectacle of the Dianchi Lake.