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NINGXIA: Gunzhongkou
Gunzhongkou, situated on the eastern of the Helan Mountain 35 kilometers northwest of Yinchuan, was already a tourist attraction as early as the Western Xia period. The place, encircled on three sides by mountains, with an opening left in the east, looks like an immense bell, with the tiny hill in the center looking like the pendant I the ¡°bell¡±. Hence the name Gunzhongkou, meaning ¡°Mountain Pass in the Shape of a Rolling Bell¡±. Zhao Yuanhao, king of the Western Xia Kingdom, had an immense summer resort built on the Qingyangliu Mountain to the west of the mountain pass. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, large-scale construction took place there, resulting in a group of 14 temples, nunneries, pavilions and terraces, laid out picturesquely according to the contours of the mountain. A white pagoda built in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition sits atop each of the three peaks inside the mountain pass. During the 16th century this place was where a Muslim imam from Yemen preached for 30-odd years, and his tomb could be found in the Muslim mosque at a mountain slope. From atop the mountain one sees a series of natural wonders, such as the ¡°Sun Rising from a Writing-Brush Stand¡±, ¡°Moonlight Bidding Farewell to the Tolling of the Bell¡±, and ¡°Stone Peaks Piercing Through White Clouds¡±. The Top of the Qingyangliu Mountain at the other end of the mountain pass lies perpetually under a mantle of snow ¨C the snow-clad Helan Mountain used to be one of the eight major sights of Ningxia during the Ming Dynasty.
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