Text by Lan Xiaojiang Translation by Bian Jiajin&Yishan Photos by CFP & Zeng Jian

登高行遠

Text by Lan Xiaojiang Translation by Bian Jiajin&Yishan Photos by CFP & Zeng Jian

ASCENDING HEIGHTS, DRIFTING FAR

Lingnan is named after the mountain ridges in that area.

The continuous hilly region not only brings gorgeous landscapes and abundant natural resources to this area, but also cultivates the unique developing track and cultural customs.

Lingnan is also called South of Five Ridges--Yuecheng Ridge, Dupang Ridge, Mengzhu Ridge, Titian Ridge and Dageng Ridge. These five ridges are the natural protective screen between Central and South China, and the watershed of the Yangtze River and the Pearl River as well.

Due to the obstruction of the ridges, the communication of transportation, economy and culture between Central China and ancient Lingnan was not that frequent. Lingnan was once called “the land of Barbarians” because of its late and slow development. However, the economic development in Lingnan area was stable, for it was far from the political centre, almost out of the Emperors' reach and free from the inf l uence of revolution and wars. The culture and trade in Lingnan were both emphasised and improved, which also protected the emergence of the commodity economy and commercial awareness in this area. Later, this also supported the development of the marine trade of Lingnan.

Besides being the protective screen, the Ridges also produce picturesque landscapes and provide plentiful natural resources. In Autumn, people in Lingnan area have the custom of ascending the peaks and have foresights. Refined and cultivated scholars would go hiking into the mountain forests together, so there were a lot of elegant poetry and pictures about forests in Lingnan. People there started very early to develop the forest resources and learnt how to exploit forests properly, such as planting commercial crops. They not only planted various fruits, but also found many herbs and food materials with medicinal properties in forests. Traditional Chinese medicine had a profound development in Lingnan area, which is also closely related to the abundant crops in forests. Just in the Baiyun Mountain area alone, people can find 343 kinds of plants with medicinal uses. The rich abundance of medicine plants can be used to cure or be adopted into everyday meals, and this formed special dietary customs in Lingnan. For instance, nearly every household will cook soup and add different medicinal materials to get different effects according to personal situations and the change of seasons. Animals in forests like centipedes and snakes are regarded as delicious. Every Autumn, when the snakes get fatter, that's the best time to eat them. In the strong Autumn wind, a bowl of hot snake soup would be the top choice.

嶺南，因山嶺而得名。連綿的山地，不但給這片地區(qū)帶來優(yōu)美豐富的風(fēng)光物產(chǎn)，更形成了獨特的發(fā)展軌跡和人文風(fēng)俗。

嶺南，即指越城嶺、都龐嶺、萌渚嶺、騎田嶺、大庾嶺等五嶺之南。這五座山成為中原與南方的天然屏障，也是長江和珠江的分水嶺。

由于山嶺的阻隔，古代的嶺南與中原的交通、經(jīng)濟、文化聯(lián)系較少，開發(fā)較晚，發(fā)展緩慢，因而曾一度被稱為“蠻夷之地”。但是，也由于遠離政治中心，山高皇帝遠，而較少受到中原的政治風(fēng)波和戰(zhàn)爭影響,經(jīng)濟發(fā)展平穩(wěn)，重文亦不輕商，保護了這片土地上商品經(jīng)濟發(fā)展，人民的商業(yè)意識也比較強。

山嶺除了形成屏障，也給這片土地帶來優(yōu)美的風(fēng)景、豐富的資源。秋季，嶺南人有登高望遠的習(xí)俗，文人雅士更結(jié)伴游覽山林，嶺南文化里很多優(yōu)美的詩篇、畫作都與山林相關(guān)。嶺南人對山林的開發(fā)也較早，他們很懂得充分利用山區(qū)資源，種植經(jīng)濟作物，不但很早就開始種植各種果樹，還在山林中發(fā)現(xiàn)并采摘了許多具有藥用效果的草藥、食材。中醫(yī)、中藥得以在嶺南較長遠的發(fā)展，也與山林物產(chǎn)多息息相關(guān)，僅白云山一處就有藥用植物343種。豐富的藥用植物除了用來治病，還被運用到每日的膳食中，形成了嶺南人特殊的飲食習(xí)慣。比如嶺南人幾乎家家煲湯，根據(jù)時令和個人身體狀況，在湯料中加入不同的藥材，起到不同的功效。山中的蜈蚣、蛇等動物，也被嶺南人視作美味。每到秋季，蛇肉最肥，是食蛇最好的季節(jié)。在秋風(fēng)中，來一碗熱騰騰的蛇羹，被嶺南人視為極佳的美味。

XIQIAO MOUNTAIN, FOSHAN CITY西樵山（佛山）

Xiqiao Mountain is an old dormant volcano with a history of 40-50 million years. It was also the largest stone tool workshop in the prehistoric age in Southern China. Thus, it gains the name of the “Light Tower of the Pearl River Civilisation.” Around the Xiqiao Mountain area, the local Xiqiao Cutlure was also developed.

LUOFU MOUNTAIN, HUIZHOU CITY羅浮山(惠州)

Luofu Mountain was referred to as one of the 10 greatest mountains in China by the famous Chinese historian Sima Qian. It's estimated that there're over 3000 types of plants and 1240 of which have medicinal properties, and thus Luofu Mountain has also been known as the Herbal Base for Traditional Medicine in Southern China. The Bai Cao Oil (Hundred Herbal Oil) has even been popular abroad. Besides herbals, Luofu also grows fruits well, such as oranges, tangerines, and litchi.

DINGHU MOUNTAIN, ZHAOQING CITY鼎湖山（肇慶）

The Dinghu Mountain area gains people's attention as the oasis on the Tropic of Cancer. Dinghu Mountain boasts over 1700 species of plant. It has been listed by UNESCO as one part of the World Biosphere Reserve, and serves as the base for international academia exchanges and research.

DANXIA MOUNTAIN, SHAOGUAN CITY丹霞山（韶關(guān)）

Known as the “Red Stone Park” in China, Danxia Mountain got its name from the red stones that appear like red rosy clouds (dan-xia in Chinese). Amongst all red sandstone areas discovered, the Danxia Mountain area displays the most varieties of colour, peaks, stone fortresses, walls, pillars and stone bridges. It has been listed by UNESCO in the 1st list of World Geological Parks.

HUGUANG ROCK, ZHANJIANG湖光巖（湛江）

Known as the natural yearbook for the earth and geological science, Huguang Rock is home to the only maar (a type of volcano) lake in China. The volcanic mud in the area is of high pharmaceutical value, which can be applied & used ti treat over 30 illnesses.