Longhushan means Dragon and Tiger Mountain, and the name is only slightly more dramatic than the scenery. In northeastern Jiangxi, thirty-odd kilometres from Guixi, the Luxi river winds between red sandstone cliffs and pinnacles that look like animals, towers and, with a little imagination, a dragon and a tiger staring each other down. The rock is Danxia, a reddish landform that China has recognised as a world heritage group of sites, and it glows when the sun is low.
The mountain matters as much for what people did here as for how it looks. In the Han dynasty a Taoist teacher called Zhang Daoling is said to have settled here and founded the Celestial Masters, a school that became the root of the Zhengyi Taoist tradition. His descendants held the title for generations, living in a mansion in the village of Shangqing, and Longhushan stayed the most important centre of Taoism in southern China. In the cliffs above the river there are also ancient wooden coffins, set into high rock niches by people who lived here well over two thousand years ago. How they were lifted up is still debated.
The approach is on regional roads from Guixi and Yingtan, with the usual Chinese mix of lorries, scooters and the occasional farm cart. Surfaces are generally good, but expect heavy stretches of traffic near the park gates in holiday weeks. The best months are spring and autumn, when the humidity eases and the cliffs stand out against clear skies. In summer it is hot, damp and sometimes flooded after heavy rain on the Luxi.
Guixi is the nearest town of any size and has the fuel and the restaurants, so fill up there before heading to the mountain. Local cooking here leans on rice, freshwater fish and chilli. Bamboo rafts drift down the river with visitors, and it is a lovely way to see the cliffs if you have the time. As elsewhere in China, ask about licensing for foreign motorcyclists well in advance.