''Mount Mo'' () (variously translated as Mo Hill, Moshan etc.), historically Mount Mo'er () and Mount Long (), is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located on the southern shore of East Lake, a AAAAA Tourist Attraction of China in Hongshan District,

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the ninth-most populous Chinese city a ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The p ...

Etymology

The 'Mo' in 'Mount Mo' refers to a

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a wikt:convex, convex stationary base known as the ''be ...

(). The mountain is so named because it is round like a millstone.

History

Several hundred years ago, Mount Mo, then known as Mount Long, was the site of Fahua Temple. The temple had several hundred monks. Due to the spread of disease via mosquitoes, the temple was eventually abandoned. After a Spring 1954 visit to Mount Mo by

Zhu De Zhu De (; ; also Chu Teh; 1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party. Born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan, he was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...

, a pavilion was built in commemoration of the visit with the inscription, "", meaning, 'For now East Lake is not as good as

West Lake West Lake (; ) is a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, China. It is divided into five sections by three causeways. There are numerous temples, pagodas, gardens, and natural/artificial islands within the lake. Gushan (孤山) is the largest natural ...

, but it will be stronger than West Lake.' In an unusual event on June 22, 1999 at 7:35 PM, seven hundred trees at Mount Mo were knocked down by a wind coming off East Lake. There was speculation that the event was the result of

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are ide ...

activity. Hubei Today Monthly September 1999 page 10 In 2004, Moshan Residential Community () was transferred from Guanshan Subdistrict to East Lake Scenic Area Subdistrict.

Scenic area

Mount Mo is a natural scenic area and includes many buildings that are reflective of

Jingchu Chu, or Ch'u in Wade–Giles romanization, (, Hanyu Pinyin: Chǔ, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was a Zhou dynasty vassal state. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BCE. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou he ...

culture and are collectively referred to as 'Chu City' (). The Chu City architecture was built in attempt to imitate the way that

Ying Ying may refer to: People * Yíng (嬴), a Chinese surname, the ancestral name of Qin Shi Huang, first Emperor of China in the Qin Dynasty, and some contemporary rival royal families such as the Zhaos * Yīng (应), a Chinese surname from the Z ...

had been built. The city gate is 23.4 meters tall and 105 meters long. The watchtower is 12.4 meters tall and the city wall is 11 meters tall. Mount Mo includes East Lake Cherry Blossom Park and a Plum Blossom Park, which was designated as the Chinese Plum Blossom Research Center in 1992.

References

{{reflist Mountains of Hubei Geography of Wuhan