Mountain · Beijing
Fragrant Hills
香山
An imperial hunting park and autumn-leaf hill in the Western Hills
The Fragrant Hills are a wooded range at the eastern edge of Beijing's Western Hills, rising to 557 metres at Xianglu Peak. Once the Qing imperial park of Jingyi Garden, they are known for the red foliage of the smoke tree in late autumn and for temples, pagodas and modern memorials scattered across the slopes.
Key facts
Overview
The Fragrant Hills rise directly above the north-western suburbs of Beijing, about 20 km from the city centre, and have been an escape from the capital for eight centuries. Jin and Yuan emperors hunted and built temples here; the Qianlong Emperor enclosed the hills in 1745 as the Garden of Tranquillity and Pleasure (Jingyi Yuan), one of the Three Hills and Five Gardens of the imperial north-west.
Today the hills are a public park of forest paths, restored halls and viewpoints over the city. In late October and early November the leaves of the smoke tree turn crimson and the hills become Beijing's best-known autumn-colour destination. Biyun Temple, where Sun Yat-sen's coffin lay in state, and Shuangqing Villa, where Mao Zedong lived in 1949, add a layer of modern history.
How the landscape formed
The Fragrant Hills belong to the Western Hills (西山), the last spurs of the Taihang range before the North China Plain. They are built mainly of Mesozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks, folded and faulted during the Yanshan orogeny, and weathered into rounded ridges with a few rocky crags. Springs emerge at the foot of the hills, and it was this water, channelled to the imperial gardens and lakes of the north-west, that made the area valuable to the Qing court. The name is usually explained by the incense-burner shape of the summit rocks, which in mist seemed to smoke.
Highlights
Incense Burner Peak
香炉峰
The 557-metre summit, popularly called Guijianchou (鬼见愁), “even ghosts dread it”, for the steep final climb; it looks east over the whole of Beijing.
Temple of Azure Clouds
碧云寺
A terraced Buddhist temple founded in the Yuan and enlarged in the Ming and Qing, crowned by a white marble Diamond Throne Pagoda of 1748.
Zhao Temple
昭庙
A Tibetan-style temple built in 1780 for the visit of the Sixth Panchen Lama, with a glazed-tile pagoda that survived the fires of 1860 and 1900.
Xiangshan Temple
香山寺
Once the largest temple in the hills, founded under the Jin dynasty; burnt in 1860 and rebuilt on its original terraces in the 2010s.
Shuangqing Villa
双清别墅
A villa around two springs where Mao Zedong lived and worked from March to September 1949, before the founding of the People's Republic.
Studio of Self-Examination
见心斋
A Ming-period garden court with a semicircular pool and covered gallery on the northern slope.
Plants and wildlife
The hills carry a mixed forest of oaks, pines and cypresses, much of it planted since the 1950s on slopes that had been cut bare. Old trees, some of them registered by the city as heritage trees, survive around the temples. The park borders the Beijing Botanical Garden to the east.
Plants
Smoke tree
黄栌
Cotinus coggygria, whose leaves turn red in autumn and give the hills their famous colour; its feathery flower plumes look like smoke in early summer.
Shantung maple
元宝枫
Acer truncatum, adding yellow and orange to the autumn slopes.
Chinese pine
油松
Pinus tabuliformis, the dominant conifer on the ridges; ancient specimens stand in the temple courtyards.
Wildlife
Squirrels
松鼠
Eurasian red and Père David's rock squirrels are common along the paths.
Red-billed blue magpie
红嘴蓝鹊
A long-tailed, noisy corvid of the woods around Beijing.
Great tit
大山雀
One of many small woodland birds that make the hills a favourite spot for birdwatchers in spring.
Culture and legend
The hills have been a place of retreat for rulers and literati since the Jin dynasty, when the Emperor Shizong built a temple here. The Qianlong Emperor named 28 scenic spots within Jingyi Garden and wrote poems on many of them. British and French troops burned the garden in 1860, and the Eight-Nation Alliance damaged it again in 1900. In the twentieth century the hills became a place of national memory: Sun Yat-sen lay in state at Biyun Temple from 1925 to 1929, and the leadership of the Communist Party worked here in 1949.
Garden of Tranquillity and Pleasure
静宜园
The Qing imperial park that covered the hills; its walls, gates and several halls have been restored.
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
孙中山纪念堂
Inside Biyun Temple; Sun's clothes and hat were sealed in the Diamond Throne Pagoda when his body was moved to Nanjing in 1929.
Temple of the Reclining Buddha
卧佛寺
Just east of the park in the Botanical Garden, with a cast-copper reclining Buddha of the Yuan dynasty.
History
1186
Jin emperor Shizong builds a temple in the hills
The start of imperial building on the Fragrant Hills, then outside the Jin capital Zhongdu.
1745
Qianlong encloses the hills as Jingyi Garden
The hills become one of the Three Hills and Five Gardens of the Qing court.
1780
Zhao Temple built for the Sixth Panchen Lama
A Tibetan-style temple marks the lama's visit for Qianlong's seventieth birthday.
1860 and 1900
Garden burned by foreign troops
The Anglo-French expedition and the Eight-Nation Alliance destroyed most of the imperial halls.
1925–1929
Sun Yat-sen lies in state at Biyun Temple
The temple holds his coffin until the completion of his mausoleum in Nanjing.
1949
Party leadership at Shuangqing Villa
Mao Zedong directs the last phase of the civil war from the hills before moving into the city.
1956
Opened as a public park
The former imperial grounds become Xiangshan Park.
Through the seasons
Spring
Apricot, peach and lilac blossom from late March; dry, windy days with occasional dust in the air.
Summer
Hot and humid with afternoon thunderstorms; the forest is noticeably cooler than the city, and the smoke tree's pink plumes appear in June.
Autumn
The leaves peak from late October to early November. The paths are very crowded at weekends in this season; weekday mornings are calmer.
Winter
Cold and clear, with bare slopes, long views over the city and occasional snow on the temple roofs.
Routes and ways in
Summit walk to Xianglu Peak
From the East Gate up the stepped main path to the summit and back via the northern slope; a steady climb of about 400 metres, usually done in a morning.
Temple circuit
Biyun Temple, Jianxin Zhai, Zhao Temple and Xiangshan Temple lie along the lower slopes and can be linked on a level half-day walk.
Chairlift
A chairlift runs from the northern part of the park to near the summit, for those who prefer to walk only downhill.
Practical notes
- The park lies in Haidian District at the terminus of the Xijiao light rail line; the Beijing Botanical Garden and the Summer Palace are close by.
- Crowds in the leaf season can be heavy; the colour lasts about two weeks and varies from year to year.
- Paths to the summit are steep stone steps; good shoes and water are useful even on a short walk.
- Fire risk is high in dry seasons; smoking and open flames are banned throughout the hills.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Xiangshan Park — Beijing Xiangshan Park Administration (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau — Beijing Municipal Forestry and Parks Bureau (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Visit Beijing — Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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