Hua Hill

Hua Hill (Shandong) (simplified Chinese: 华山; traditional Chinese: 華山; pinyin: Huà Shān) is a solitary cone-shaped hill in the lower Yellow River valley, located at the northeastern edge of the city of Jinan, Shandong Province, China.

The hill has an elevation of 197 meters above sea level; its slopes are covered with large smooth rocks and bushy vegetation growing in the clefts between them.

Since Hua Hill appeared to float on the waters of the lake like the bud of a lotus flower to contemporary observers, it was given its alternative name "Hua Fu Zhu Shan" ("Flower Bud in the Water Hill").

In the year 589 BC, during the Spring and Autumn period, Hua Hill became the site of the final action in the Battle of An which was fought between the states of Qi and Jin.

During the period of the Northern Wei dynasty, the writer and geographer Li Daoyuan, described Hua Hill in his "Commentary on the Waterways Classic" (Chinese: 水经注; pinyin: Shui Jīng Zhù): "Without a mountain range to support it, the peak alone stands gracefully and loftily.

The Tang-dynasty poet Li Bai wrote about Hua Hill: 登华不注峰。兹山何峻拔，绿秀如芙蓉。 dēng huá bù zhù fēng.

The best known pictorial depiction of Hua Hill is a painting from the Yuan-dynasty era entitled "Autumn Colors at Que and Hua Hills" (Chinese: 鹊华秋色图; pinyin: què huá qiū sè tú) by the painter and calligrapher Zhao Mengfu (now in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipeh).

In the text accompanying his painting, Zhao Mengfu revers to Hua Hill as "the most famous mountain in the area, having been known from antiquity and unique for its sharp peak".

Later in the Ming dynasty, the name of the complex was changed back to Huayang Palace and dedicated to the God of the Four Seasons.

The grounds of Huayang Palace cover a rectangular area of approximately 3 hectares, which is completely enclosed by a stone-and-brick wall.

Some wall paintings in the temple buildings were also plastered over and covered with slogans of the Cultural Revolution during this time.