Where does the Fresh and Cool Hill lie? And what are the historical sites to be traced there?

Towering to the north of the Yan’an City the Fresh and Cool Hill comes to form a tripod shape opposite the Pagoda Hill on the other side of the Yan River. At the foothill there are some stone-carving objects centering round the Ten thousand Buddha Cave. On top of the hill there are former sites of such news offices as the Publishing House of Jiefang Daily, Xinhua News Agency and Xinhua Broadcasting Station and now underway for construction is the “Revolutionary Memorial Hall for News and Publications at Fresh and Cool Hill of Yan’an. ” When Fan Zhongyan, a famous statesman and literalist of the Northern Song Dynasty was here escalating the hill he wrote like this: “ Screened off is the bright and shinning to the west, and towering in the east is the Fresh and Cool Hill. The Yan River flows through the middle of them, and the two make the city look more magnificent. This shows the marvelous magnificence of the hill. Located on the hill is the “Ten Thousand Buddha Cave” of the Grotto Temple caved in Tang and Song dynasties and housed inside are over 10,000Buddha figures and figurines, Bodhisattvas and tutelary gods and so on. In addition to that there is a place known as a “poem bay” in which are contained with over 50 inscriptions left over by men of letters of various dynasties. Besides, there are such historical sites as the Moon Well and the Lute Bridge left over from ancient times. The Fresh and Cool Hill is accessible by getting on the bus from Xi’an to Yan’an (on hoard the bus from the bus station at Changle Road Middle) to cover a distance of around 350 kilometers or by train from Xi’an to Yan’an. However, if you go there driving just follow the National Highway 210 to get there directly and by the way you can visit the Pagoda Hill and Yangjialing and Zaoyuan, the former sites of Chinese revolution in Yan’an.

Fresh and Cool Hill