Taoist temple complex Dong Tian how to get there. Taoist Park "Heavenly Grottoes" (Dong Tian). It's good that it's not piranhas :)

Taoist temple complex is located in the southwest of Nanshan Mountain and is considered one of the most ancient structures of its kind in China: it was founded in 1247 during the reign of the imperial Song dynasty. This place is sacred to all Chinese followers of Taoism - one of the most revered religions in China. According to legend, this is where the Southern Dragon, one of the four rulers of the world, lives.

Followers of Taoism come here to worship him and ask for help in the temple built in his honor. Fishermen especially often turn to him about sending down a good catch and salvation in the waters of the sea. Many legends are associated with this place.

Dong Tian is located on the picturesque seashore and is rightfully considered the first tourist zone of the Celestial Empire - the landscapes here are so beautiful! It is not for nothing that the Chinese themselves call this place “Wonders of the Sea and Mountains”: the Heavenly Grottoes Park with bizarre caves and piles of stones, majestic mountains and caves - this is truly an ideal place for a happy life: it is no secret that there are a lot of centenarians on Hainan Island. The pine dracaena cambodiana, a relict tree endemic to the island, has become a symbol of longevity in China. You will see such a pine tree at the age of 6 thousand years on the territory of the temple complex. 30 thousand pines of this rare species grow here.

Visit Taoist Park « Heavenly Grottoes", take a walk through the shady park of pine trees and along the picturesque beach of the sea, and philosophize. It’s not for nothing that the name of this place in Chinese sounds like “Happy Place Where the Gods Live”!

Taoist Park "Heavenly Grottoes" is located 50 km from the main resort of Hainan Island - the city of Sanya. The park covers an area of ​​23 thousand square meters and is the oldest landmark of the island. It was founded during the Song Dynasty, in 1187. Today, “Heavenly Grottoes” is a surprisingly harmonious combination of nature and historical sites.

Cost of tickets to the Heavenly Grottoes park

The park is open daily from 08:30 to 18:30. Prices for tickets to the Taoist park “Heavenly Grottoes” depend on the age of visitors:

• Adult ticket— 135 Chinese yuan.
• Child ticket (for children 120-140 cm tall)- 70 yuan.
• Child ticket (for children up to 120 cm)- for free.

An additional fee for traveling around the park in an electric car is 35 yuan.

Founding history

The texts of Taoist teachings contain information about 46 grottoes of various sizes and 72 sacred caves in which the gods lived. The grottoes were called Dongtian. During the reign of the Song Dynasty, the administrator of the territories of Hainan Island discovered 2 grottoes on the South Mountain that were considered mythical: Greater and Lesser Dongtian.

According to legend, the park's grottoes are the place from which the great Mao Kun ascended to heaven. As proof, tourists are shown the Heavenly Imprint.

After the discovery, the place was turned into a resort, and the cliffs and rocks were covered with sacred inscriptions. Today, only Little Dongtian can be visited here; the location of the Big one is unknown, which gives the park even more mystery, although the name “Big” is still used in the toponymy of the area.

Cultural, historical and natural areas of the “Heavenly Grottoes”

Taoist Park “Heavenly Grottoes” consists of 6 zones:

• Dongtian Grottoes- the place from which the park received its “heavenly” name.
• Museum natural history resort city of Sanya— this museum is unique and has no analogues in Southern China. The museum's exhibitions show the appearance of the Earth as it was 140 million years ago. Among the 2 thousand exhibits: the remains of dinosaurs and rare fossils (almost a thousand exhibits are called the “national treasure of the country”).
• Mountain of Longevity (South Mountain). The mountain area is 85% covered with greenery. The name “longevity mountain” appeared in connection with the unusual air on the mountain - the concentration of negatively charged ions here is the highest in all of China, which has a very positive effect on the health of local residents. Another version of the origin of the name is based on the name of the dracaena trees growing here. Another name for these plants from the agave family is longevity pine. These are the rarest centenarians flora of our planet - here there are specimens up to 10 thousand years old.
• Marine wonders- the most photographed place in the park. The zone is a sea coast with giant boulders. The most beautiful panoramas open from their peaks, especially at sunset.
• Temple of the Dragon King of the South China Sea. The temple houses a local relic - a statue of the Dragon King. Locals come here to worship the deity, and tourists come here to take photographs of the authentic setting of the temple. According to Chinese beliefs, the Dragon King is a mythical creature that brings stability in life and good luck to the home. By the way, on the second lunar day of February, a carnival festival takes place in the park (one of the favorite holidays among the island’s population): “The Day the Dragon Raises its Head.”
• Wall of records. This is one of the most revered sacred places in the vicinity of Sanya. Stone slabs with sacred texts written many centuries ago are located on the top of the southern mountain. There is also a statue of the Divine Turtle here. The Taoist texts mentioned above talk about Kuixing, the god of writing, who local residents depicted on the back of a turtle.

In addition to the zones described above, the park contains a conservation area - Little Crescent Bay. The park is considered a natural oxygen bar - the concentration of cations here reaches 10 thousand per cubic centimeter. It’s a nice place to relax after a long walk in the park, have a picnic or a photo shoot.

How to get to the Heavenly Grottoes park

You can get to the Taoist Park by special tourist bus, which runs from resort town Sanya. You can also reach by regular buses— from Sanya there are buses No. 25 and 29. You need to get off at the Daxiao Dongtian stop.

It takes about an hour to get there by taxi. For the trip, we recommend that you find and save the name of the park and the address in Chinese in advance - in China, most taxi drivers do not speak English (let alone Russian), even in tourist regions. Heavenly Grottoes in Chinese (show to driver): 南山大小洞天. To avoid translation difficulties and problems arising from the language barrier, we advise you to order a taxi through special applications for mobile devices. On Hainan Island there is a local equivalent of Uber - the Chinese service Didi Dache (there is an English version of the application, but not yet Russified).

Panorama on Google Maps: Observation deck Daxiao Dongtian with lighthouse view

40 kilometers from the city of Sanya, on the other slope of the mountain, where the Nanshan temple complex is located, lies another beautiful park in Hainan - Dong Tian. Translated from Chinese, “Dong Tian” means “heavenly grottoes”; this term in Taoism refers to caves where immortal saints live.

The Dong Tien Taoist Center is one of the island's most visited attractions. Various festive and special events are often held here; cultural, political and public figures come here, as evidenced by photographs along the main entrance alley.

And we immediately encounter a warning sign.

Everywhere is very clean and beautiful. Grow grass :)

I would like to say one thing right away interesting place park - Archaeological Museum of Natural History. The extensive exhibition of the museum deserves close attention; it contains more than 2 thousand exhibits, among which are unique objects protected by UNESCO: fossil dinosaur eggs, the skeleton of a huge ichthyosaur, the first fossil flower, the skeleton of a Sanyang pterosaur, an ancient ebony tree.

The park is located on a mountain slope and a rocky seashore. Huge boulders and small stones add an indescribable charm to the beauty of the sea.

The elegant decorations of the park are stone sculptures: real and mythical animals, wise elders.

A forest spirit peeks out from a huge stump.

Up from central square there is a wide staircase rising to the sculptures of Buddhist monks. The staircase is framed by fragrant hibiscus bushes, in which exotic butterflies flutter from flower to flower. And flocks of snow-white doves live on the palm trees.

At the foot of the stairs is a family of turtles.

Some young ladies shared their hats with the turtles

Many stones are carved with hieroglyphs with wise sayings.

We make our way along a path surrounded by tall grass.

There are benches hidden in the mangrove thickets next to the path.

The path leads us to the beach.

And grottoes.

Essentially, a grotto is a small gap under a rock that you can slip through and come out on the other side of the rock.

Despite the narrowness of the space, incense is smoked inside the grotto. We climb out of the grotto along the ladder :)

Walking along the sea, we reach other grottoes

We find phrases carved on the rocks: small and large.

Some stones that resemble something or someone are overgrown with legends and traditions. For example, the Magic Peach stone. According to legend, the Empress of Heaven Wang Mu gave a magical peach to the Eight Immortals. But half of the peach was stolen and eaten by a magic cow, and the other half of the peach was left by the Immortals on the shore. And after thousands of years the peach turned to stone.

Or Jian Zhen's stone. According to legend, the monk Jian Zhen often bathed and basked in the sun here. Much time has passed since then, and a stone similar to the sunbathing Jian Zhen appeared here.

We go to the farthest point of the park along the picturesque rocks, along the seashore.

Bas-reliefs on the rocks depict sages and divine characters.

Stone carving "Lao Tzu looks at the sea". Lao Tzu, one of the greatest ancient Chinese philosophers, founder of the teachings of Taoism.

Southern God of Longevity.

Let's go back a little and go to the Dragon Temple. According to legend, it is here, in Dong Tian Park, that the giant Dragon of the Southern Sea lives.

By the way, here at the Dragon Temple I was able to observe and film the scene of a snake hunting a frog, but more on that in the following posts.

From the Dragon Temple, a path rises up the mountain, or rather a huge staircase, completely endless.

Along the way you come across hanging bridges and sayings immortalized on stone.

Climbing the stairs, we pass by gazebos.

A tree hugging a stone.

Quite unexpectedly, the path leads us to the Immortal Turtle South Sea. Beautiful and unusual, made of copper, and weighing 1.5 tons, the Turtle is also a sacred symbol.

There are incense in the square in front of her, and red ribbons with wishes are tied nearby.

And the staircase leads us up and up, never ending. But everywhere there are carefully placed warning signs with wonderful Russian translations.

From the top there is a beautiful view of the sea.

To be honest, we didn’t get to the very top platform, it was already getting dark, and the park was going to close soon, so we went down.

We enjoy the empty paths of the park and the coolness of the evening.

Finally, a clickable panorama.

Day four.

Having planned a trip to three different places in advance, we were able to leave the hotel only at eleven. A thunderstorm raged at night and only at half past nine the weather improved and Yulia and Max went swimming. I slept in because I stayed up very late writing these notes.
Our first destination was the Taoist center - Dun Tian. It is part of Nanshan Park, but is located on the other side of the mountain. As I was told, the Taoist Center is not a tourist place, but a religious one. Pilgrims come here from all over China and here, according to legend, is the habitat of one of the dragons who created the earth.

The drive to get there turned out to be quite long, much longer than yesterday to Nan Shan. The fact is that the entrance to it is on the other side of the peninsula, which can only be reached by taking the highway leading to the capital of Hainan - Haikou. It’s worth noting that we negotiated a taxi for 180. Maybe someone else can do it cheaper, but I was happy. After all, the distance turned out to be much greater than we expected.
Entry to the park cost us 71 yuan for two, in addition, we were given 3 types of tickets, 2 of which we managed to find a use for, if anyone knows, tell me, otherwise Yulia can’t find a place for herself. :)

Walking down to the coast, we found a map with descriptions of places worth visiting. But we still haven’t found the place where we are. Therefore the map was useless.

The same card. Find yourself:)

We took electric bus tickets for 10 yuan, round trip. We naively assumed that the operating principle of these buses was the same as in Nan Shan, but no...

When we almost passed one of the attractions, we asked the driver to stop. Of course, he didn’t understand, but he stopped. We went out and quickly took a photo, but realized that if we hesitated, he would simply leave :)
We sat back down and didn’t come out until the end.

The end, I must say, came very quickly. Our trip lasted about 2 minutes in total. The bus stopped and they showed us where to go. Well, off we go.

We went up to a nearby temple, they weren’t allowed to take pictures there, but we weren’t upset, we bought incense sticks there and set them to smoke.

We reached the birthplace of the dragon, if I understand correctly. Basically, all the memorable places in this park look like stones with hieroglyphs of various sizes on them.

Which we successfully recorded :)

We must pay tribute to this park, unlike yesterday there are inscriptions in Russian too, which is not entirely correct and sometimes very funny :)

There was also an inscription “Steep descent”, which made me very happy :)

We began to climb to the top. Higher and higher up the stone stairs, hoping to see something unusual. After quite a long time (I didn’t carry a watch with me), we realized that this something was very high. On the way up this staircase we came across a lot of stones with hieroglyphs. But a little more time passed and the stones disappeared, leaving only one staircase up. But it is not in our principles to give up, and we, with Max in our arms, climb up.

Climbing to such a peak will make you feel better. I just don't have the strength to be angry. Although you certainly can’t tell from the photo :)

It was strong. It seems that there used to be a hermit’s home there, but apparently everything has changed :)

Nevertheless, the view from there was magnificent.

In general, we were in a state close to Nirvana. Apparently this was intended. We were completely wet, and the weather was sunny and very hot. But my physical beginning, unfortunately, prevailed over my spiritual one and we went down.
The return journey was quick.
To summarize, I cannot say how long the climb took, but I know for sure that our entire walk, through a generally small park, took 4 hours.

After that, we finally decided to go to Oceanarium. We were dissuaded, they said that the picture was depressing, the animals were poorly maintained, etc., etc., but we decided to please Max, since he was very tired of what was interesting to us.
And they didn’t regret it. I won’t say that the aquarium fully met my expectations (I at least expected to see fish there), but there we took two cool photos of Max with a turtle and a crocodile and watched a good show with sea lions. Max liked it.

Rest after a hard day...

Next there were many pools with different temperatures. All sources are natural. The fact is that Hainan Island is of volcanic origin; volcanic activity ceased 8 thousand years ago, but there are many hot springs scattered throughout the island, one of which is Nan Tian.
There is a cool pool with coconut milk (we tried in vain to smell the coconut, but couldn’t), with coffee beans, smells like coffee - great.
Heaven on earth is here :)

The effect is the same as from a bath, only more powerful.
All the fatigue from climbing to the top disappeared as if by hand.
We took the 9 o'clock bus back to the hotel. The children's pool closed already at 8 o'clock and Max was very bored, so we decided to repeat the next day.
I forgot to mention a very unusual pool with fish. When you lie down in it, the fish begin to pleasantly bite the skin all over your body. At first it becomes unbearably ticklish, so everyone laughs very contagiously :)

We called it the pool of laughter. They say that this is very good for the skin, the fish remove dead scales and it rejuvenates :)

It's good that it's not piranhas :)

This story is one of a series of stories about our trip to Hainan Island in October 2006.

Taoist Park Heavenly Grottoes (Sanya, China): detailed description, address and photo. Opportunities for sports and recreation, infrastructure, cafes and restaurants in the park. Reviews from tourists.

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This Taoist park is located about 50 km from Sanya, at the foot of South Mountain, and occupies an area of ​​23 square meters. km. It was founded back in 1187 during the Song Dynasty. Thus, the park can be called the oldest attraction in Hainan. It is famous for its stunning natural scenery, environmental resources and historical sites.

Associated with the name of the park interesting story. According to Taoist beliefs, there are 10 large and 36 small grottoes (Dongtian), as well as 72 sacred caves in which the gods live. During the Song Dynasty, Mao Kun, the governor of Hainan Province, found Greater Dongtian and Little Dongtian on the South Mountain. He turned the place into a resort and inscribed inscriptions on the cliff and rocks. Today, only Little Dongtian remains under the cliff: the Big one is impossible to find, and this makes it even more legendary. True, the names Big and Small Dongtian are still used.

The Taoist Park consists of six areas: Dongtian Grottoes, South Longevity Mountain, South China Sea Dragon King Temple, Record Wall, Marine Wonders and Sanya Natural History Museum.

The Taoist Park consists of six areas: Dongtian Grottoes, South Longevity Mountain, South China Sea Dragon King Temple, Record Wall, Marine Wonders and Sanya Natural History Museum. In total, the park has more than 50 attractions, and tourists from all over the world come here to get acquainted with local customs, relax and have fun.

The Dongtian Heavenly Grottoes, according to legend, are the very place from which Mao Kun ascended to heaven. Three fabulous islands are especially popular: Panglai, Yungzhou and Fanzang. This is the birthplace of Taoism in Southern China, and many historical Taoist relics can be seen here, including the Heavenly Imprint and the Heavenly Altar.

Southern Longevity Mountain deserves its name: it is 85% green and contains more negative ions in the air than anywhere else in China. Even more amazing are the 30 thousand dracaenas, which are called here “pines of longevity”: this plant of the agave family is one of the rarest centenarians in the world; its age can, according to some sources, reach 10 thousand years.

The Temple of the Dragon King of the South China Sea houses a statue of that same king. In Chinese culture, the dragon king brings stability and good fortune. The second lunar day of February is considered the day when the dragon raises its head. During this festival, lavish traditional celebrations take place in the park and prayers are offered to the king and the sea.

The Record Wall is located at the top of South Mountain, which is sometimes also called Divine Turtle Mountain because of its distinctive shape. There is a corresponding statue here. The inscriptions speak of Kuixing, the god of writing, who was often depicted standing on his back sea ​​turtle. It is believed that this deity honors one who is famous for his talents in the field of writing.

The Sanya Natural History Museum is the only one in southern China. The remains of dinosaurs and objects that recreate the appearance of the Earth as it was 140 million years ago are collected here. In total, the exhibition contains about 2 thousand items, of which 800 are considered national treasures. In particular, the western Liaoning fossil collection was called "the most amazing discovery of the 20th century" by US President Bill Clinton.

In addition to the six zones mentioned, the park has a conservation area of ​​the Little Crescent Bay. In this small bay, many plants have been preserved, and the concentration of cations here reaches 10 thousand per cubic centimeter: this is a real natural oxygen bar. There are also the usual beach bars, as well as huts and tent camps where you can stay for a few days.

Practical information

To get to the Taoist Park, you can either take a tourist bus directly here from Sanya Bay, or take a bus to South Mountain from Sanya West Station, get off at the road junction leading into the park, and walk from there. Free shuttles to the park depart in the summer months in the morning, once a day, from the Summer Department Store and Pearl Square.

Opening hours: daily, from 8:30 to 18:30.

Admission: 135 CNY for adults, 70 CNY for children height 120-140 cm, children up to 120 cm height free admission; trip by electric car - 15 CNY.

Prices on the page are as of September 2018.