Jinpo Scenic Area

This spot features a sea of azaleas, a divine tortoise, stone carvings of the Twelve Chinese Zodiac Animals and the ancient Yi opera Cuotaiji, all embodying profound Yi culture.

Legend goes that this place was once a barren wasteland without flowers or the divine tortoise. Zhiga Alu, the divine king of the Yi people, deeply cared about his folk. Taking account of the local terrain—high mountains, abundant rocks and thin soil—he taught the Yi people farming techniques and sowed seeds of buckwheat, wheat, corn, as well as medicinal herbs such as gastrodia tuber, fleece-flower root and codonopsis. He ordered Mayilu to sow azalea seeds across the mountains. He also invited the divine tortoise from the East China Sea Dragon Palace to settle here and bless the villagers’ health. The Twelve Zodiac signs were used to mark the four seasons so people could arrange agricultural work accordingly. He also created the Yi masked opera Cuotaiji to enrich ethnic cultural life. Since then, the Yi people here have lived in peace and prosperity for generations.

When azaleas are in full bloom, visitors walk along this long welcoming path carpeted with colourful blossoms. The sweet fragrance lingers in the air and captivates every guest, hence the name Fragrance Gathering Platform.

Here stand a giant sculpture of the Flower Goddess, a theme park for flower worship and the Flower Goddess Temple. Every azalea blooming season, people of all ethnic groups gather in the temple to burn incense. They pray for favourable weather, national peace and prosperity, more gorgeous azaleas and an increasing number of tourists.

It serves as the main venue for the Yi Flower Festival and the Miao Slope-Jumping Festival, as well as a popular dating spot for young men and women. On festive days, Yi and Miao girls in colourful costumes and handsome young men dance among the blossoms, expressing mutual affection through songs and dances. I pluck the yueqin and sing my tune,

Whispering love beneath the moon.

When flowers bloom next spring,

We’ll bring our children up the hill.

The towering sculpture ahead is the Goddess of Azaleas. Standing 9 metres tall on a lotus pedestal, she looks gentle and dignified like an immortal descending to the mortal world. With a joyful face, she scatters azalea petals over the Yi mountains with diligence. She is a solemn and benevolent patron deity guarding the Hundred-Mile Azalea — a colourful ribbon on the earth, a garden of the world, a wellness resort and a summer retreat.

When the mountains are covered with blooming purple and red azaleas, local Yi people will gather here to pay homage to Mayilu, their only worshipped flower goddess. They pray for good harvests, national stability, thriving livestock and well-being.

Let me tell you one ancient legend about her. Long long ago, five cracks opened up in the sky. Torrential floods submerged the whole land, and all human beings perished except Divine King Zhiga Alu. Crops and livestock were all lost. The king tried to mend the sky yet could not drain the floodwater. He cracked his divine whip and dragged mountains from afar to block the flood. His devotion moved the Supreme Deity, who sent the beautiful fairy Mayilu down to earth to be his wife and bear descendants. When their clan flourished, the deity recalled Mayilu to heaven. She could not bear to leave her husband and children, yet the heavenly order could not be disobeyed. To stay with her descendants forever, she turned into azalea blossoms covering the whole mountain. From then on, the Yi people named azaleas Mayilu, Suomayu or Suoma Flower, and regarded them as sacred blooms. Mayilu was enshrined as the Goddess of Flowers.

Strange and exquisite carvings here depict ancient Yi rituals for worshipping the Flower Goddess, recording how people of all ethnic groups have kept this tradition alive through centuries. Up above sits the altar of Mayilu the Flower Goddess, decorated with nine varieties of colourful azaleas and sacrificial offerings of three kinds of livestock. Drummers beat their drums; seers with far-sighted eyes and sharp ears observe celestial phenomena and listen to public sentiment from all directions. Long trumpets and suona horns resound. Bimo priests recite scriptures and prayers. The Yi masked opera Cuotaiji is performed, recreating ancient Yi people’s fire-worshipping and fire-dancing rituals. Miao dancers perform the dance Rolling Mountain Pearls. Men and women of all ethnic groups join in the merry dance. A folk ballad goes: We worship the flower goddess and pray for peace,

All Yi mountain folks sing in high glee.

May blossoms bloom even more beautifully next year.