Luyashan Mountain. Xuankong - Hanging village.

Rem Sapozhnikov / August 2016

Although the village is called Xuankong (Hanging - 悬空村 - Xuánkōng cūn), but in fact its real name is Wanghuagou (王化沟村 - Wánghuàgōu cūn). It is located at an altitude of 2300 meters. Once upon a time there lived 200 families, but now almost all moved to the city, closer to civilization. And in vain, it is a place of such rare beauty!

The remaining residents must have been hardly happy to see a crowd of foreigners with cameras. I understand them so well.

The entrance ticket costs 60 yuan.

There are different versions of how this village appeared. One of them tells, Chongzhen (崇禎 - Chóngzhēn), the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, who ruled from 1627 to 1644, was hiding his fourth son here. All the soldiers guarding him changed their names to Wang, which, incidentally, gave the name to the village.

According to another version, the village appeared 200 years ago, during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (he ruled 59 years from 1736 to 1795). People fled saving their lives from wars or disasters to this remote place.
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I tried to find out whether the villagers receive any money from the tickets. First I was told "no", and that all the money was spent for the development of tourism infrastructure. And the people could earn by selling souvenirs, mushrooms, as well as by opening their eateries. Then nevertheless they said that once a year, the residents receive a percentage of the total amount of the tickets sold.