This archive records the Mount Jiuhua section of the MORE LIFE journey in May 2023, during the route through Chizhou, Anhui. Compared with the coastal calm of Putuoshan and the softer temple atmosphere of Hangzhou, Mount Jiuhua felt heavier, steeper, and more mountain-bound. The road into Jiuhua gradually changed the rhythm of the trip: towns became smaller, the air became quieter, and the mountain began to appear not as a distant view, but as a place that had to be entered step by step.

Mount Jiuhua is one of China’s major Buddhist mountains and is closely connected with Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva. But the experience of being there was not only about visiting a religious site. It was also about the relationship between temples, cliffs, villages, roads, clouds, and everyday mountain life. Temples appeared along slopes and ridges, incense moved through courtyards, and small streets carried the movement of pilgrims, visitors, local shops, buses, and people walking uphill. The mountain did not feel separated from life. Instead, faith, tourism, business, weather, and local routine all existed in the same space.

The visual rhythm of Jiuhua was built from verticality and repetition. Stone steps, temple gates, tiled roofs, incense burners, red walls, mountain paths, and misty ridgelines kept appearing in different combinations. Some moments felt solemn and quiet, especially inside temple courtyards where the sound of footsteps and incense smoke became part of the atmosphere. Other moments felt more practical and human: crowded paths, food stalls, signs, small hotels, and people carrying bags as they moved between temples. That mixture made the mountain feel less like a postcard and more like a living pilgrimage place.

For photography, Jiuhua was about texture, height, and spiritual atmosphere. The images were not only about wide mountain views. They were also about the surfaces that carried time: worn stone, weathered walls, damp steps, old wood, smoke, fabric, and the small gestures of people passing through sacred spaces. Some photos belonged to the mountain itself, some to the temples, some to the streets, and some to the quiet pauses between walking, looking, and breathing.

This page is not a travel guide. It is a visual memory of Mount Jiuhua inside the MORE LIFE journey: the uphill roads, the temple courtyards, the incense, the stone paths, the mountain air, and the feeling of entering a place where landscape, belief, and ordinary life continue to overlap.