Chongqing - As we officially wave goodbye to the eventful 2020 and step into 2021, the "year of the ox" according to the Chinese zodiac, we should be prepared for a more strong, resilient, healthy, confident, and inspiring new year, as indicated by the characteristics of oxen.

Putting aside all the good things we can look forward to in 2021, the one thing you definitely wouldn't want to miss is the "twelve sceneries of Yubei," which covers the whole year and spares you from getting bored of the stereotypical sceneries that you see from elsewhere.

Alright, let's cut to the chase and dive right in.

1. January: Monkeys in the Tongjing Valley

Located in the Tongjing Spring Scenic Area, it has been listed twice among the "Twelve Sceneries of Bayu" for its clear-cut valley, lucid water, and lush forestation on the banks. But most importantly, the monkeys swinging through tree branches and drinking water by the riversides is the main reason behind the unstopping flow of tourists.

As is the case with one of Li Bai's poems, "from both sides of the gorge come incessant howling of monkeys, my skiff white water cleaves leaving behind thousands of mountain peaks." Many people only come here to revisit the artistic scenario described in the poem.

What's more, Tongjing Spring itself is already a golden name card of Chongqing, which boasts up to 52 degrees Celcius spring water and an abundance of mineral elements. January is definitely a prime time to visit here with your family and friends. 

2. February: Longcang Ancient Town

Longcang Ancient Town is another name for Longxing Ancient Town, boring Yulin River, an offshoot of Yangtze River, to its east. The ancient buildings' unique structure here tells the humanitarian spirits and folk lures of local Chongqing people.

With over 600 years of evolution and renovation, the ancient town attracts visitors from around the country to its temples, streets, stone bridges, towers, memorial archways, and ancestral halls. You can see a combination of religious culture, imperial culture, ancestral culture, clansman culture, and folk culture by simply strolling down the street.

Come and pay a visit to Longxing Ancient Town in February has become a ritual thing for tourists to see the old year out and bring the new year in.

3. March: Splendors of Yungui Mountain

Yungui Mountain, or cloud turtle mountain, is famous for its cherry blossoms and misty mountains. There are multiple places of interest inside the scenic area, such as the White Lotus Society's relics from the Ming and Qing dynasties, the White Cloud Temple, the Stone Wonders, and the Limestone Cave.

Each Spring, from around mid-February to mid-March, the miles-stretching cherry trees will blossom and make the whole area dip-dyed in various colors. If nothing out of the ordinary should come up, you really shouldn't miss the view for the world. It might just be the one that could take your breath away, that I can guarantee you.

4. April: Paihua Karst Cave

As a scenic area that combines mountains, rivers, springs, caves, and gorges, the Paihua Kars Cave near Yuchang Expressway Huashan Tunnel certainly deserves having its name listed on top of Chongqing's most underestimated travel destinations.

Apart from the 35-kilometer-long underground limestone cave, there're also other equally amazing places of interest inside the scenic area, such as the Lotus  Cave, the Cliffs and Precipices, the Paihua Waterfall, and many other geographic features.

Being dubbed as the "underground three gorges," it's also one of the "Twelve Sceneries of Ancient Bayu," with most of the scenic spots hidden deep in the forests.

5. May: Bijin Park

Bijin Park is known for its unique "park + lake + pavilion" combination, which refers to the Bijin Mountain and River Park, Bayu Folk Culture Library, and Shuanglonghu Park. As a free and open-to-all comprehensive city park, it integrates such functions as leisure, entertainment, exercise, and emergency shelter. 

In May every year, people would often come to the park and indulge in nature and clear their minds with the warm breeze and lovely plants and flowers' flavor. You could hardly find a better word than "harmony" to describe the scene of people living in peace with mother nature, especially when the surface of the lake starts sending ripples away under the golden sunset.

6. June: Lichao Farm House

Far away from the city's hustle and bustle, and back to the old normal of ancient Chinese people tending crops and raising livestock in remote villages... If you think this is some scene from a movie, well, think again.

This is what you can actually get from the Lichao Farm House, which is a modern recreation of traditional Chinese rural villages that feed on the old-school lifestyles of tending crops and raising livestock. You can relive the lives of ancient Chinese people by tolling water from wells, grinding grains on millstones, irrigating crops by windmills, resting under thatched shed, and eating on stone desks.

All of the things you've only read about or seen from movies can be done here by yourself. Come and visit Lichao Farm House in June, and get the most of the season by picking Chinese strawberries and blueberries with your own hands.

7. July: Kuangshan Lake

Situated in the Tongluo Mountain, in Yubei's Shichuan Township, the Kuangshan Lake boasts a total of 41 deserted former mine sites, which now have become a giant depression for lucid lake water. The two sides of the lake have a combined 80% forest coverage rate and stand at an altitude between 512 to 718 meters above sea level.

July is the best time for people to come and appreciate the beauties of the lake, as well as the larger Tongluo Mountain scenic area because the blue lake water and the yellow mountain cliffs on the sides could easily fool the human eyes and appear to be a live scene from an oil painting.

Most strangely, the lake water's color varies with the shifting of light intensities from the sun; that is to say, the lake has totally different looks for in the wake of a morning, under the midday sunlight, and near sunset.

8. August: Yufeng Mountain

Yufeng Mountain enjoys the honor of being the "tallest peak of Yubei District," which in and of itself guarantees great views and clear sights from on top of the mountain.

The main attractions here include a round-lake bicycle track that encloses the Huadao Lake, two cliffside pathways, a limousine camp, and a fruit picking orchard, which are meant to allow citizens to return to nature and live in harmony with the environment.

August is about the hottest time of the year in the city, so many citizens would travel long distances here simply to catch a breath of the cool and breezy weather. Dubbed "the lung of Chongqing," Yufeng Mountain averages about 17 degrees Celcius all year round, approximately 5 degrees cooler than in the main urban area.

9. September: Dawn of the Airport City

The airport city is where Chongqing aims to introduce itself to the world, with the Jiangbei International Airport linking almost every major city in China and the rest of the world. The Liangjiang International Business Center being currently constructed here also benchmark itself against the "new city center of Chongqing."

Tourists from outside Chongqing would often visit Yuchong District for its 3-dimensional geographic features and numerous historical sites. However, it takes a local Chongqing people to know that the city's future lies in the rapid emerging Yubei District and the airport city.

If you are ever wondering what the "new Chongqing" actually means, you should come and take a look at the airport city. You might just get the chance to peep into the future of Chongqing, and perhaps even the future of China.

10. October: Lost in the Misty Bridge

Zhoujiashan Bridge is an unavoidable road for people traveling between downtown Chongqing and the Tongjing Spring Scenic Area, which has been mentioned in the first part of this article.

Whenever after a rainy day, the surrounding areas of Zhoujiashan Bridge will be shrouded in the morning mist, making people passing the bridge feel like they are driving in a heavenly place. The bridge has quickly earned an internet reputation and become a popular holiday destination for photographers and ordinary people alike.

Time and time again, people have come to the place for surreal pictures and failed because they came in the wrong season. Here is the key message for those of you out there with the same purpose: come in October. You can find everything you've ever looked for in a photography work here in this specific month.

11. November: Central Park

Central Park, does the name ever ring a bell to you? Tha's right, this city park was built for the same purpose as the New York Central Park and is being surrounded by roughly the same function blocks as well, namely office buildings and shopping centers on the west, residential buildings, and government service branches on the east, and hospitals and schools on the north.

 It's the world's third-largest city central park and hosts five core scenic areas, seven themed parks, a seven-kilometer-long color runway, ten public squares, and two children's playgrounds.

November is prime to visit this park because it's in the deep of autumn, and the whole park would be soaked in red from maple leaves and yellow from ginkgo trees. Walking under the trees and the sun in this special season would be ideal for those trying to relax from year-round hard work.

12. December: First Snow in Huaying Mountain

Huaying Mountain stands at 1,590 meters above sea level and is surrounded by closely linked hill rings, which as a whole looks like a large cauldron. It borders the Huaying City, Linshui County, and Chongqing's Yubei and Hechuan districts, thus the nickname of "four-legged caldron."

December often sees the first winter snowfall in the mountain, which would make the whole area covered in silver ice and white snow. And added with the misty weather around this year of a year, it impresses local and national tourists with a mysterious sense of calm and peace.