Jinggangshan is a mountainous area on the border of Jiangxi and Hunan provinces, revered in China as the "cradle of the Chinese revolution." It was here in 1927 that Mao Zedong established the first rural revolutionary base, and the area is saturated with revolutionary history — memorials, museums, and sites associated with the early Red Army are everywhere.
For travellers who can set politics aside, the landscape itself is genuinely striking. The Luoxiao Mountain range has steep forested ridges, waterfalls, and terraced farmland that looks much as it did in the 1920s. Chinese domestic tourists come in large numbers, particularly those on patriotic education tours, which means the area is well set up for visitors but has an earnest, official atmosphere. The scenery around Ciping town and the higher peaks like Wuzhifeng rewards those who get out on foot.