Roaming through Xishe Mountain
Xishe Mountain Scenic Area in Songjiang is the forest park with the best environment and the most distinctive features among the nine peaks of She Mountain. The scenic spots in the park include: the Catholic pilgrimage site, the fourteen Stations of the Cross on the 'Folded Road', the Xiudaozhe Tower, the Congdao Person and Tiger Tree Pavilion, etc. The famous She Mountain Observatory and Seismological Station are also located on Xishe Mountain.
Xishe Mountain National Forest Park attracts Chinese and foreign tourists with its beautiful natural scenery, brilliant religious culture, dense bamboo forests, handsome peaks, and majestic mountaintop buildings. Spring, summer, and autumn are the beautiful seasons when Xishe Mountain displays its charming scenery, with the mountain dripping green, the landscape picturesque, making it seem like a dreamy fairyland, giving the feeling of being in a heavenly realm. Entering the north gate, following the mountain road and climbing the steps, the road is quiet, with ancient trees, trimmed bamboo, and green shade covering the sun on both sides, and the Xiudaozhe Tower is located on the hillside here. In the mountains with the tower, all peaks come alive; the tower has seven levels and eight sides, a brick and wood structure, slender and steep, standing tall and elegant, beautifully shaped. For thousands of years, the Xiudaozhe Tower has stood above the shade, adding luster to the She Mountain landscape. Below the tower is the site of Chaoyin, and beside it is the Tiger Tree Pavilion. Halfway up the mountain, there is the Zhongshan Church, with three pavilions standing side by side next to the square. Further up, there is a wide stone road, called the Way of the Cross. At the top of the mountain, there is a reddish building, which is the famous Catholic Church, majestic and spectacular, with an extraordinary momentum. Next to it is a dome-shaped building, which is the She Mountain Observation Station of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory...
The predecessor of the Shanghai Astronomy Museum was the She Mountain Observatory established by French Catholic missionaries in 1900. It was the first modern observatory in China with an astronomical dome and a large astronomical telescope, and one of the important birthplaces of modern astronomy in China. In 2004, the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory established the Shanghai Astronomy Museum on the basis of this excellent building, which is now a national science education base and a national key cultural relics protection unit.
The Shanghai Astronomy Museum, built in 2004, is located in the Xishe Mountain National Forest Park Scenic Area in Songjiang. Its predecessor was the She Mountain Observatory established by the French Catholic Church in 1900. It was the first modern observatory in China with a large astronomical telescope and one of the important birthplaces of modern astronomy in China. It is now a national key cultural relics protection unit and a national science popularization base. The Shanghai Astronomy Museum has both historical exhibition and scientific education functions, with rich cultural relics and historical materials displaying the development of modern astronomy in China, as well as various science popularization exhibition halls such as the 'Century Treasure Mirror' exhibition hall and the 'Meridian Instrument Room'.