Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain): Officially, this is one of the five most beautiful mountain areas in China, but everyone knows that if you see it, there is no need to see the others because it is the most beautiful of the five. The light is best in the early morning and late evening, and so you should spend a night up high. However, by the time I discovered that it was less than four hours drive from Hangzhou, I could manage only one day. So I climbed the Western Steps, traversed all the peaks I could find (following the shan), and descended the Eastern Steps. There are stone steps that allow you to go places that would otherwise require serious climbing.