Photo buffs are a common sight at Wuyi Mountain, with each one trying to get the perfect shot of the rolling "sea of clouds".

The Wuyi Mountain Scenic Area is located in Wuyishan City and stretches along Fujian's northernmost border with Jiangxi Province. Wuyi's 36 graceful peaks, most under 600 metres high, are skirted by a zigzagging river called Nine Bend Creek. This naturally endowed landscape of water and hills has given the area the reputation of being the most scenic wonder in Southeast China. Since ancient times, Wuyi Mountain has attracted an endless flow of scholars, Taoist masters, Buddhist monks and travellers.
The name of the mountain comes from a story about a legendary person called Qian Keng who lived during the shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century B.C.), believed to be the eighth generation descendant of Huangdi, the Yellow Emperor. Because of Qian Keng's outstanding achievements, King Yao gave him the title of lord of Pengcheng (present-day Xuzhou in Jiangsu) and thus he became known by the surname Peng. His descendants referred to him as Peng Zu (Ancestor Peng). To escape from wars occurring at that time, Peng Zu took his two sons, Peng Wu and Peng Yi, to a scenic mountain area in northern Fujian. They settled down there, worked the land and lived as farmers. Later, in memory of these first settlers to the region, people name the mountain range after the two sons, Wu and Yi, and thereafter also used the name Wuyi to refer to Peng Zu. Later Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty (r.140-87 B.C.) sent out envoys who travelled long distances in order to confer on Wuyi the honorific title of Master.