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Since ancient time, Nanjing's Feng Shui (environment) has been described as "a place where dragon and tiger assist and protect". When people look for explanation or physical embodiment of such description, they found that the Stone Mountain (which we call "Qingliang Mountain" today) is the tiger. So how about the dragon? It turned out to be Zijin Mountain.
Zijin in English means "purple gold". The name was probably after the ancient's observation of the purple gold clouds/mists above the mountain. The ancient people probably had less idea of the reflection and refraction, so they believed that it was some good signs of "Emperor's place". This rumor had been used in the Six Dynasties to justify emperor's choice of establishing capital in Nanjing rather than in other places.
Today, local residents considered this place as a good hiking area.
如果说南京是虎踞龙蟠，虎踞的是清凉山，那龙蟠的就是紫金山了。战国时期紫金山叫金陵山，是楚国领地。汉朝称钟山。东吴时期孙权起名蒋山，纪念秣陵校尉蒋子文。据说因为古人观察到山上有紫色彩云飘荡1，颇有紫气东升的气势，便取名紫金山。后来又叫钟山，具体原因不是很清楚。喜爱登山的朋友可以看一下豆瓣这一篇线路小攻略（2012）：https://site.douban.com/166571/widget/notes/9998837/note/232265616/。
1 紫色彩云估计是因为阳光照射下紫粉色砂岩反射的光折射在云间形成的。紫色又是由很好寓意的颜色。
紫金山
Zijin Mountain
Today >
登高望远。索道。天文台。
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24 hours
玄武区中山门外石象路7号钟山风景名胜区内（缆车入口）
当地人（比如我）把紫金山当作登高望远，参观天文台的去处。
但紫金山（钟山）作为一个旅游资源，靠近明孝陵景区，头陀岭景区，灵谷寺景区，还有零散的景点如植物园、天文台等。