Huangshan has been a famous attraction since ancient times. In the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.),it was called Yishan. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Emperor Minqhuanq believed the story ofthe Yellow Emperor making immortality pills here during ancient times and changed the mountain's name to its present one, meaning Yellow Mountain. Huangshan has also been known as Three Heavenly Capitals because people believed its three main peaks, Tiandu, Lianhua and Guangmingding, was home to the Heavenly God.

Since Huangshan's vertical drop rises relatively quickly, the plants grow in a vertical direction on the steep mountainside. There are generally mason pine trees below 900 meters but higher up is another kind of pine, designated by botanists as "Huangshan Pine". Huangshan abounds with peculiar pine trees, and most of them grow in steep precipices. The pines are unusual for their odd shapes, either being tall and straight, or twisted and bent with many peculiar ones having been given descriptive names. Rock and Pine always pair together on Huangshan, as the saying describes: "There is no rock without a pine growing on it, and there is no pine that is not growing in a strange shape."

Jagged peaks and strange rocks are everywhere on Huangshan. Some peaks resemble stalagmites and some rocks look like peaks. Sometimes peaks and rocks combine to form various images, including potted landscapes, flying birds or human figurines, such as those named Five old Men Going to the Heavenly Capital on Tiandu Peak, Monkey Watching the Sea at Qingliang Terrace and Two Immortals Playing Chess on Shixing Peak. The most interesting is the rock called Flowers Painted with a Dreamed Writing Brush, which vividly resembles a writing brush and a pen-holder with flower-like pine trees protruding at its tip.