About the scenic spot: About 100 km from Ho Chi Minh City along Highway 1A to Hanoi, Chua Chan mountain looks like a majestic pavilion at the altitude of over 800 meters. This is a less freequently seen mountain in Southern Region, a charming landscape located in Xuan Loc district and surrounded by the Xuan Truong, Xuan Tho and Xuan Hiep communes today. This is a "sweet breast" with abundant resources to feed generations of Chau Ro, Cham and Vietnamese people who came here and set up their own villages. In the past Xuan Loc in general and Chua Chan mountain in particular was a buffer between Cham Pa and Chan Lap kingdoms. Some ethnic groups of Chau Ro and Stieng from the Central Highlands also came to settle here. They made their livings mainly by hunting small animals and gathering forest fruits. But food supply dried up over the years, and the people had to clear the forest for rice and corn cultivation, creating the shifting cultivation life around Chua Chan mountain. Alongside the ravines, villages gradually appeared amid the jungle. The image of flickering fire during the night showed human life and existence in the pristine time of a wilderness. But the local climatic and territorial characteristics are very unfavorable. native population has less grown; by the early 20th century people in the Southeast called the area "Ma Thien Lanh" with nebulous atmosphere. According to ethnographical records, there had been a yellow fever epidemic that swept out a whole village. There were only a few survivors and they managed to move to another land to clear forest for cultivation and set up shelters. Hunger and chronic illness had persisted generation to generation. It was not until the triumph of August 1945 Revolution that the life of the indigenous people around Chua Chan Mountain gradually improved, the enlightening of culture began to transform far-flung villages. Experiencing historical changes during the ancestral land expansion, Chua Chan Mountain is perhaps a milestone on the Southward expedition path. Stories tell that the Nguyen Lords and Princess Ngoc Van had arrived in this land.

Tourist Services: According to the statistics of the Management Board of Chua Chan Mountain Historical-Scenic Site, since the first day of the Lunar New Year, this site has welcomed more than 50,000 visitors worshiping Buddha. Particularly on the 4th and 5th days of the Lunar New Year, the number of visitors has surged to nearly 10-13 thousand people a day. According to the board, the number of arrivals will continue to increase on the 14^th and the 15^th days of the first lunar month. It is known that the Chua Chan Mountain Historical-Scenic Site is a highlight of Dong Nai tourism industry. To fully take advantage of this type of business, Xuan Loc has proposed many strategies in planning the overall area of Chua Chan mountain, such as: embellishing the Bao Dai Tea Garden, and establishing the zoos, resorts, water parks and other forms of entertainment. Chua Chan Mountain Historical-Scenic Site is apparently becoming an ideal destination for visitors.

Development orientation of Chua Chan Mountain Historical-Scenic Complex in future:

Chua Chan Mountain Historical-Scenic Site holds great value of culture, and history, nature and science, and great potential for tourist development and traditional craft industries. To effectively manage and make full use of this, it is necessary to find out a comprehensive and long-lived development strategy.

* Orientation of landscape and architectural space arrangement:

According to the master plan, Chua Chan Mountain Historical-Scenic Site is defined as a spiritual, historical and ecological scenic spot. The scale of planned area is 250 ha. However; as being located inside the reforestation area protecting Chua Chan Mountain (1,739 ha), it is necessary to comply with the protection forrest regulations. All the available natural landscapes need to be kept intact.

While doing planning, in addition to the preservation of national-listed architectural structures, streams, caverns and old trees should be conserved. Constructions that would be newly built are only simply designed rest-stops blended with natural surroundings. To take advantage of surrounding landscapes while visitors going sightseeing, the rest-stops should be located in places with nice landscapes and good views so that in addition to sight-seeing, visitors can also enjoy locally specified products (in order to help develop local handicraft and forest product processing industries).

The planned location is characterized by highly steep terrains, so it is unsuitable for entertainment forms such as horse riding, motor racing and hiking, etc. The most feasible forms of amusement are walking for sight-seeing, visiting pagoda and exploring caverns or visiting Hinh Tunnel and Bao Dai Tea Garden, and so on. This is why when doing planning it is necessary to make roads blend with the terrain features and not destroy the natural landscapes but instead, to take advantage of the abundance of natural sights to amuse visitors during the trip. Decoration trees and bonsai are grown and interlaced with forest trees to make the landscapes more attractive.

Cable car system is available for visitors who do not want to walk to enjoy sight-seeing from above. The safety buffer space of cable cars is equipped with poetic designs, combing streams and rivers with rocks and trees to create a beautiful match. When stepping out of the cable cars to the rest-stops visitors can join the flock of walkers to continue their nature expedition trip.

For Zone I:

- Structures designated for spiritual tourism development including Bao Quang Pagoda, Lam Son Pagoda and Linh Son Pagoda of which parts have degraded over time will be preserved, repaired and restored.

- Hinh Tunnel Secret Zone: will be preserved as orginal state, and restored, reviving daily life activties of cadres and soldiers during the French Resistance War (via artifacts, pictures, wax figures, and so forth); the areas surrounding extra structures will be expanded for creating favorable conditons for history tourism.

-  Bao Dai Tea Garden: The Bao Dai Tea Garden has been almost vanished, with only several trees left, so it is necessary to conduct strict protection measures as for a cultural heritage. It should be considered to re-plant tea trees to attract tourists and combine with eco-tourism.

- French Governor-General guesthouse: It is now designated as a military zone (the Military Zone 7 radar station) within the range of no trespassing area, which needs to be marked as a relic.

- It is necessary to conserve four streams springing from Chua Chan Mountain, especially Tom Stream which is a nice stream for tourist attraction. Several sections of carverns need to be preserved and cleared for adventure tourism development. Also, some old trees need to be protected, including the 3-stem Banyan tree.

For Zone II:

- It is necessary to clarify the range and scale of functional sub-zones, newly developed zone and conserved zone for future development, specifically, architectural parts, landscape, rest-stops and architectural design proposals;

- It is necessary to determine traffic routes, power and water suppy networks in Zone I;

- With the approved forestry planning a match should be created between the areas;

Functional sub-zones:

- Zone I: Spritual areas include Buu Quang Pagoda, Lam Son Pagoda and Linh Son Pagoda, with total area of 29 hectares;

- Zone II: Historical area including Hinh Tunnel cave, Bao Dai Tea Garden, and French Governor-General guesthouse, with total area of 9 hectares;

- Zone III: Eco and exploration area

+ Caverns, 3-stem Banyan tree, streams and rivers, the whole area of green hills, with total area of 149.6 hectares;

+ Land for roads + sight-seeing rest-stops: 42.9 hectares.

+ Land for cable car safety buffer space: 5.55 hectares.

+ Land for service, parking lot, and souvenir store: 9.95 hectares.

Land use chart