wudang mountains

main cities of hubei: wuhan , huangshi , yichang , jingzhou, xiangfan , shiyan , enshi , jiangling

attractions:

• amazing and marvelous natural scenery
• magnificent ancient building complex
• renowned martial arts (wushu) center
• old-line taoist culture

located southwest of danjiangkou city, hubei province, wudang mountains is a famous taoism resort. people call it "the first mountain under heaven", which is a little exaggeration, but it has to be seen to be believed.

wudang mountains back on to the shennong stream, reaching qinling in the north and bashan in the south. it is a combination of natural scenery and man-made sight. distinctly, in spring, flowers bloom & glow to its full blossom and everything is in abundance of growth; summer time is cloudy with lots of sunshine and at the same time pleasantly cool; in the autumn of life, one could literally feel the mood with it's colorful scenery; during winter, snow covers with a feel of surrealism. so it is an ideal place for your sightseeing holidays at any time of a year.

wudang mountains mainly has four characteristics.

amazing and marvelous natural scenery

standing at the foot of the wudang mountains, you can do nothing but feel surprised at its immensity. from the top, amazing and marvelous natural scenery is everywhere. walking through mountains is just like strolling in the pictures. it's really a taoism wonderland.

the south rock is the most beautiful one among many rocks. a temple named longevity palace which was built with stone carvings rests on the cliff. beside the palace, there is a stone beam carved with a dragon on it. the beam is 2.9 meters protruding from above the cliff. you can imagine it was an incredible feat to build it without modern equipments. the south rock shows the wisdom and ingenious skills of the ancient craftsmen. every year, many people would rather take a challenge to burn joss sticks to show their godliness, and they think the south rock is the no. one scenic spot for travelers.

magnificent ancient building complex

the magnificent and grand ancient building complex is well worth seeing. it has architectures of the tang, song, yuan, ming and qing dynasties. there are 72 temples, 39 bridges, 36 nunneries and 12 pavilions, so there is a saying that "a nunnery every five miles and a palace every miles". from early 1300 ad of the tang dynasty, people began to build the five dragon ancestral temple (wulongci) on the mountains and promoted taoism, and so gradually taoism grew. hence, wudang mountains became the cradle of taoism. in 1413, the emperor of the ming dynasty ordered to build 33 palaces and temples within ten years. they built the golden palace, taihe palace, nanyan palace, ziyun palace, and yuzhen palace.

the golden palace is called "the world asgard". this is the main large scale palace in the mountains and is well-preserved. the 860 rooms of temples and pavilions make it look majestic. built in 1416 ad, it is 5.5 meters high, 5.8 meters wide and 4.2 meters deep. the whole building is covered with cast coppers except the base of the palace. so seen from the distance, the golden palace is brilliant and magnificent. over the years the palace has suffered from wind, frost, rain and snow, but still in perfect condition. you can climb up the top of the palace to see the sunrise at dawn and enjoy a cloud-sea at dusk. the palace contains a 10-ton bronze of zhenwu emperor, in a serious and lifelike pose. from the foot o f the mountains to the palace there is a "god path", 70 kilometers long and paved with bluestones. standing on the top of the golden palace, you will have everything in view.

renowned martial arts (wushu ) center

the wudang martial arts enjoys great popularity, both in china and abroad. students of martial arts travel from all over the world to study with the masters in wudang. whenever wushu is mentioned, it brings to mind zhang sanfeng - the initiator of wudang quan (taiji). according to the legend, his idea of wudang quan was rooted in a fight between a pied magpie and a snake. wudang quan advocates the cultivation of one's morality and fostering one's nature. it's the main principal of chinese martial art.

old-line taoism culture

wudang shan taoist culture is widespread. taoist culture developed here for two reasons. one is that some taoists preferred to cultivate themselves in the wudang mountains according to the religious doctrines; another is that the emperors of different dynasties ordered the building of temples for the taoists to publicize the taoist culture. over time, the taoist culture developed to maturity in the wudang mountains, so people call it the "cradle of taoist".

in summary, the ancient building complex in the wudang mountains is a bright pearl in china. also in 1994, it was listed as the world cultural heritage by unesco.

 

 

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