taishan mountain

mounttai is located in the centre of shandongprovince, north of taiancity , and is considered by the chinese to be one of the nation'sfive "holiest" mountains. this is also one of the most interesting mountains in terms of history; long the haunt of emperors who took pride in surveying their vast empires from the summit here. the numerous temples and pavilions dotted about the slopes here are testament to this royal patronage.

the mountain has been renamed by various emperors across the ages, all keen to pay great tribute to this holy taoist spot. in 725, the mountain was given the title of "king equal to the sky" and men of letters, artists and poets have all paid tribute to this holiest of spots too. the path ascending the mountain is littered with poems and tributes carved in stone, proclaiming the importance and beauty of the spot.confucius and the poet dufu both penned poems illustrating their respect, and legend has it that those who climb the mountain will live until they are one hundred years old.

the entire mountain covers an area of about 426 square kilometers with qufu, the hometown of confucius to the front and jinan, the city of springs nestled behind. the peak of the jade emperor, the highest spot here, rises some 1545 meters above sea level.the trek from base to summit is about 8 km long and takes approximately five hours. the climb is relatively easy until the half way point at zhongdian gate, from where the steps become considerably more steep.

although the mountain carries considerable historical and religious weight, the inevitable influx of tourism has led to the "disney-fication" of the area and it is increasingly difficult to see the mountain for the historical grandeur it once represented. stalls, shops, photo booths and tea houses are dotted about and there is even a bus station and cable car situated half way up.

it is possible however to escape all this, and the traditional western descent route tends to be more quiet and scenic. what's more, despite (or as a result of) its fame, hundreds of taoist pilgrims still make the journey up here on a regular basis, including many women, ascending to pay tribute to the princess of the rosy clouds (bixia yuan jun), who it is said can help women conceive. for those feeling really keen, the annual mount tai race takes place in september each year, and includes a competition for the best foreign participant!

the daiyutemple:

it is called daitemple for short and is located in the northwest corner at daian. it covers an area of 96,000 square meters. worship to heaven and earth 5 and offering sacrifices to mt.tai by emperors in the past dynasties have been held here. the whole temple is north-south axismetrically arranged, the north being higher than the south. it backs on to mt.tai and faces the plain. mountain and temple forming an integrated whole, look imposing; red wall and yellow tiles look sublime. the bounding wall is 1.5 kilometers in length and 15 meters in height.

the queen mother pond is located at the north of daiyu temple and the mouth of the middle brook. in antiquity, it was named collected jade nunnery and was one old temple in on mt.tai. it enshrines the queen mother of the west.

temple of primordial lady of the emerald cloud: located between daidingtian street and daguanpeak. there is constellations observing platform in the west, connected to immortalbridge in the east, with lionpeak in the south and the jadetemple above. it was built in 1009 and called perfection declaration shrine at first and perfection declaration temple during 1115-1234 in the second, then changed into efficacious temple of primordial lady from 1488-1505 and was named temple of primordial lady of the emerald cloud after reconstruction in 1770, the name that is still used.

temple of the primordial lady of the emerald cloud

it is composed of a group of magnificent ancient architectural complexes in the mountain and covers an area of 3,900 square meters. it has twelve large buildings including a main hall and a fragrant pavilion. bronze statue of primordial lady of the emerald cloud is enshrined in the main hall. she wears phoenix coronal and a cloudy mantle, looks kind, peaceful and dignified. at the right and left sides are the eastern and western accompanying halls. the eastern accompanying hall enshrines eyesight auntie 6 and the western accompany hall enshrines auntie who delivers babies 7. the fragrant pavilion stands between them and enshrines primordial lady of the emerald cloud. in imperial china, the main hall opened at unusual occasions. only emperors and ministers were able to worship the primordial lady, common people worshiped her in fragrant pavilion.

in 1983, the state council authorized the temple of primordial lady of the emerald cloud as one of the important daoist temples. in 1985, this one thousand year old temple once again returned to the daoist organization and re-opened for religious activities.

united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization listed mt.tai in the "world cultural heritage".