The best of the ‘Five Sacred Mountains’, Mount Tai locates in the center portion of Shandong province spanning two cities (Tai’an city and Jinan city) with total area of 426 square kilometers. Mount Tai was called Daizong (means the principal mountain of China) in ancient serious amounts of then was renamed as Mount Tai in Spring and Autumn Dynasty went by the category of Dongyue (the Sacred Mountain of East China) that ranks No.1 on the list of five biggest mountains in China. In 1987, Mount Tai was listed as Cultural and Natural World Heritage site and honored “World Geopark” in 2006. In China, Mount Tai is one of the first band of “National Parks of China”, nys 5A-class tourist attraction, the superior best ten National Civilized Spot in China.
The mountain was once called Mt. Daishan, Mt. Daizong or Mt. Taiyue and was renamed Mt. Taishan in the Spring and Autumn Period (770BC-476BC). It epitomizes splendid Chinese culture and was classified by the planet Natural and Cultural Heritage Listing of UNESCO later.
Mount Tai is well known for the spectacular, grandness, elevation, width, steadiness and massiness. The common character of natural scenery of Mount Tai is imposing, steepy, surprising, serene, secluded, profound, and spacious. The picturesque from the Mount Tai has various sceneries like cragged cliff, deep canyon and gorge, grotesque peak and strange rocks, luxuriant vegetation along with the flowing springs and twittering birds…. The mountain boasts the initial marvelous wonders: the increasing sun at dawn, the jade plate of sea of clouds, the aura appearing around Bixia Temple, rosy clouds at sunset etc.
Since ancient time, Mount Tai is regarded holy and sacred Mountain and held the accolade as “Most Revered with the Five Sacred Mountains”. Furthermore, Mount Tai symbolized the peaceful life and unified country. Four 1000′s of years, greater dozen emperors paid their homage on the mountain. Vast quantities of poetry and stone inscriptions were left by emperors, poets and scholars of each era. Confucians and Taoists coexist harmoniously within the mountain. And civilians worshiped the mountain with sincere esteem. In other words, the Mount Tai has becomes the symbol of Chinese spirit.
Taishan Mountain is usually a natural The stone carvings on Mount Taishanmuseum abounding with cultural relics and artworks. Heavenly Queen Pool, Red Gate Palace, Mid-Heaven Gate, Azure Cloud Temple are powerful examples. Stone carvings range from the Buddhist Diamond Sutra in Jing Shi Valley, the Scripture of Mt. Tai as well as the Mo Ya Tablet.
Besides historic relics, Mount Taishan boasts unique natural scenery too. The lofty peaks, deep valleys, spectacular waterfalls, enchanting rocks and the centuries-old pines and cypresses will certainly encourage you linger without looked at leaving. The 4 wonders on the mountain are Sunrises in the East, the Sunset Glow, the ocean of Clouds plus the Golden Belt across the Yellow River. It would be a great pity to overlook the 4 wonders.
There’s also peculiar geologic structures as three grand fracture layers, Komatiite rocks and Zuixin Stone (a swirl shaped allgovite rocks); masterpieces of ancient constructions as Dai Temple, Nantian Gate, Bi Xia temple; jewel inscriptions of past dynasties as Qin dynasty stone inscriptions, inscriptions rocks from the Diamond Sutra, cliffs with inscriptions of Tang dynasty; ancient trees like pine trees of Qin Dynasty, cypress of Han Dynasty (about 1800 years ago), locust of Tang Dynasty(about 1200 in the past).
The many above syncretize and integrate nature scenery and human culture. 7000 stone stairs which runs 9 kilometers long throughout the mountain through the foot towards the zenith seems as if the axes of Mount Tai integrating earth, heaven and human as a whole therefore is really a road for people to heaven. With the unique integration of human civilization and natural landscape, Mount Tai is respected by vast amounts of Chinese people and becomes famous worldwide in addition to treasurable heritage of panhuman.
Mount Taishan is among the most famous sacred mountain of China, with exceptional historic, cultural, aesthetic and scientific value. Settled by humans as soon as the Neolithic (a Dawenkou site is nearby), the mountain continues to be worshipped continuously over the last three millennia. A large and impressive rock mass covering 25,000 ha and rising to at least one,545 m above the encompassing plateau, Mount Taishan is known as the most beautiful scenic spots in China and was a vital cradle of oriental East Asian culture considering that the earliest times. The mountain was a significant object from the cult worship of mountains and before 219 BCE, once the Qin Emperor, Huang Di, paid tribute towards the mountain in the Fengshan sacrifices to tell the gods of his success in unifying each one of China. On the mountain you can find 12 historically recorded imperial ceremonies in homage to Heaven and Earth, about 1,800 stone tablets and inscriptions, and 22 temples, which together make Mount Taishan the key monument in China, a world-renowned treasure house of background and culture.
The key monument, the Temple for the God of Taishan, contains the Taoist masterpiece painting of 1,009 CE “The God of Taishan Making a Journey”. Inscriptions add the Han Dynasty stelae of Zhang Qian, Heng Fang and Madam Jin Sun; the Valley of Inscribed Buddhist Scriptures inscribed from the Northern Qi Dynasty; the Eulogium on Taishan by Tang Xuanzong, and the Parallel Stelae in the Tang Dynasty. Additionally there is a volume of ancient and significant trees, including six cypresses of the Han Dynasty planted 2,century ago; Sophora japonica with the Tang Dynasty planted 1,300 in years past, along with the Guest-Greeting Pine as well as the Five-Bureaucrat Pine, each of which were planted some five centuries ago. All the architectural elements, paintings, in situ sculptures, stone inscriptions and ancient trees are incorporated into the landscape of Mount Taishan.
