Mount Qingyuan

Mount Qingyuan is a national park in Fujian, People's Republic of China, located about 3 km from Quanzhou city. It consists of three scenic spots. They are Mount Qingyuan, Mount Ling and Mount Jiuri. The total area covered is 62 km². It is 615 metres above sea level.

History

Mount Qingyuan has been famous since the Tang dynasty. The earliest mention of Mount Qingyuan dates back 221-207 B.C.E. Rapid development of Mount Qingyuan began in 618-1279 A.D. and reached its peak during 1297 to 1911.

The centuries of development on Mount Qingyuan has imprinted various important historical and cultural artifacts. Such examples include nine huge Taoist and Buddhist stone sculptures, 600 stone inscriptions and 3 granite stones. The site also contain the shrine of Master Honyi.

There is also the "Four Superlatives' which includes the stone statue of Laozi from the , the stone statues of for Three Lives, the holy Islamic tombs and the pray for wind stone inscriptions.

Mount Jiuhua

Mount Jiuhua is one of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism. It is located in Qingyang County in Anhui province and is famous for its rich landscape and ancient temples.

Many of the mountain's shrines and temples are dedicated to Ksitigarbha , who is a bodhisattva and protector of souls in hell according to Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Pious Buddhists often come to this popular attraction in Anhui to climb to Greater Tiantai peak, which is regarded as Jiuhuashan's most important peak, although it is not the tallest.

History

Mount Jiuhua was called Mount Lingyang in Han Dynasty. It was called Mount Jiuzi in Liang and Chen Dynasties of South Dynasties. A legend says that the great poet Li Bai of Tang Dynasty travelled here and wrote down "Magic is divided to two branches, sacred mountain generates nine glories." . Thus it was named Mount Jiuhua.

JiuHuashan is delicately beautiful which is located in the southeastern part of Chizhou City,Anhui Province.The gross area reaches 120 square kilometerswhile the protection area reaches 114square kilometers.Together with WuTai Mountain in Shanxi,E??mei Mountain in Sichuan,Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang.Jiuhua Mountain is called one of the four great Buddhist mountains in China. In 719 AD,Kim Qiaoque,prince of the king of XinLuocame to Jiuhua Mountain and cultivated himself for 5 years.He died at 99 years of age,his corporeal body stayed intact.Because he was very similar in appearance to Dizang Buddhisattva,the monks there believed Dizang Boddhisattva was reincarnated in him,as a result,Jiuhua Mountain became the place to hold rites for Dizang Boddhisatva.During the golden periods n Ming ang Qing dynasty,there were as many as 360 temples and 4,000 to 5,000 monks and nuns. Mount Jiuhua was originally known as Jiuzi Mountain. But ever since Li Bai, the celebrated poet in the Tang Dynasty wrote of the mountain: "Sailing down the Jiujiang River the other day, I saw the Jiuhua Peaks in the distance. Looking like a heavenly river hanging in heaven, Its green water embroidering cottonrose hibiscuses.", the mountain was renamed Jiuhua Mountain . As number 1 place fo pilgrimage,it was very famous in the southeastern part of China and became one of the great four Buddhist mountains .Since the opening-up in 1979,JiuhuaMountain,with its abundant buddhistic culture and uniquely attractive scenery,has been enjoying a high reputation in southeast Asia,SouthKorea and Japan,which belong to Han-culture centered xountries.It is of high influence power in the area of Dizang Buddhisattva and the large numble of whole buddhistic relics.There are 99 peaks in the area,among them ,Shiwang Peak,Lotus Peak and other nine ones are the most beautiful.They enjoyed the laudatory of ??Lotus Country??.Besides, Jiuhua Mountain is famous for its historic interest with more than 2000 historical relics,500 poems written by famous poets through dynasties and 20 school relics.

Temples in a thousand,amid the mist they scatter,among the great four mountains,Jiuhua Mountain is the most beaurtiful for its charming,and it has a double crown as ??the most incense stick and candle?? and ??number one mountain in the coutheast??,being regarded as a sacred place by the pious men and women.The mountains of Jiuhua are all imposing.Ridges and peaks eagerly show their delicate beauty.Vegetation thvives.Waterfalls and springs splash. The climate here is warm and wet with 4 seasons being clearly demarcated.The natural scenes combining with artificial spectacles as well as the atmosphere of buddhism have long since made JiuhuaMountain the famous scenic spot from the acient period in China.

Temples

*Huacheng Temple

Gallery

Mount Huang

Mount Huang, also known as Huangshan , is a mountain range in southern Anhui in eastern China. The area is famous for its scenic beauty, which lies in the peculiar shapes of the granite peaks, in the weather-shaped Huangshan Pine trees, and in views of the clouds from above. The area also has hot springs and natural pools. Mount Huang is a frequent subject of traditional Chinese paintings and . Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of China's most popular tourist destinations.

The Huangshan mountain range comprises many peaks, 77 of which exceed 1,000 in altitude. The three tallest peaks are ''Lotus Peak'' , nearby ''Bright Summit Peak'' and ''Celestial Peak'' . The World Heritage Site covers a core area of 154 square kilometres and a buffer zone of 142 square kilometres.

The mountains were formed in the Mesozoic, about 100 million years ago, when an ancient sea disappeared due to uplift. Later, in the Quaternary Period, the landscape was shaped by the influence of glaciers. In many cases, stone pillar forests were formed.

During the Qin Dynasty, Huangshan had been known as ''Yishan.'' It got its present name in , when the poet Li Bai referred to it by this name in his writing.

The vegetation of the area depends on altitude: Below 1,100 , moist forest can be found; deciduous forest stretches from 1,100 m up to the tree line at 1,800 m; above that the vegetation consists of alpine grass-lands. The area has diverse flora, where one-third of China's bryophyte families and more than half of its fern families are represented.

Because the mountain tops are often above cloud level, they offer views of the clouds from above and interesting light-effects. The ''Sea of Clouds'' and '''' are famous phenomena which attract many tourists. On average, the Buddha's Light only appears a couple of times in a month.

The hot springs of the area are located at the foot of the ''Purple Cloud Peak''. the water retains a temperature of 42 ° all year. Most natural pools are concentrated in the ''Songgu Area''. Some particularly well-known water bodies in the area are the ''Old Dragon Pool'' , the ''Green Dragon Pool'' , the ''Black Dragon Pool'' , the ''White Dragon Pool'' , and the ''Jadeite Pond''.

''Mao feng tea'' is a famous green tea from the Huangshan area, it is named for the downy tips of the tea leaves.

Huangshan has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1990 for its exceptional natural beauty and its role as a habitat for rare and threatened species.

Image Gallery

Mount Hua

Hua Shan is located in the Shaanxi Province, about 100 kilometres east of the city of Xi'an, near the city Huayin in China. The mountain is one of China's , and has a long history of religious significance. The mountain has five main peaks, of which the tallest is the South Peak at 2160 m.

Geography

Huashan is located in the Qinling mountain range, which lies in southern Shaanxi province.

History

As early as the second century BC, there was a Daoist temple known as the Shrine of the Western Peak located at its base. Daoists believed that in the mountain live a god of the underworld. The temple at the foot of the mountain was often used for spirits mediums to contact the god and his underlings. Unlike Taishan, which became a popular place of pilgrimage, Huashan only received local pilgrms, and was not well known in much of the rest of China. Huashan was also an important place for immortality seekers, as powerful drugs were reputed to be found there. Kou Qianzhi , the founder of the received revelations there, as did Chen Tuan , who lived on the mountain prior to receiving immortality. In the 1230s, all the temples on the mountain came under control of the Daoist Quanzhen School. In 1998, the management committee of Huashan agreed to turn over most of the mountain's temples to the China Daoist Association. This was done to help protect the environment, as the presence of monks and nuns deters poachers and loggers.

Temples

Huashan has a variety of temples and other religious structures on its slopes and peaks. At the foot of the mountain is the Cloister of the Jade Spring , which is dedicated to Chen Tuan.

The trail that leads to the South Peak from North Peak is on a cliff face, and it is known as being extremely dangerous. The infamy of this route seems to have arisen from a story put on the web page of a person called Rick Archer with the title "The Deadly Huashan Hiking Trail". The author claims it was written by an American couple who visited the trail in 2003.

The origin of the story is not known and is assumed by many Hua Shan visitors to be purely fictional. The spread and popularity of the story was aided by many videos showing the most dangerous parts of the trail.

Mount Heng (Shanxi)

Heng Shan in is one of the . At 2,017 m, it is one of the five tallest peaks in China Proper. Heng Shan in Shanxi province is sometimes known as the Northern Heng Shan, and should not be confused with the Southern Heng Shan in Hunan Province. Both mountains have the same pronunciation in Chinese, and the Southern Heng Shan is also one of the Five Sacred Mountains.

History

Like the other four sacred Daoist mountains in China, Heng Shan has been considered a sacred mountain since the Zhou Dynasty. Due to its northerly location, the mountain was often under the control of non-Chinese dynasties, such as the Liao . This made it impossible for for pilgrimmages by the Chinese to take place for much of its history. Because of this, Hengshan is not nearly as religiously important in China as the other four Daoist mountains.

Temples

During the Han Dynasty, a temple called the Shrine of the Northern Peak , dedicated to the mountain god was built on Hengshan's slopes. While periodically destroyed and rebuilt, this temple has an uninterrupted history from Han times to the present day.

The most famous temple at Hengshan is not Daoist, but is actually the Buddhist Hanging Monastery . The Hanging Monastery stands at the foot of Mt. Hengshan and is one of the most dramatic sights at Hengshan - a wooden temple clinging to the cliff side, appearing to defy gravity with only a few wooden posts as support. The Hanging Monastery, built in 491, has survived more than 1,400 years. The extant monastery was largely rebuilt and maintained in the Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty . The buildings were restored in 1900 and there are 40 wooden halls and structures linked by an ingenious system of pillars, posts and walkways.

Mount Heng (Hunan)

Mount Heng, known in China as ''Nan Yue'' , is located in Hunan and is one of the in China. Heng Shan is a mountain range 150 km long with 72 peaks and it is located in Hunan Province at 27.254798° and 112.655743°.

Mount Emei

''Omei Shan redirects here, For the bird see Grey-faced Liocichla''





Mount Emei is a mountain in Sichuan province of Western China. Mount Emei is often written as 峨眉山 and occasionally 峩嵋山 or 峩眉山 but all three are translated as Mount Emei or Mount Emeishan.

Mt. Emei is one of the . The patron bodhisattva of Emei is Samantabhadra, known in as Puxian .
16th and 17th century sources allude to the practice of martial arts in the monasteries of Mount Emei. made the earliest extant reference to the Shaolin Monastery as Chinese boxing's place of origin.

A large surrounding area of countryside is geologically known as the Permian Emeishan Large Igneous Province, a large igneous province generated by the Emeishan Traps volcanic eruptions during the Permian Period.

Mt. Emei was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

The Emei Shan Liocichla, a passerine bird is named after the site.

Architecture

This is the location of the first Buddhist temple built in China in the 1st century CE.
There are cable cars to top level of the mountain.

Images of Mount Emei