Taoism · Confucianism
泰山
Mount Tai
“The foremost of the Five Great Mountains, where emperors made offering to heaven”
Photo: Rolf Müller · CC BY-SA 3.0
Scenes
Meaning
Stone stairs climb through the clouds to the Gate to Heaven, and beyond it Taoist temples line the summit. Red characters are carved into the rock, and in the early dawn a red sun rises slowly over a sea of clouds.
It is regarded as the eastern and foremost of China's Five Great Mountains, where emperors are said to have performed the fengshan rites of offering to heaven and earth. Taoist temples and Confucian veneration have long overlapped here, and the summit's Bixia Temple and the inscriptions carved into its rock attest to a long-held faith. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Field notes
- Location
- Shandong · China · N36.3° · E117.1°
- Best time
- Early dawn, when the sun rises over a sea of clouds, in spring and autumn
- Getting there
- From Tai'an in Shandong, by the stone stairway or cable car to the Gate to Heaven and the summit.
- Etiquette
- Visitors keep quiet and courteous at the temples and places of worship and follow the marked paths.
Sources
- · UNESCO World Heritage
- · Encyclopaedia Britannica
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