Tai Shan - Tai Shan

The Tai Shan(Chinese: 泰山, Pinyin: Tài Shan) is a mountain range in the province Shandong . North of the city Tai’an is the 1532 meter high summit which has been used since 1987 UNESCO world cultural heritage belongs.

background

The Taishan is one of the five sacred mountains of Daoism. For 3000 years, 72 emperors from different dynasties have made pilgrimages to the mountain and left their mark. The mountain also served as an inspiration to many poets and painters. An image of the Taishan can also be found on the 5 yuan banknote today.

Tourist Attractions

To get to the top of this mountain you can either take the cable car or you can walk. If you take the cable car you don't notice anything of the mountain and only see the temples on the summit. The best way to proceed is to take a bus, which runs regularly, to the middle of the mountain. Here you don't get on the cable car but take the footpath. Along the way you come to various small temples up to a 9 km long staircase with 6293 steps (Shiba Pan). The ascent is unusual for Europeans and you should always make a little stop. There are tons of tourists here and it is impressive how easy the Chinese grandma climbs the stairs while the foreigner has to pant.

The summit area is then reached through the Niantan Gate. This is also where the cable car arrives. On the summit there are various temples, some from the Tang Dynasty, along the cloud pass (when it is foggy you have the impression of walking in the clouds). The Temple of the Jade Emperor can be found at the highest point, and the lift should be used to descend. But here you only drive to the middle station, since we only climbed 50% of the mountain, and walk the rest of the old pilgrimage route to Taian. There are hardly any tourists to be found here and there are many steles and small old temples. At the foot of the mountain you can see the actual entrance to the mountain, from which the emperors started at that time.

Here you can take a taxi and be driven to Dai Miao, the temple of the mountain god. Every emperor had to pray here before climbing the mountain. In the temple there are a lot of old steles and hardly any tourists, so you should plan a whole day for this tour.

20 yuan admission, temples cost extra.

language

Some English is sometimes spoken.

getting there

In Taian there is a train station where trains from various major cities stop. There are enough taxis at the train station that can take you to a hotel in Tainan.

Catering

There is water and snacks all the way. There are also restaurants at the top.

Web links

• http://www.mount-tai.com.cn/english/index.asp - Tai Shan's official website