Taishan International Hotel

Tai Shan - Part 1

by Willettsworld

Tai Shan (meaning Mount Tai) is one of the "Five Sacred Mountains" of Taoism. It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal, and is often regarded the foremost of the five. The temples on its slopes have been a destination for pilgrims for 3,000 years, one of which, known as Jade Emperor Temple, is at the mountains summit at 1532 metres (5028 ft). It is located to the north of the city where pilgrims embark on their journey from the Dai Temple and up the mountain via a series of over 6,500 arduous steps past 22 temples, 11 gates, 14 archways, 14 kiosks, 4 pavilions, 819 stone tablets, and 1,018 cliff-side and stone inscriptions. If you don't fancy the hard climb up you can simply take a bus up to the halfway point where cable cars will whisk you the rest of the way to the summit. I decided not to climb the whole mountain but instead took a bus to the halfway point, climbed the hardest part to the summit, took a cable car back down to the halfway point and then walked the rest of the way down and back to Tai'an. This meant that I got to see nearly everything on the mountain by either ascending or descending it.