Mount Tai revered for centuries as the closest point to heaven

Mount Tai, one of the five most famous mountains in China, was also revered as a powerful deity in ancient times. Befittingly, the temple to the god of Mount Tai was built at the foot of the mountain in Taian, Shandong province, during the Han Dynasty (202 BC-AD 220).

The layout of Dai Temple - the god of Mount Tai was also called Dai in ancient times - accords with imperial palace architecture, featuring a bilateral symmetry on a north-south axis.

Spread over 96,000 square meters and encircled by a city wall with turrets on each of its four corners, the temple was expanded to its current scale during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).