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Hengshan (Shanxi)
Hengshan is located in Hunyuan County of Shanxi Province
in northern China. It is the Northern Mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains.
Boasting 108 peaks and spanning 150 kilometers, it has an average elevation of
2,017 meters. The Tianfeng Peak, the highest peak, is 2,190 meters above sea
level, the highest among the Five Sacred Mountains.
Legend has it that 4,000 years ago when King Shun visited
the mountain and saw the lofty peaks, he named it the "Northern Sacred
Mountain". During the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC), Emperor Shihuang named 12 famous
mountains, and Hengshan was regarded as the "Second Mountain in the World". In
ancient times, many emperors and celebrities visited Hengshan and left quite a
lot of stone inscriptions of poems. -- Natural Heritage Hengshan is famous for steepy ridges, splendid peaks,
exotic-shaped temples, and gushing fountains, together with oddly-shaped stones
and forests of ancient trees, which constitutes a beautiful
landscape. It is called "The First Mountain Guarding the North
Borders", depicting its magnitude and wonder. The mountain links with the
Taihang Mountain Range in the east, and to the north it faces the vast expanse
of a plateau, thus forming a natural screen for Shanxi Province. The Great Wall
winds up the mountain, forming many ancient strategic passes; thus, passes,
ancient castles and beacon towers constitute a unique landscape differing from
that of the other four mountains. Hengshan is a very good summer resort. It has a semi-arid
continental climate, with cold winter, dry and windy spring, humid summer and
sunny but short autumn. It has an annual temperature of 6.1oC -- the hottest
month, July, averaging 21.6oC and the coldest month, January,
12oC. Hengshan's main peak, Tianfeng (Heavenly Peak) Ridge,
rises 2,190 meters above sea level. Its steep northern slope is covered with
pine trees, and located on its southern slope are temples and monasteries built
by ancient kings and emperors to worship their ancestors. Hengshan was once
famous for its "Eighteen Sites of Interest”, and there still remain a dozen
sites such as the Xuankong (Suspending or Mid-air) Temple, Zhaodian Hall,
Jiutian (Nine Heavens) Palace, Huixian (Celestial-Meeting) Mansion and Flying
Stone Cave, etc. -- Cultural Heritage: Temples on the
Cliff Hengshan boasts many cultural relics like temples, sites of academy, steles and engravings, some of which occupy important positions in the development of China’s ancient architecture, such as the Xuankong Temple, Yuanjue Brick Pagoda and Yongan Temple. The Xuankong Temple, built 1,400 years ago, hosts worship for the Taoists, Confucians and Buddhists. The temple is hung on the middle of the cliff and is still in perfect conditions after so many years. Besides the Xuankong Temple, many other temples are constructed on the cliffs or caved in just like castles in the air, adding to steepness and grandiosity. Standing high in the mountain, with the clouds floating under your feet and the wind in the pine trees resounding above your head, the mountain peaks occasionally appearing and disappearing in the clouds, one will be reluctant to leave. On the sides of some cliffs are full of stone inscriptions eulogizing the beauty of Hengshan by celebrities in history. |
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