subject: The Best Mountain in the World – Mount Tai in China [print this page] The Best Mountain in the World Mount Tai in China
Being the first of the "Five Sacred Mountains" in China, Mount Tai has good reputation of "The Best Mountain in the World". Located in the middle of Shandong province in China, it has magnificent natural landscape with the infiltration of thousands of years of spirit and culture. Mount Tai was listed into "The World Natural and Cultural Heritage List" in 1987.
For thousands of years, 12 Chinese emperors came to Mount Tai to worship heaven to pray for good harvests and fine rain. Confucius left behind a high praise, only by ascending Mt. Tai will you find how dwarfed all mountains under heaven are.
Mount Tai was formed in Archaeozoic era. At first, it rose gradually as the extrusion force from southwest and northeast, then ruptured and was cut apart for the alteration of lithosphere beneath the earth, hence formed into a lumpy mountain named Mount Tai, which increasingly rises with the rate of 0.5 millimeter per year. Facing the vast sea on the east and nearing the Yellow River with a long history on the west, Mount Tai, for thousands of years, is always a political, economic and cultural center of the east.
Mount Tai hasprofound historical and cultural connotation, with the architectural style of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it perfectly integrates architecture, painting, carving, stone and forest.
Taking the main peak of Mount Tai as the center, the scenic spots on the mountain are distributed by the radial form, blended with natural and cultural landscape. From its foot Mount Tai Temple to its summit Yuhuangding, formed an axes of the hell, world and paradise with 10 kilometers length. The reputation for the tremendous momentum of Mount Tai is as good as the Great Wall.
There are over 20 ancient building complex and more than 2000 historical and cultural relics on the mountain. Its precipitous and majestic appeal, make Mount Tai be titled as "Natural Mountain Park" and "The Miniature of History and Culture of the East".
Mount Tai boasts a large number of natural relics, including 156 peaks, 138 precipitous ridges, 72 famous holes, 72 odd stones, 130 streams and valleys, 64 waterfall ponds, 72 famous springs, ten thousand ancient trees, 42 ancient remains, 13 ancient tombs, 58 ancient buildings, 1239 stone tablets.
Today, Mount Tai, with its magnificent and majestic charm, and a long history, extensive and profound cultural connotation, gallantly stands in the east of the world and demonstrates its elegance of ancient civilization in China.
