Taishan Mountain was once called Mt. Daishan or Mt. Daizong before. It was renamed Taishan Mountain during the Spring and Autumn Period. In 1987 UNESCO listed Mount Tai as the World Natural and Cultural Heritage.

Mt Tai,the first of the "Five Sacred Mountains", is located in the central part of Shandong Province, within the precincts of Jinan, Licheng and Tai'an, covering an area of 426 square kilometers. Its circumference is 80 kilometers. The highest peak of this mountain range about 1545 meters above sea level, lies within Tai'an City. Mt Tai abounds in lofty peaks, deep valleys and rare cultural relics of the old days.

It lies in the civilized land of the ancient states of Qi and Lu, with the Yellow River on the north and the sea on the east. A famous saying goes, "Scaling Taishan Mountain makes one feel superior to the whole world", as it creates a feeling of regal dignity and imperial majesty. Many romantic scholars of old considered it a great treat to express their sentiments on top of Taishan Mounain.

The mountain is an early birthplace of China's ancient civilization and the area around was one of ancient China's political, economic and cultural centers.Since ancient times Taishan Mountain has been hailed as the "most sublime of the five mountains". Apart from its impressive height and ancient culture, the reason is probably that men have deliberately deified it.

Historical records show that a total of 72 emperors of bygone dynasties, from the first Qin Emperor Shihuang onward, have made sacrifices to Taishan Mountain. This association with feudalism has earned the mountain a widespread fame. Nowadays, after repeated renovations, Mt Tai has become more enchanting than ever before.

For a long time, poets, writers and artists from various historical periods went to Taishan Mountain to enjoy the beauties and elegance of Taishan abundant sources of inspiration, imaginaton and creativities and this accounts for the large quantity of precious cultural relics. After all, climbing 6000-plus steps to a height of 1400 meter above sea level can be a reinforcement of self-confidence. As Confucies once uttered the dictum stop Taishan - "The world is small".

Rain or shine all year round mountaineers carrying heavy loads of food and household items slung from the ends of shoulder poles, work their way, step by step, up the mountain, wearing flat the soles of their shoes on the rugged rocks while the stone steps shine from their sweat. It is they who have developed this remote and wild mountain and made it habitable for human beings.

Men today take an even greater interest in climbing Taishan Mountain. Taishan Mountain is approximately 20 li in height from the base to the Jade Emperor Peak. 6,700 steps lead up to a spot where hills overlap and where you find beautiful waterfalls and oddly shaped pines and cypresses. The scenery changes with each step.

Mt Tai has a lot of scenic areas and it is one of China's mountain parks and is a natural museum of history and art. They are Wangmuchi (Heavenly Queen Pool), Hongmen Gong (Red Gate Palace), Nan Tianmen (South Gate to Heaven), Bixia Ci (Azure Cloud Temple).

There are also stone carvings from various dynasties, including the Buddhist Diamond Sutra carved on a stone cliff in Jinshi Yu (Sutra Stone Valley), Which is called "The ancestor of big characters." Along its axis there are 1,800 stone sculptures including famous ones such as the Carved Road from the Qin Dynasty, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra in Sutra Stone Valley the Wordless Stone Tablet and the Scripture of Taishan Mountain History carved on Tangmo Cliff.

Taishan Mountain has 72 majestic peaks, magnificent waterfalls, centuries-old pines and cypresses and fascinating rocks. There are five tourist zones and two routes up the mountain - one in the east and one in the west. They meet and Zhongtian Gate and there are 6,293 steps in the nine kilometesr leading to the top. Scenic spots include Longtan Reservoir, Zhongtian Gate, Five Doctor Pine, Duansong Hill, 18 Turns, South Gate to Heaven, Bixia Temple, Zhanglu Terrace, Sun-Watching Peak, Moon-Watching Peak.

The four wonders of the mountain are Sun Rises from the East, Golden Belt along the Yellow River, Beautiful Sunset and the Sea of clouds. Other attractive spots are the Rare Rock Dock, Fan Cliff, Aolai Peak, Black Dragon Pool, Longevity Bridge, and the Dragon Pool Waterfall.

Running from Songshan Valley to the South Gate to heaven, on the top of Taishan Hill, is a path with 18 turns consisting of 1,580 steps. It looks just like a ladder shooting up to the heaven. Although the path is lit, le more than one kilometer long it rises 400 meters. The steps along the path are made of Tianshan schist. There is now a cable ca r from Zhongtian Gate to the top of Wangfu Hill.

Somewhere near the Shi Ba Pan there is an inscription carved on the face of a precipice, "The Spirit of China", by which, I think, is meant the pioneering spirit of the Chinese people forging ahead and scaling the heights of modernization.

Tiankuang Hall in the Daimiao Temple which is also 031 Taishan Mountain is one of the three great halls of China (the other two are the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City Beijing, and Dacheng Hall in Qufu). The 40 statues of arhat in the Thousand-Buddha Hall of the Lingyan Temple date to the Song Dynasty and are prized for their individuality and expressiveness.

The best scene is probably the sun rise. Once the sun jumps out of the horizen, it sends the first beam through the leavies of pines onto the rocks still shadowed in darkness - a magnificent scene. To see the sunrise, People climb to the summit at first light. When darkness recedes and day breaks, a ball of fire appears over the horizon. One mountain after another catches the sun's beams, until every thing comes alive. The people sing and dance and cheer, bathed in the glorious sun and embraced in the bosom of nature.

Also among the climbers are old people and children. Taishan Mountain is 2.5 billion years old. Here the old can recapture their youth while the children can steel themselves against the weather and the exertion involved in climbing.

The journal of Taishan all begins with First Gate Under Heaven (Tian Xia Di Yi Men) at the mountain base. Most of the earlier routes are quite pleasant and scenic, decorated with attractions such as Tianmu Palace and a huge reservoir. In the midway is the second gate (Zhong1 Tian1 Men4), where one take a good rest and take a picture of the famous Welcoming Pine (Yin4 Ke4 Song1). Then comes the most difficult stretch of a steep, consequtive 2000 step climb. The alternative would be taking the cable to the top. If one does face up the challenge and managed to climb through the third and the final gate Nan Tian Men, he or she can really be proud of being an overcomer.

Tai-an, the town at the bottom of the mountain, is a nice, quiet and none-expensive place for tourist to prepare for or recover from the Taishan assult.