Taishan Mountain Hike 2024 泰山
I stayed in the city of Taian for 2 days to visit Taishan, one of the five sacred mountains of China. A lucky pilgrim to visit the mountain in mid-May, I enjoyed the pleasant late spring weather with warm sunshine and fresh breezes in the mountain areas. Taishan is a cultural vault with artistic masterpieces that blends harmoniously with nature, with calligraphy carvings on stone, ancient temples that held imperial ceremonies, and Taoist masterpiece paintings.
Rising 1545 meters above the surrounding plains, hikers start from 紅門 (200 meters) and ascend 1300+ meters in 17 kilometers. With well paved stone staircases and pathways, pilgrims climb 8848 staircases up towards the summit (南天門), and this is one of the steepest ascents I’ve experienced (1300+ meters in 3 hours uphill). Besides the beginning path of moderate ascent, the remaining 80% of the trail features steep staircases uphill, reflecting one of the stone carvings along the way, 「如登天」, as if we are reaching towards the sky (heaven).
Despite its difficulty, pilgrims are from all ages and backgrounds — youngsters hoisted by their parents to the elderly Chinese families. I visited Taishan during the period when their cable cars are under maintenance, thus everyone must climb the challenging staircases by foot. We each walked with our own pace in conviviality, and I felt encouraged and happy simply inching myself uphill and observing pilgrims taking the same path along the way. The most ideal to for visits is the spring season (March to May), as Taishan winters are long and the crowd does make a difference to the pilgrimage experience.
Taishan was designated as a UNESCO world natural and cultural heritage sight in 1987. Its nature beauty may be surpassed by other Chinese rock mountains (such as the beautiful黃山), but it differentiates itself with its historic and cultural significance. Taishan has been a source of inspiration for Chinese artists, scholars, religious pilgrims, and emperors. The pious worship is manifested in the ancient Taoist and Confucianism monuments, situ sculptures, calligraphy ink carvings in stone, and ancient trees (cypresses planted back during the Han Dynasty). Due to its scared status, many of the ancient architecture are preserved with little alteration.
I stood mesmerized before the 大觀峰石壁, where more than 50 calligraphy carvings carved in different eras are scattered across the stone wall. One of the most famous is 唐玄宗’s「纪泰山铭」carved in gold — 12.3 meters tall, 5.3 meters wide, with 1008 Chinese characters — manifesting the emperor’s worship for the sacred mountain and his strong ambition.
