Mount Tai Overview
Basic Information
- Chinese Name: 泰山
- Location: Located north of the city of Tai'an, in Shandong province, China.
- Area: 24,200
- Elevation: 1,545 meters
- Main Peak: The Jade Emperor Peak
Geography
Mount Tai is located in central part of Shandong province, spanning two cities (Tai’an city and Jinan city) with total area of 426 square kilometers. It extends from 150 to 1,545 metres above sea level and covers an area of 426 square kilometres at its base. Its main peak is the Jade Emperor Peak with an elevation of 1,545 meters above sea level and located at 36° 16′N and 117° 6′E. Running through the center of Shandong and spanning among Tai’an, Jinan and Laiwu city, it was named “Daishan Mountain” and “Daizong”, and got the name of Mount Tai in Spring and Autumn Period. Facing Qufu which is the hometown of Confucius, backing to Jinane which is the capital of Shandong province, it enjoys a special location. With the sea in the east, the Yellow River in the west and several river branches in the south, it spans about 200 kilometers in width and 50 kilometers in length.
Climate
The climate of Mount Tai has the characteristic of vertical change. In January, its foot sees an average temperature of minus 3℃ and its top sees minus 9℃ in average. In July, the monthly average temperature is about 26℃ at the foot of Mount Tai and the top of it experiences 18℃. The annual precipitation here increases with height. It has an annual rainfall of 1132 mm on the top and only 72.6 mm on the foot. Its foot sees four distinctive seasons. On the top, three spring-like seasons and jade-like winter which is formed by rime on the trees make it a wonderful tourist attraction. The winter here stays long, with 150-day ice period. The utmost lowest temperature here is 27.5, which brings the rime sights wonder.
The Best Time to Go
The period from April to November is agreeable for visiting Mount Tai, and the best season travel there is summer. May to June, and September to October are the golden time to climb Mount Tai and appreciate sunrise. However, sunrise is impacted by weather, so you’d better check the weather if you want to admire sunrise here. In fact, four seasons are suitable for mountain climbing here, even in winter which could bring splendid snow views and sunrise as well. The famous article The Journey of Mount Tai climbing written by Yaoding was finished after his viewing of snowy Mount Tai.
In spring, Mount Tai is blessed with eyeful green scenery view and luxuriantly blooming flowers. And autumn here sees clear blue sky dotted with clouds and the most colorful sight time. Looking from distance, appealing scenery, you will revel in and be amazed by such wonderful pictures. But what you need to notice is that large temperature difference between day and night comes with this two seasons.
Summer here enjoys lush trees and moderate temperature so that it sight pleasant for taking a walk. But you’d better take umbrellas or other rain gears since rain hits this period usually. In addition, the Buddhist light of Mount Tai, which is actually a diffraction of light, often appears from June to August each year on half-sunny and half-foggy days and when the sun is shining slantly.
Things to Do
Visiting a mountain scenic spot, hiking up the mountain is the first thing that you could not avoid. Then, as the leader of the five sacred mountains, Mount Tai is blessed gorgeous views of sunset and sunrise which are must-to-do things for many tourists. Also, Mount Tai provides multitudes of historical and cultural sites; you could visit these charming and unique spots like Dai Temple, the Temple of the Jade King, the Temple of Confucius, Sun Viewing Peak, Moon Viewing Peak, Mount Tai Baotailong Tourist Area, Huayangnianhua Scenic Spot, Zhongtian Gate, etc.
Transportation
As a one of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Mount Tai which lies in Tai’an offers many accesses for tourists. Visitors could take regular train, high-speed train, bus, and taxi here. There is no airport in Tai;an, but airport shuttle buses from Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport offer convenience Fotosearch visitors.
History& Culture
Traces of human presence at Mount Tai could be dated back to the Paleolithic period, and human settlement of the area can be proven from the Neolithic Period. During this time, two cultures had emerged near the mountain, the Dawenkou culture to the south and the Longshan culture to the north.
Historically important in the cult of official state rituals, Mount Tai was the site of two of the most spectacular of all the ceremonies of the traditional Chinese empire. One of them, called feng, was held on top of Mount Tai and consisted of offerings to heaven; the other, called chan, was held on a lower hill and made offerings to earth. These ceremonies are often referred to together as fengchan (worship of heaven and earth) and were believed to ensure a dynasty’s fortunes. Mount Tai was called Daizong (means the principal mountain of China) in ancient time and then was renamed as Mount Tai in Spring and Autumn Period went by the name of Dongyue (the Sacred Mountain of East China) that ranks No.1 among the five most important mountains in China.
In 219 B.C., Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China, held a ceremony on the summit and proclaimed the unity of his empire in a well-known inscription. In 666, Japan, India, the Persian court in exile, Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, the Turks, Khotan, the Khmer, and the Umayyad Caliphate all had representatives attending the Feng and Shan sacrifices held by Emperor Gaozong of Tang at Mount Tai.
Since ancient time, Mount Tai is recognized as holy and sacred Mountain. It symbolized the peaceful life and unified country. Four thousands of years, more than several emperors paid their homage to the mountain. Vast quantities of poetry and stone inscriptions were left by emperors, poets and scholars of varying era. Confucians and Taoists coexist harmoniously on the mountain. Civilians worshiped the mountain with sincere esteem.
In 1987, Mount Tai was listed as Cultural and Natural World Heritage site. In 2003, it attracted around 6 million visitors. A renovation project was completed in late October 2005, which aimed at restoring cultural relics and renovating damaged buildings of cultural significance. In 2006, it was honored “World Geopark”. In China, Mount Tai is among the first group of “National Parks of China”, the state 5A-class tourist attraction, the top 10 best National Civilized Spot in China.
Economy
As one of the most popular tourist destinations in China, the economic development of Mount Tai is contributed a lot by tourism. Meanwhile, numerous cultural sites and scenic spots promote tourism’s development as well. As the growth of tourism here, the service sector also keeps up with tourists’ demand so that service industry see good moving pace. Also, favorable climate conditions are not bad for basic agricultural development. Located in Tai’an city, which becomes an open city integrating business, finance, science and technology, culture and tourism, Mount Tai sees favorable development pace after all sorts of efforts on growth since reform and opening up.
Festival
As a place that plays a significant role in religion, temple fairs are indispensable in the festivals of Mount Tai festivals and activities. Then, known as “the greatest mountain over the world”, the scenic spot is welcomed by mountaineering enthusiasts so that mountain climbing here is the most famous and grandest activities. In addition, there are also all sorts of festivals and events that show the local characteristics.
Tourism
Situated in the central part of Shandong province, Mount Tai borders Jinan, Tai’an and Zibo around; its favorable location could attract visitors around. Then, being blessed with splendid tourism resources, its 1545-meter Jade Emperor Peak is famed as “the greatest mountain over the world” and “the most revered one of China’s five sacred mountains”, which brings numerous tourists from home and abroad. Since reform and opening up, Mount Tai was paid much attention by the country, so that the development of tourism here were promoted and improved a lot under the leading for government, tourism bureau and corresponding departments. Nowadays, Tai’an city increases the construction of urban landscape as well as the greening of streets to offer better environment for the locals and visitors while promoting the development of tourism. Much more pleasant environment is under construction. The improvement of the landscape, service, environment, etc. of Mount Tai, together with its excellent view would welcome far more visitors and mountaineering lovers. In the first half year of 2017, Mount Tai Area welcomed 9,930,000 tourists. In the Qingming Festival of 2018, the statistics from Tai’an Tourism Development Board suggested that 19 key scenic spots in Tai’an received 546,500 visitors with two days. And as one of the key scenic sites in Tai’an, Mount Tai received 109,155 tourists this period. The tourists reach Mount Tai would keep increasing from the recent trend.
Dining
There are a variety of dishes and snacks in Mount Tai. And they are roughly divided into two categories, flavor feast and local-favored snacks. What visitors are recommended to taste here is called “three beauties of Mount Tai” while is Chinese cabbage, bean curd and mountain spring water. Since the ancient time, emperors came here to eat vegetarian diet to show their piousness. So the most famous dishes in flavor feast are tofu and potherb. As for snacks, you could taste Mount Tai style millet pancake, little tofu, barbecue, Tai’an Baimishi which is made of more than 8 ingredients and cooked by many processes and other snacks.
