泰山
Mount Tai
The most revered of China's Five Sacred Mountains — 72 emperors climbed it to perform heaven sacrifices, and 6,660 stone steps lead to the summit.
泰山
The most revered of China's Five Sacred Mountains — 72 emperors climbed it to perform heaven sacrifices, and 6,660 stone steps lead to the summit.
Mount Tai (Taishan) is not the tallest mountain in China (1,545m), but it is the most sacred. For 3,000 years, emperors climbed its 6,660 stone steps to perform the Feng and Shan ceremonies — sacrifices to heaven and earth that legitimized their rule. Confucius climbed it. Mao climbed it. The sunrise from the summit, when the sun appears over a sea of clouds, is one of China's most iconic experiences. The mountain is covered in cliff inscriptions and stone steles — over 1,800 of them — making it an open-air museum of Chinese calligraphy spanning 2,000 years. Most visitors climb at night to reach the summit by dawn.
