Wutaishan, the Clear Cool Mountain — editorial illustration
五台山

Wutaishan

the Clear Cool Mountain

Editorial illustration · not a site photograph
  • 3 daysvalley temples, small circuit, the terraces
  • Jun–Sepcool summer season; high passes snow by October
  • Via Taiyuanbus or car up the long mountain roads
  • Staysimple monastery lodging, by arrangement

Wutaishan — Mount Wutai, the Clear Cool Mountain — is the most senior of China's four sacred Buddhist mountains and the earthly seat of the Bodhisattva Manjushri. Five flat-topped terraces ring a high valley called Taihuai, where more than forty working monasteries stand in gold-roofed clusters; the North Terrace, at over three thousand meters, is the highest point of the North China plateau. It is the only mountain in China where Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist traditions practice side by side, and in summer, when the meadows bloom and the air stays cool, it is one of the most beautiful walks in the country.

Wutaishan, the Clear Cool Mountain editorial travel scene
Wutaishan, the Clear Cool Mountain · editorial illustration

The full handbook is part of the paid series

You have read the free preview — the introduction and the route map. The complete handbook adds the day-by-day plan, tickets and transport, culture and etiquette, food, useful Chinese, and the dated source list.