Wangwu Mountain 王屋山

Wangwu Mountain is located 40 kilometers northwest of Jiyuan City, Henan Province. It is adjacent to the Taihang Mountains in the east, connected to the Zhongtiao Mountains in the west, linked to the Taiyue Mountains in the north, and faces the Yellow River in the south. It is named "Wangwu Mountain" because "the mountain shape resembles a king's chariot canopy".

Wangwu Mountain Scenic Area is a national key scenic spot with a total area of 265 square kilometers. It is one of the nine famous mountains in ancient China and the first among the Ten Grotto-Heavens. It boasts 38 peaks and ridges with beautiful scenery, 26 divine caves and famous springs, 8 scenic spots of blue waves and waterfalls, and 5 wonders of grotto-heavens and blessed lands. The well-known fable story Yugong Moves the Mountains took place here.

Wangwu Mountain is a Taoist sacred site featuring Taoist culture and is honored as "the First Grotto-Heaven of Taoism in the World". It has attracted a large number of eminent Taoists to practice here, such as Sima Chengzhen, Princess Yuzhen, and Sun Simiao. A series of large-scale Taoist temples, including Yangtai Palace, Ziwei Palace, Qingxu Palace, Shifang Courtyard, and Lingdu Temple, have been successively built on Wangwu Mountain, making it a center of Taoist activities nationwide with numerous temples, gathering of eminent Taoists, and a constant flow of pilgrims.

Taihe Palace is said to have been built in the Han Dynasty to commemorate the Yellow Emperor's visit here to seek advice from Guangchengzi. It was repaired in the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, but was destroyed at the end of the Ming Dynasty. It was rebuilt during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty (1662-1722) and renamed "Taihe Palace". The main building in the palace is the main hall, with a width of three bays, which houses the Stele Inscription of Wendao Palace carved during the reconstruction in the Yuan Dynasty. The area outside the palace is covered with lush trees and beautiful scenery. Taihe Palace is one of the Quanzhen Sect's Shifang Conglin (ten-direction jungle) temples in Gansu Province.

Zisun Palace was first built in the Ming Dynasty and is a quadrangle-style building. The main hall is surrounded by wing rooms on three sides. In the middle of the hall, there are three colored statues of the Child-Giving Goddesses: Qiongxiao, Yunxiao, and Bixiao. On both sides, there are colored statues of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs in niches. Zisun Palace was rebuilt after the war in the second year of the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty (1863) and was abandoned after 1958. It was rebuilt in 1982.

Sanjiao Cave was built in the Ming Dynasty. It is a semicircular stone cave, about 6 meters deep and 4 meters wide, with an arc-shaped top. On the stone platform in the cave, the ancestors of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are enshrined. Among them, Sakyamuni is in the middle, and Laozi and Confucius are on both sides. Sanjiao Cave was originally a Taoist site, but later evolved into a coexistence of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. It truly reflects the historical fact that China's local culture and foreign Buddhist culture evolved from conflict to integration, and finally formed Chinese culture.

Yangtai Palace is located on the west side of Yugong Village at the foot of Wangwu Mountain. The existing buildings, from south to north, are arranged according to the mountain terrain, from low to high, in an orderly manner, with a magnificent momentum, showing the wisdom and talent of ancient Chinese craftsmen.

Yangtai Palace was first built in the 15th year of the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty (727), initially as Yangtai Temple. In the second year of the Zhenyuan period of the Jin Dynasty (1154), the temple was converted into a palace. The existing main buildings, Sanqing Hall and Yuhuang Pavilion, were rebuilt in modern times. The most eye-catching part for tourists is the three-eave pavilion-style Yuhuang Pavilion, whose elegant and seemingly flying posture is amazing. The dozens of pairs of stone-carved columns in Yuhuang Pavilion make this Taoist sacred site a palace of stone carving art. The columns are carved with rolling clouds and dragons, hundreds of birds paying homage to the phoenix, magpies playing in plum blossoms, Su Wu herding sheep, the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, the Yellow Emperor fighting Chiyou, etc.

Yangtai Palace is surrounded by green pines and cypresses. Among them, there is a seven-leaf bodhi tree with a circumference of nearly 3 meters and a height of 14 meters, which is said to have been planted in the Tang Dynasty.

Ziwei Palace was founded in the second year of the Shengli period of the Tang Dynasty (699), and was repaired in subsequent dynasties. It was gradually abandoned after the late Qing Dynasty. More than 30 steles from the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties still exist on the site of today's Ziwei Palace. They are precious materials for studying the Taoist history of Wangwu Mountain and Chinese calligraphy art, and belong to Taoist stone cultural relics. It is said that Li Daozong, the uncle of Li Shimin, once lived in seclusion here, and later Sima Chengzhen also lived here. There is a huge ginkgo tree in Ziwei Palace, which can be embraced by eight people, known as "seven floors and eight sticks". The tree is covered with curtains offered by believers from all walks of life.