Background

Mt. Songshan that is composed of Taishi Mountain and Shaoshi Mountain is a part of the Funiu Mountains with its main body lying in the northwest of Dengfeng County, Henan Province. It extends about 60 kilometers from east to west. It was called Songgao and Chongshan in the Xia Dynasty (about 21st century-16th century B.C.), Songgao in the Shang Dynasty (about 16th century-11th century B.C.) and Yueshan in the Western Zhou Dynasty (about 11th century-771 B.C.). Songgao was taken as the central Lofty of the Five Sacred Mountains in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 B.C.). The mountain was called Mt. Songshan the Central Lofty Mountain after the Five Dynasties (907-960) . The other four sacred mountains are Mt. Taishan in Shandong, Mt. Huashan in Shanxi, Mt. Hengshan in Shanxi and Mt. Hengshan in Hunan . On Mt. Songshan, there are undulating hills and steep peaks. In history the 72 peaks of the mountain were named according to their locations and shapes and the ruins of celebrities, such as the sun, the moon, jade pillar, phoenix, lion and white deer.

Songding, also called Junjifeng, is the highest peak of Mt. Songshan, on which the Yellow River is in sight as a flickering ray to the north and scenic spots and historical sites can be seen scattered in hills around. The most famous places of historical interest include the Songyue Temple Pagoda of the Northern Wei (386-534), the Three Watchtowers in Mt. Songshan of the Later Han (25-220), the observatory of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), and Shaolin Temple, Zhongyue Temple, etc. The are all tourist attractions.

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