AJ Adventures - Climb a Holy Mountain

Shanghai’s Waterfront, known as the Bund, is one of the more famous Chinese landmarks; perhaps because it is a place where foreigners made an imprint on a city that has well and truly outgrown them.

Yet the Bund (an Anglo-Indian term for the embankment of a muddy waterfront) persists as the Chinese tourists come to promenade alongside the muddy Huangpu River. As tugs chug noisily upstream, constant throngs gaze up at the grand edifices of a bygone era.

The old world structures of the Bund contrast with the sharp angles of the unique Oriental Pearl Tower which spikes into the sky across the Huangpu in the rapidly growing Pudong. Greater Shanghai’s population now exceeds 14 million, and as it grows, so too does the smog that shrouds the city.

By the time we chanced upon a travel agency in a small alley off the Bund, we were despondent. Desperate to find someone who could speak English, and help us on northward to the city of Tai’an.

The travel agency was actually a travel call centre, but the young man who greeted us could not believe his luck as we stumbled into the centre, allowing him an opportunity to relieve our anxiety, and show off his English.

The young man looked at us in puzzlement for a moment, paused and asked, “Why would you want to travel to Tai Shan? That is a Chinese Holy Mountain!

We convinced the young man that we did indeed want to visit Tai’an and the next morning we were perched nervously on velveteen settees in the foreigners first class lounge at the Shanghai Train Station, admiring the baby grand piano.

A days’ travel to Tai’an through rural China provided a glimpse of a very different place than the bustling city destinations we were to inevitably arrive in.

Tai’an, located in Shandong province, lies directly between Shanghai and Beijing. A city of 5.3 million people it appears little different than its larger counterparts. Its main claim to fame is as the home of Mt Tai, and not yet on the commonly tread tourist route for we only saw two other Europeans during our visit there.

However, It is said that most Chinese would like to visit sacred Tai Shan at least once in their lifetime.

Just to the south of Tai’an is the town of Qufu, of enormous importance to the Chinese as the birthplace of Confucius.

Tai Shan (Mt Tai) is the most revered of the five sacred Taoist mountains of China and is often known as the First Mountain Under Heaven. The importance of Mt Tai as part of China’s cultural history was recognised in 1987 when it was listed as one of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritages.

Our ascent up the mountain - all 6,600 steps (7.5 km from base to top) was punctuated with breathers that were extended by eager young Chinese students practicing their English. Then, beguilingly, they would ask to have their picture taken with us. Still can’t understand why, red faced and sweaty, we hardly made a picture beside their petite, cool enthusiasm!

Our trusty tour book informed us that there was a chair lift from half way up the mountain – an option we thought would be just the go! Which was fine, until we negotiated our way to the entry. It looked suspiciously closed… but rather than ask the solitary worker in the midst of what appeared to be a construction sight, we chose to head up the mountain.

Climbing upwards, we looked out across the scrubby mountain and saw the chairlift we planned to travel on. At first it just looked as if it leaned carefully outwards, but as we reached the next pylon it was clear that it had wrenched itself from the sandy soil, and stood frozen, the chair lift seats still hanging mid air.

Tai Shan is a holy place, and at first it is difficult to understand the hawkers, the jovial atmosphere, the devotees who freely trash and litter… the chairlift frozen eerily in mid air. Like so many places in China the experience is not just to climb the mountain but to try to understand this ancient culture. To watch the people, devout in their prayer, in the midst of what could only be described as chaos in our world.

Not only was the route plied by thousands of eager Chinese tourists, so too the steps are a thoroughfare for porters. Huge callouses on their slightly misshapen shoulders they pass us smoothly, steadily plodding upwards. Small, writhy and fit, they carry on their shoulders a range of goods – water, groceries, gas bottles, and the occasional Chinese tourist – to the top of the mountain.

Construction in Australia tends to be in specific places, with one section completed, another commenced. Not so on Tai Shan, or most places in China for that matter. From top to bottom men worked quickly, and consciously on whole sections of steps as we gingerly sidestepped, climbing over boulders and cutting instruments.

As we stepped slowly upwards, feeling our legs seize stiffly, a noise came from below, gathering momentum. 28 tiny men, chanting in exertion, were hauling upwards a huge slab of granite, weighing at least a tonne. As they nimbly moved past us up the stairs, it was evident with one wrong step they would hurtle downwards.

Reaching the summit of Tai Shan is a cataclysmic and special experience. In the temples, such as the Azure Clouds, incense and paper money is burned as people pray. But on the air floats a familiar sound – a karaoke bar pumping out a catchy dance club music heard in Australia!

In China you have a sense that things go on as they always have. That tomorrow, on Mt Tai they will still be building, that small writhy men will continue to ply the steps, and the Chinese will continue to pay homage at one of their holiest mountains. }

Home

Top of Page

Privacy