PREFACE

Many famous mountains in China have their lingering charm and unique characteristics. Those who usually travel and love mountains very much can delineate their charm by aesthetic standards, or summarize their characteristics with one or two succinct words. If the job is well done, besides enjoying the scenery, people can sense the soul of a mountain. For instance, Mt.Huashan is precipitous, Mt.Qingcheng is secluded and Mt.Emei is graceful, etc.

The charm and characteristics of Mt.Wudang can also be delineated, but i t ' s too difficult to make it just right. The geographer Xu Xiake in the Ming Dynasty who traveled throughout China was well in depicting the scenery of mountains and rivers. However, when he was traveling and searching for wonderful scenic spots in Mt.Wudang, the comments he left were only "This place is secluded and superb, and the scenery varies so much." Mt. Wudang combined greatness and elegance into perfection. Maybe nobody can say out i ts charm.

A virtuous man who has been living in Wudang for a long time is familiar with the stories in Mt.Wudang. He said that Mt. Wudang is a branch of Mt. Daba of the Qinling Mountains, with an area of 800 square l i , embracing 72 peaks, 36 crags and 24 streams. The main peak surrounded by numerous other peaks, as the king of them, is named Tianzhu Peak. Green peaks and limpid streams make Mt.Wudang full of vitality, so i t ' s also named "Taihe" which means the heaven and the earth give birth to scenery, and is the secret of all the things' coming into being. Perhaps it is the vitality that makes Wudang difficult to be delineated.

The creation of nature is like eternal music, and the creation of man is l i k e poems composed on the rhyme. The human development in Mt.Wudang began in the Han Dynasty and was in great prosperity in the Ming Dynasty. Taoism worships nature and pursues the harmony between mankind and nature, so although hundreds of years' development has made Wudang a famous tour place and a Taoist-activity place, the natural charm of it has never been destroyed. On the contrary, the ancient buildings original in style have added more beauty to Mt. Wudang. In 1994, specialists of the World Heritage Committee in the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization visited Mt.Wudang area and left words “The ancient building complex in the Wudang mountains combines typical Taoist buildings and magic natural scenes perfectly." In the same year, the ancient building complex in the area of Wudang Mountains was inscribed on the World Heritage List. The proclamation signed by the Secretary General emphasized again "The Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains has the exceptional and universal cultural and natural value which requires protections for the benefit of all humanity.”

Beautiful natural scenery can always arouse people’s inspiration of creation that often results in wonderful cultural scenes. The Taoist temple complex in Mt. Wudang is well-known in the world. All kinds of regional relics are also famous far and near. In the Taoist temples there are fine gilded bronze sculptures, colored drawings, clay sculptures and other works of art including 1,486 idols, thousands of ancient offerings vessels, Taoist instruments, and a lot of scriptures books, 531 stone or bronze tablets of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Most of the relics have high art appreciation value and important historical study value.

The cultural scenery in Mt. Wudang also embraces the celestial Taoist music and temper-force-with-mercy Wudang Gongfu. The Taoist music of Wudang, called Wudang Rhyme, was formally formed in the Song Dynasty. Wudang Rhyme, mixing other Taoist music, while at the same time absorbing royal music and the essence of folk music in the Ming Dynasty, reveals both the vigor of the ancient Bashu music and the elegance of the royal music, exciting and sweet, solemn and pure. In 1982, the government paid attention to the excavation and arrangement of the Taoist music in Wudang. The publishing of many treatises and video products makes Wudang Rhyme a common cultural heritage of all humanity. Wudang Gongfu also named «Internal Gongfu”, is a kind of Chinese boxing created by Taoist masters of the past dynasties. It advocates exercising Wushu but not flaunting Wushu. One should put one’s heart on studying the exchanging way of yin and yang, contributing to one’s peace of mind and inner tranquility. Then one should do exercises in Wushu and internal Gongfu at the same time. A superb man can change his still and relaxed body to swift

and prompt one in a minute. Because it can not only make one stronger in health but also contribute to one’s peace of mind, Wudang Gongfu has developed to quite a few groups of boxing and become a very famous one among Chinese Wushu. Mt. Wudang is charming and mysterious. This picture album reminds me of a poem written by Hong Yisheng in the Ming Dynasty, which read: “Temple after temple

Palace after palace Their vermilion walls and green t i les look so delicate and exquisite Travelling in the mountains with such splendid decorated buildings is as if traveling in a

landscape painting" I believe those who look through this picture album will enjoy the beautiful scenery of Wudang

as if having visited Wudang by themselves. I wish this album would be a messenger spreading the natural and cultural beauty in Mt. Wudang far and wide.

By Lu Guolong Deputy Researcher in Chinese Social Science Research Institution Famous Taoism researcher

Mt.Wudang is one of the famous Taoist holy lands in China. Taoism, the traditional Chinese religion, originated from ancient witchcraft, necromancy, philosophies of Chuang Tzu and Lao Tzu in the era before the Qin Dynasty. In the times when Emperor Shui in the Eastern Han Dynasty was on the throne, Zhang Daoling respected the Yellow Emperor as First Ancestor, Lao Tzu as Taoist Ancestor, consecrated Beginning God as the highest god. He cured illness with magic figures and incantations, and created Taoism under “helping and educating people with Tao."

The religious activities in Mt.Wudang were always very active in ancient China. Mt.Wudang area was under jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Mi in ancient times and was annexed by the Kingdom of Chu in the Epoch of Spring and Autumn and the Warring States. The area of Mt.Wudang, only 255 km from Jiangling, the capital of Chu Kingdom, was an important town in the north of the kingdom. There was a custom in this area that people believed in ghosts and took ancestor worship seriously. Until now there s t i l l are numbers of tombs built in ancient Chu times left in the reservoir area of Mt.Wudang. The unearthed relics reflect that the ancient people in this area believed in ghosts and worshiped gods. These became the breeding ground of Mt.Wudang Taoism.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Mt.Wudang was under jurisdiction of Wudang County, Nanyang Prefecture. Influenced by the early Taoism in Hanzhong Prefecture west to Nanyang, a religion named Five-dou-rice spread widely in Mt. Wudang area. According to the history book, there were large sacrificial rites with 24 si and 36 gates in the area. The 24 si was a kind of religious i n s t a l l a t i o n with pits under thatched cottages, which was the embryonic form of Taoist terraces.

Pang Zhongpu wrote in his book «Five Thousand Years History of America" that a naked goddess statue with a bronze tablet in her hand was once found in a cave in Peru. Carved on the tablet were three Chinese words "Mt.Wudang" with the style of calligraphy Lishu. It might be carved in the Epoch of South and North Dynasties.

According to «The Annals of Mt. Taihe”, in the Eastern /lion Dynasty, when Yin X\ got Tao Te Ching written by Lao Tzu, he resigned his job and secluded himself in Mt. Wudang. In the Han Dynasty, the General Dai Meng took the advantage of gathering medical herbs for the emperor to seclude himself on Hat-dropping Peak in Mt. Wudang. Other recluses included Ma Mingshen and Yin Changsheng who tried to make immortality p i l l s in Mt. Wudang. The residues neither stone nor iron left by Yin Changsheng on Hidden-immortal Crag have been existing up to now.

In the Wei & Jin Dynasties and the Epoch of South and North, the society was turbulent, so Mt.Wudang became a spirit haven of the literati. Tao Hongjing wrote in his book The Jade Cabinet Records "Mt.Taihe was long and narrow extending from north to south. Many people seclude themselves in the prodigious mountains." The word "Taihe" comes from The Book of Changes which has two meanings, one referred that there is a saying in Taoist scriptures "Where there is Taiji, there will be mountains”. Mt. Wudang came into being so long ago that it has the vitality of Taihe that can create the world. The other referred that the spirit of Taihe is the interaction Yin and Yang, which has given birth to Heaven and Earth, and has formed humanity. Therefore the mountain where people learning Tao live are called Mt. Taihe.

In the Eastern Jin Dynasty quite a few people including officials like Xu Ziping, Liu Liang, Xiao Qishi and Liu Qiu gave up their family or office came to Mt.Wudang practicing Taoist rules. At that time, Mt. Wudang was a prime place for recluses and Taoist practitioners.

During the Sui & Tang Dynasties, Mt.Wudang had gradually developed into a holy land of Taoism. When Emperor Tai Zong of the Tang Dynasty was on the throne, Yao Jian, the governor in charge of military affairs in Wudang, prayed for rain in Mt.Wudang and really got it, so Emperor Tai Zong had Five-dragon Temple built. Converted from the former religion of Five-dou-rice, Taoism in Mt.Wudang developed into a complete and sophisticated religion. Furthermore, from a folk religion it changed into an official one. In the end of the Tang Dynasty, Mt. Wudang was listed as the Ninth Fairyland on the 72 Fairylands of Taoism.

Paradises & Fairylands are the places inhabited by immortals. It’s said that there are 10 Grand Paradises, 36 Small Paradises and 72 Fairylands. The 72 Fairylands are famous mountains ruled by immortals by order of God, so many people attained perfection in Taoism over there. Mt.Wudang is located in the middle of China. Fair mountains, warm climate and plenty of plants and animals make Mt. Wudang suitable for traveling, living and cultivating one' s mind. Therefore, it is an ideal secluded paradise of traditional Chinese. Mt. Wudang also attracts religious people by its unique geographic surroundings,

mysterious natural landscape and long-standing cultural history. In China the period synchronized with the feudal society when religious changed from polytheism to supreme god worship, from tribe religion to national religion.

In the early and middle times of the feudal society, the political centres of China were in Chang' an, Luoyang and Kaifeng in North China Plain along the middle and lower reached of the Yellow River. The location of Mt.Wudang is just between North China Plain and the Plain of the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River, 280 km northwest to Chang' an (named Xi' an at present time), 290 km north to Luoyang, and 400 km northeast to Kaifeng. Keeping at arm’s length to the capital at that time, Mt. Wudang was very suitable for the development of religion. Furthermore, it’s only 250 to 300 km away from famous Mt.Huashan and Mt.Songshan, with their main peaks all 1,400-2,000 meters above sea level, suitable but not easy to climb, the three mountains formed an attractive triangular situation. During the middle and latter period of the feudal society in China, the South had gradually become the national economic center. As a result, the political forces also slanted to the South. All these factors impelled Mt. Wudang to the Fairyland soon.

As the Ninth Fairyland, Mt.Wudang was the place where Zhen Wu attained the perfection in Taoism. Zhen Wu, also named Xuan Wu, originated from ancient myth and star worship. In ancient myth, Xuan Wu is the God in the North, that is, the seven clusters of stars in the North among the total twenty-eight clusters in heaven. The symbol of Xuan Wu is a snake winding round a tortoise. It’s named Xuan because of being in the north. It’s named Wu because of having hard scales. The north represents water in the Five Elements, so Xuan Wu is also the God of Water. Mt.Wudang is in the south that represents fire in the Five Elements. It was the result of mutual production and destruction of water and fire among the Five Elements that Xuan Wu attained the perfection of Taoism in Mt. Wudang. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Zhao claimed that he united China under an auspicious omen of fire .According to an old saying that the opposite of fire in the Fire Elements, that is water, could bless the Song Dynasty. Xuan Wu, the God of Water, gained high esteem from the royalty. It’s changed to the name of Zhen Wu under taboo and was conferred «Blessing Immortal" to bless the Song Dynasty lasting forever. From the former winding-snake-tortoise, Zhen Wu was also changed to a humanized deity---an awe-inspiring general. To support the change, the pedigree of Zhen Wu was compiled. It’s said that in the period of the Yellow Emperor, Zhen Wu was born from the left upper part of Empress Shansheng in the Jingle Palace. When he grew up, he refused to succeed to the throne but got directions from the Ancestor Ziqi and came to Mt. Taihe. After 42 years of cultivation, he attained the perfection of Taoism, ascended to the heaven and was conferred Zhen Wu by the Jade Emperor. Then Mt.Taihe was changed to the name of Mt. Wudang because "Nobody deserves it except Zhen Wu”. Taoism in Mt. Wudang had esteem by imperial family, the well-known Taoist priests such as Chen Tuan, Deng Ruozhuo, Xie Tiandi, Sun Yuanzheng, Deng Anzao and Cao Miaoguan came here to build Taoist temples, put Taoist affairs in order, compile Taoist scriptures and administrate Taoist priests by imperial decrees, making Taoism in Mt. Wudang a new development. Influenced by Han nation’s culture, the emperors in the Yuan Dynasty also paid much attention to the belief of Zhen Wu. According to the legend, in Kublai (the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty) 6th, tortoise-and-snake was found in the Gaoliang River in Dadu (the capital of China at that time). Xu Shilong, a government official in charge of history records affairs, wrote to the emperor to say that this phenomenon represented Zhen Wu, the God of Water, made its power felt. He also wrote that according to the production and destruction of fire and water, they would surely be able to annex the Song Dynasty and unite China. So Kublai ordered to offer sacrifices to Zhen Wu. In 1304, Emperor Chengzong conferred “Xuantian God" on Zhen Wu. From “Immortal" in the song Dynasty to “God" in the Yuan Dynasty, Zhen Wu made a great leap forward in the deity order. Meanwhile the emperors in the Yuan Dynasty attached much importance to Mt. Wudang, the ascension place of Zhen Wu. Emperor Renzong was born on March 3rd (lunar calendar), the same birthday as Zhen Wu by chance. On every birthday, he would send envoys to Mt.Wudang offering sacrifices and showing worship. From then on Taoism in Mt.Wudang had developed quickly and widened its influences to all around. History book told us that on each March 3rd there were tens of thousands of pilgrims offering numerous sacrifices. The famous Taoists as Wang Zhenchang, Zhang Daogui, Ye Yunlai, Lu Dayou and Zhang Shouqing took the advantage to found religious organizations. They opened up hundreds of square miles land for farming and organized tens of thousands of Taoism followers. With its great influences, Mt.Wudang turned into a place where immortals cultivating their minds and royalty pray for nation’s happiness. It shared

the same fame with Mt.Dragon&Tiger, the holy land of Taoism’s Zhengyi Sect. In the early period of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, the monarch of the Yan Kingdom seized the throne by

force in the name of quelling so-called rebellions. He became Emperor Chengzu. In order to give a good name to his usurpation of the throne, Zhu Di claimed that what he had done was under Zhen Wu’s tacit permission, that he upheld justice on behalf of Zhen Wu. In Yongle 10th(1412), Zhu Di sent 200,000 soldiers and craftsmen to Mt. Wudang building Taoist temples, chose famous Taoists from Taoist temples throughout country to Mt. Wudang as chief Taoists. With both political and economic support, the biggest Taoist rite and organization in China were founded in Mt.Wudang .To protect Mt. Wudang, the emperor allotted several hundred square km. mountains and forests in Mt. Wudang area as government mountains where felling trees was forbidden. 500 soldiers were sent to protect temples, and officials were sent to manage religious affairs by the emperor. Mt.Wudang was conferred "Grand Mountain Taihe.” The temples became imperial temples and Wudang Taoism became imperial religion. In Jiajing 31st (1552) Emperor Shizong had Wudang Taoist buildings rebuilt and claimed to govern the nation with the spirit of Wudang Taoism. The royalties and other social power had so great esteem for Wudang Taoism that a lot of intellectuals came here cultivating themselves depending on Taoist rules. Among them were Zhang Sanfeng, Qiu Xuanqing, Sun Biyun and Ren Ziyuan who had profound knowledge and high attainment in Taoism, who worshiped Zhen Wu, took internal cultivation seriously, who was good at magic figures and incantations, and who emphasized loyalty and filial piety. Therefore, with the fusion of three religions, Wudang Taoism was formed overall. Wudang Taoism developed to its great prosperity. Mt. Wudang became the first immortal mountain in the world.

In the Qing Dynasty, because the upper class in the royal government took Religion Saman as their belief, also because of the special relationship between Taoism and Ming royalty, Taoism got less attention. The worship of Zhen Wu avert deep into the folk people. Zhen Wu became one of the most popular deities among the folk for his legendary capabilities satisfying people’s desires such as bringing timely sunshine or rain, curing illness, dispelling personal misfortune and helping people make succeed in fame and fortune.

At that time, as the original place of Zhen Wu, Mt.Wudang was still famous among people in middle and lower class. The pilgrims increased steadily. Taoists in Wudang like Bai Xuanfu, Yang

Changxuan, Zhang Jingming, Yang Laiwang, Wang Fumiao and Xu Benshan repaired temples with donations from the folk, and preached Taoism.

After the foundation of the People’s Republic of China, the government pursues freedom of religious belief policy. Regular religious activities continue in Mt.Wudang. The government has also taken measures to protect the Taoist relics and Taoist buildings. Especially since the reform and opening of China, the new religious people in Mt. Wudang Taoism Association led by Chairman Wang Guangde have founded and consummated a lot of management systems which keep religious activities in order. The Taoism Association in Mt.Wudang has raised in many ways more than 30,000,000 RMB repairing Taoist buildings overall and improving living conditions of the Taoists to a large degree. The association has also developed and researched into Taoist cultural resources so that Taoist music, Internal Boxing, Taoist medicines can be inherited.

To improve friendship with the people all over the world, to deepen feelings between Chinese people indoors and overseas, the Taoism Association in Mt.Wudang has been invited to Italy, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan to have academic exchanges on Taoism culture and Wudang Gongfu. In the past more than ten years since Wang Guangde took charge of Taoist affairs in Mt. Wudang, Wang has made Taoist people in love of nation and Taoism, has led them attending social and public welfare services, and has united Taoist people indoors and oversees. It has pushed Taoist culture in Mt. Wudang forward to a new development.

Mt. Wudang is located in the Qinling Mountain in central China and is the eastward offset of the Daba mountain ranges. To the east, it connects with the Jianghan Plain and to the south; it lies back on the Shennongjia Forest Zone. In the northeast, there locates the Nanyang Basin and the Hanshui River flows from the northwest to the southeast. In the historical records, it is said that Mt. Wudang lies in the crossing area of Shanxi and Henan. Erecting from the earth till the heaven, the mountain is pressed by the Minshan Mountain on the left and surrounded by the Yangtze River in the south and the Hanshui River in the north. Mt. Wudang enjoys a fairly good geological situation.

800 million years ago, Mt.Wudang raised from the ocean due to the movement of the geological structure. With the rising and falling of the terrain, the glacier movement and the damage of the sun and the moon, the mountain ranges of Wudang gradually formed into a shape of pyramid, with a peak erecting in the center and group peaks surrounding around. And a magnificent scene of 72 peaks respecting the grand peak was formed. In the scenic area, three faults were formed. In the mountain, there are profound river valleys and brooks running lengthwise and sidewise. And the Jianhe River, the Donghe River and the Jiudao River meander through the mountain.

The natural scenery of Mt.Wudang was in conformity with the feudal ethical ideas and thoughts, which made the external beauty and the internal implication charm, unite together in the same mountain. It also brought out the concept that the aesthetic judgment should be connected to the social factors of politics, religion and so on, further constituting the comprehensiveness of the beauty of Mt.Wudang.

Mt.Wudang is located in the subtropical zone with a monsoon climate, and the climate has an attribute of a north-to-south transition. From the Danjiangkou reservoir area to the Peak of Heaven Pillar, the vertical belt of the climate is quite obvious, accompanied by abundant and diverse minor local climates. The region is moist and rich in rain and the annual rainy-day is around 110, which is very suitable for the growth of plants of both the south and the north., In the Diary on Traveling in Mt. Taihe by Xu Xiake of the Ming Dynasty, it recorded " Arbors are found everywhere in the mountain. While in the mountain, people feel like walking under a green tent. What people see within a circumstance of 100 li are always towering trees, blotting out the sunshine. In the area close to the mountain, unusual firs and old cypresses which can only be held by three people hand in hand often catch people’s sight." 453 over a -hundred -year-old trees of 46 species in 24 families and 33 genera have been found in investigations, 101 of which are ancient trees of an age of over 300 years. Since ancient time, Mt.Wudang has been a good place for wild animals to dwell and multiply. According to annals of the mountain made in the Ming Dynasty, wild animals that were often found in the area included tiger, leopard, bear, wolf, deer, wild boar, goat, antelope, monkey, pangolin, boa, snake, tortoise, soft-shelled turtle, red-crested crane, golden pheasant, pheasant, thrush, magpie and so on. But with the damage of vast forests and the long-time hunting, the number decreases every year. Recent year' s investigation shows that currently, there are 49 species of beasts, 11 of which are the state protected rare animals, 130 species of birds, 12 of which have been listed as the national second-level protected birds, 65 species of fishes and 1055 species of insects in 21 3 families and 28 orders. Mt.Wudang is also fairly abundant in the medical plants. According to the general survey in 1985, there were 617 kinds of medical materials in the whole mountain. Li Shenzhen, a famous medicine scientist in the Ming Dynasty, especially went to Mt.Wudang to gather medical herbs and 400 species were recorded in his Compendium of Medical Materials. The Taoist priests of Mt. Wudang have been fully utilizing the plant resources and giving a full play to the special functions of the medical plants, especially Langmei fruit.

Legendary has it that the Langmei fruit was brought out by the God of the North while training and cultivating himself to attain immortality. In the General Collection of Mt.Wudang---a Place of Perfect Happiness, it said, "While grinding the needle, Emperor Xuandi plucked a spray of plum blossom and inserted it into the wood, swearing “if my cultivation to immortality succeeds, you should fruit”. In the Yongle 3rd (1405) and 4th(1406) years of the Ming Dynasty, Li Suxi, a Taoist priest of Mt.Wuang twice sent people to deliver Langmei fruits to Nanjing to Zhu Di, the newly-enthroned Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty, declaring that the country was in peace. Symbolizing the success of Zhen Wu, the God of the North, in attaining perfection in Taoism in the south, the fruits psychologically coincided with Zhu Di’s personal experiences of dispatching troops in the north and quelling rebellion in the south. Naturally, the emperor was

quite fond of the fruits and sent imperial envoys to award Li Suxi for several times. And Langmei fruit was listed as tribute and was bestowed to courtiers to taste. From then on, Zhu Di began to pay attention to Mt. Wudang. In the Yongle 7th year (1409), Zhu Di called in Taoist priest Jiang Zhongyang from Mt. Wudang at court and inquired details about Emperor Xuandi’s cultivation to attain immortality in the mountain, which finally helped bring about Emperor Yongle’s decision to rebuilt Mt.Wudang. In the Yongle 10th year (1412), Zhu Di issued an imperial decree to Zhang Yuqing of the Taoist Zhengyi Sect, which said, “there are two reasons for me to construct temples and palaces on Mt.Wudang.

The first is to sing songs for the souls of the late emperors and empresses in heaven. The second is to pray for good fortunes for my people. Mt.Wudang is rich in the Langmei fruit and Taoist priests from the mountain have presented the fruits to me, which I shared with the imperial officers at court. Now, I especially send people to deliver you 100 Langmei fruits. You accept them with the imperial decree”. Langmei grew quite extensively in the Ming Dynasty. Langmei trees were found by Xu Xiake, a famous geological scientist, on his way from the South Crag to the Middle Temple. “In the dense green, the mountain is dotted by the Langmei flowers, shining far and near." (Travels of Xu Xiake’s Diary on Traveling in Mt.Wudang) After the downfall of the Ming Dynasty, Langmei became extinct. In the Qing Dynasty, Jia Duben from Junzhou especially paid tours to Mt.Wudang to search for Langmei, but failed. Opinions were widely

divided on the issue of the mystery of Langmei, which left the mountain with an element of mystery and wonder. Recently, a scholar proved after research that the Langmei fruit is the wild Yangtao. The new research shifted the Chinese history of eating and planting Yangtao that is regarded as the king of the fruits to an earlier date by 500 years, (see the Jiahan Archeological Studies, 4th issue of 1996, Investigations on the Rare Langmei Fruit in Mt.Wudang).

In addition to Langmei, Mt.Wudang presented other tributes to the emperors of the Ming Dynasty twice every year, respectively in spring and fall. In spring, the tributes included salt-dried bamboo roots and varied good quality tea. And the tributes in fall were sealwort steamed with honey, steamed and dried sealwort and Langmei fried with honey.

The extraordinary charm of the natural mountain and water and the plentiful forest resources are the source of great attraction. When drifting clouds and floating mist slowly rise from the tranquil valley, when refreshing breeze with the fragrance of flowers gently blows over the limpid brook, tourists can not help themselves from being enchanted by the atmosphere and spiritually stimulated. In accordance with the sequence of being recognized and discovered, it experienced several stages finding the beauty of Mt.Wudang. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, because of its elegant outline, the Censer Peak of Mt.Wudang drew people’s earliest aesthetic interest and received exploitation. In the Tang Dynasty, Yao Jian succeeded in praying for rain at the Five Dragons Palace. Since then, people shifted their aesthetic interest to the Five Dragons area. And Lu Dongbin wrote a poem entitled "Ode to the South Crag of Mt.Wudang" , which exactly depicts the scenery of the Five Dragons area. In the Song Dynasty, the center moved eastward to the Purple Heaven Peak near the Censer Peak. Emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty believed in Emperor Zhen Wu. Especially because of an illusory dream, Emperor Huizong invited a fengshui specialist who confirmed that the

Purple Heaven Peak was the hub of the unbeatable rival to fire. The Purple Heaven Grand Palace was then constructed to worship Emperor Zhen Wu. During the Yuan Dynasty, people’s aesthetic center moved upwards. In the Zhida 3rd (1310), responding to the imperial decree, Zhang Shouqing in charge of the South Crag explained Taoist scriptures to the express dowager. In the mean time, a grand sacrificial ceremony of gold Taoist amulet was held. In 1312 and 1313, the country encountered severe drought. Also responding to the imperial decree, Zhang Shouqing prayed for rain at the Cave of the Thunder God and succeeded. Emperor Renzong felt quite happy and conferred a title to Zhang Shouqing as True Man and also bestowed Zhang the right to take charge of affairs of the whole mountain. High officials and noble lords headed by the empress dowager successively donated money of their own to assist Zhang Shouqing to build the Long-live Palace. The South Crag became the most famous center of the religious activities in the Yuan Dynasty. In the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chengzu readjusted all the scenic spots on Mt.Wudang according to the course of Emperor Zhen Wu’s training and cultivation to attain immortality. Based on the four stories of “Renouncing to family”, “Attaining the Way after training and cultivation”, “Title-conferring at the Jade Platform" and «Commanding land under heaven" , the scenic spots were arranged from the Jingle Palace to the Golden Zenith. After the readjustment, each of the scenic spots on Mt. Wudang not only kept the inherent cultural atmosphere, but also exerted a feature of integrity. According to the presently existing scenic spots, the scenic area within 312 square kilometers is divided into six sections: the Xuanyue Gate, the Crown Prince Slope, the South Crag, the Golden Zenith, the Jade Platform and the Five Dragons.

Close to the Danjiangkou reservoir, the Xuanyue Gate scenic area is located in the northeastern foot of Mt.Wudang. Its main scenic spots include the Chongxu Convent, the Xuanyue Gate, the Yuzhen Palace, the Xiangfu Convent, the Yuanhe Temple, the Temple of Mt.Tai, and the Yuxu Palace and so on. The distance from top to bottom is six kilometers, about 200 meters above sea level. The main historical relics in the area embrace the Country-administering Mountain Memorial Gateway built under the decree of Emperor Jiajing of the Ming Dynasty, the beautiful Danjiangkou reservoir by the Xuanyue Gate, the sit for Zhang Sanfcng to create Wudang Boxing in the Yuzhen Palace, the Yuanhe Temple-the Taoist prison, and the site of the Yuxu Palace-the largest palace on Mt.Wudang. Advancing by ship from the Danjiangkou dam, tourists see the rippling water of the lake. The small islands in the lake look like bright pearls inlaid in the blue sky, shinning brilliantly. Dotted by fish and birds, the lake presents a poetic charm to tourists. But just under the undulating water of the artificial lake, there are several hundred palaces and temples. The Jingle Palace and the Ying' en

Palace, two of the eight palaces on Mt.Wudang, were inundated by the boundless water.

The Jingle Palace was one of the largest palace buildings on Mt.Wudang. It was built in the Yongle 16th year of the Ming Dynasty(141 8) and reconstructed in the Jiajing 3 1st year of the Ming Dynasties(1552).The Jingle Palace was built based on the legend that the crown prince was born in the Jingle Kingdom. In the Annals of the Grand Mountain Taihe by Wang You of the Ming Dynasty, it said, "Legendary has it that the father of Emperor Zhen Wu was the king of the Jingle Kingdom. Hence, there comes the name of the palace." The Jingle Palace originally occupied an area of nearly 100,000 square meters, and there were over 500 Taoist rooms in three lines, which looked very spectacular. It was submerged in 1958 because of the construction of the Danjiangkou reservoir.

Getting off the ship at the Caodian Wharf, people see the Xuanyuc gate in their faces, which is the symbolic building of entering Mt.Wudang. The stone memorial gateway of four pillars and five stories was constructed in the Jiajing 31st year of the Ming Dynasty. Inscribed on the gateway are characters of “Country-administering Mountain" in accordance with Emperor Jiajing’s handwriting. The inscription marked the supreme political position of Mt. Wudang. During the Ming Dynasty, the Guardian Hall was built in front of the Xuanyue Gate, in which the statue of the Taoism-guarding-god was consecrated. While facing the idol with glaring eyes and a whip in hand, believers tremble with terror and worship with reverence and awe. There thus comes a kind of saying that "Entering the Xuanyue Gate, you give your fate to gods. Out of the Xuanyue Gate, you return to be a human."

To the north of the Xuanyue Gate, there is the Chongxu Convent, which is also called the Golden-flower Tree. In front of the convent, there is an ancient cypress of an age above 1,000 years. Legendary has it that the True Man of Chongxu once come here and the ancient cypress blossomed with golden flowers on the whole tree. The descendants then built the convent for consecration.

Passing the Xuanyue Gate, people see the Yuzhen Palace built in the Yongle 10th year of the Ming Dynasty. The legendary Taoist priest Zhang Sanfeng once stayed here, so it is also called Meeting-immortal

Hall. Because Zhang Sanfeng was the founder of Wudang boxing, the palace is adored by heroes in the martial arts circles.

Walking towards the south from the Yuzhen Palace, people see the Yuanhe Temple, which was constructed in the Yongle 11th year (1413). The so called Yuanhe referred to the body fluid produced while Taoists were cultivating internal body. There are nearly 100 halls of different sizes in the Yuanhe Temple. Consecrated in the grand hall are six gilded bronze sculptures of the six marshals and the Jade Emperor, which are all very precious relics. It’s said that the temple used to be the Taoist prison, where the Taoist priests who violated the Taoist rules and regulations received punishment. Tourists here can have a look at varied ancient corporal punishments including incense kneeling, flogging and eyebrow branding.

Four kilometers away from the Yuanhe Temple, there is the Yuxu Palace, which was built in the Yongle

11th year (1413). When Emperor Chengzu threw great money and endeavors into constructing Mt.Wudang, the place was set up as the supreme headquarters; hence the palace is also called the Palace of Ancient Headquarters. The Yuxu Palace occupies an area of over 800,000 square meters. The gods section on the middle axis was originally made up of the Outer Wall, the Forbidden City and the Inner Wall, among which stone bridges, temple gates, the Dragon and Tiger Hall, the Shifang Hall, the Qishen Hall, the Grand Hall and the Parent Hall were arranged. Palaces and temple halls were built ring upon ring in the Eastern and Western Side Palaces. The Jade Belt River winds through the Forbidden City, presenting a magnificent scene. In the Song for Mt.Wudang by Wang Shi Zhen of the Ming Dynasty, it praised, «The buildings on Mt.Taihe make the mountain turn into a town and the Yuxu Palace reminds people of the Epang Palace of the Qin Dynasty”, fully depicting the gigantic scale. Because the Handan Railway passes through the Outer Wall of the Yuxu Palace, there now only exist the Forbidden City and the Inner Wall in the palace. Inside and outside the Forbidden City, there are four pavilions housing imperial tablets. The two in front were built in the Jiajing 31st year (1552). The imperial decree of Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty and the records of re-building Mt.Wudang were inscribed on the stele on great stone tortoises. The following two pavilions were built in the Yongle l l t h year of the Ming Dynasty. Enshrined and worshiped here are the imperial decree of Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty and the records for the Taoist palaces on Mt.Taihe. Symbolizing the prosperity of Mt. Wudang, the tortoises here stand for the God of Water, meaning that water is the unbeatable rival of fire and the two get along with each other. With an elevation of 400 to 500 meters, the scenic spots area of the Crown Prince Slope is 15 kilometers in length, from the Peak of the Jade Emperor to the Yuxu Crag. The main tourist sight spots include the Huilong Temple, the Huixin Convent, the Needle-grinding Well, the Guandi Temple, the Fuzhen Temple, the Sword River Bridge, and the Yuxu Crag and so on. The feature of this

scenic area is that the terrain of the mountain integrates with the buildings as a whole. And all the sight spots are arranged in accordance with the story of Emperor Zhen Wu7 s first practice. The Crown Prince Slope was the site where Zhen Wu practiced Taoism. With the towering Lion Crag behind and the steep waterfall in front, the slope enjoys an elegant environment. According to legendary, Zhen Wu suffered a lot from homesickness at the early stage of his practice and then went down the mountain, when he walked to the Needle-grinding Well. Zhen Wu saw an old lady transformed by Beginner Ziqi trying to grind an iron rod into a needle. Quite confused by her deed, Zhen Wu went on walking forwards. While reaching the Huilong Palace, he was suddenly enlightened by the truth that constant effort yields sure success. So he returned to the Fuzhen Temple and continued his practice.

Mounting the Slope of Brave Man, people come to the Peak of the Jade Emperor. Passing the Huilong Temple and the Huixin Convent, tourists see the Needle-grinding Well in their face, whose Taoist name is the Chunyang Palace. Built in the Xianfeng 3rd year of the Qing Dynasty, the palace covers an area of almost 1,000 square meters, with over 50 Taoist rooms. The palace is composed of the Sanqing Hall, the Old Lady Pavilion, the ancient well and Taoist yards. In front of the sanqing Hall, there stand two thick iron rods with a diameter equaling to that of a bowl. The iron rods symbolize the hardship of the old lady grinding an iron rod into a needle, which also indicate the difficulties in Taoist cultivation. There are murals in the hall, vividly portraying the cultivation of Zhen Wu, An iron sculpture of the old lady is erected in the Old Lady Pavilion, and an ancient well is under the shrine. Walking along the Needle-grinding Well towards the south, tourists pass the Guandi Temple, the Laojun Temple the Fuzhen Bridge, and then come to the Crown Prince Slope, one of the most famous sight spots on Mt.Wudang where the crown prince carried out his first practice. Constructed in the Yongle 10th year of the Ming Dynasty, the buildings on the Crown Prince Slope are in conformity with the terrain of the mountain. The elaborate design makes the slope enjoy a fame of “zigzag walls, fragrance of the sweet-scented osmanthus spreading ten li, four gates in one li and one pillar with 12 beams on" . Mounting the stairs after entering the temple gate of the Crown Prince Slope, people see the Second Gate, in which there is a closed yard. Built in the yard is the worshiping platform, the silk burner, the screen wall and so on. Across the Dragon and Tiger Hall, there is a broad yard in which are the grand hall and the eastern and western side houses. In the yard, there is an ancient pool called the Tear-dripping Pool. Legendary has it that Empress Shanhou-the mother of the crown prince once came here to look for her son, but the crown prince avoided meeting the empress. The empress was deeply grieved and her dripping tears formed a pool. To the north of the grand hall, there is another yard, in which the Classics-collecting Pavilion, the Imperial Classics Hall and the Wuyun Building were established. A sweet-scented osmanthus of an age over 500 years grows in front of the Imperial Classics Hall and its fragrance can spread 10 li. The Wuyun Building has five stories, and the pillar at the corner enjoys a fame of “one pillar with twelve beams”, which is quite worth viewing.

Going down from the Forth Gate of the Crown Prince Slope, tourists see the Eighteen Coil Bends and the Jiudu Ravine is five li away. Legendary has it that Empress Shanhou chased the crown prince to the site and saw in the distance the prince going up the mountain at the other side of the ravine. The empress called to the crown prince for eighteen times, each call with a step, asking the prince to go back to succeed to the throne. The crown prince never looked back, but answered his mother’s calls eighteen times with eighteen steps. People of the later generations built eighteen coil bends on the way up and eighteen coil bends on the way down. There is another legendary that the King of the Jingle Kingdom once sent 500 imperial guards and chased the crown prince to the place. The prince found no place to hide. He wielded a sword to split the mountain, and then a surging river separated the prince from the imperial guards. In the Yongle 11th year, a stone bridge was built over the Sword River and is called the Tianjin Bridge.

Going against the current from the Taijin Bridge, tourists reach the Yuxu Crag. Located on the cliff by the Jiudu Ravine, the Yuxu Crag is one of the most perilous rock temples on Mt.Wudang. With the maximum of 20 meters and the minimum of 0.5 meter in width, the Yuxu Crag was constructed with the temple gate, dinning hall, Taoist courts and the grand hall. Kept in the temple are clay sculptures of thunder gods, which are regarded as the treasures of the sculptures in Mt.Wudang for their vivid shapes.

The main sight spots in the South Crag scenic area are the Weilie Temple, the Purple Heaven Palace, the Crown Prince Crag, the South Crag Palace, the Taichang Temple, the Thunder God Temple and the Langmei Temple, all with an elevation of 700 to 1,000 meters. The scenic area provides the tourists with quit unique natural scenery, such as the towering Three-man Peak and Five-aged Peak, the dignified Censer Peak, the green Treasured Pearl Peak, the perilous South Crag, the tall and straight Ascending Crag and other artificial sight spots established in accordance with the fairy tale about the crown prince’s cultivation and ascending to heaven.

Mounting the Eighteen Coil Bends and walking up along the stairs, people reach the Immortal Pass where cliffs stand on both sides. Dotted among the mountains are the Temple for the Fortune God, the Weilie Temple and the Western Heaven Gate. Between the big and the small Treasured Pearl Peaks, there locates a grand and magnificent palace---the famous Purple Heaven Palace. The Purple Heaven Palace was originally constructed during Xuanhe period (1120-1125) in the Northern Song Dynasty. Emperor Huizong dreamed that the God of Fire traveled to the south and then made the palace built here to worship. The palace was reconstructed in the Yongle 10th year of the Ming Dynasty and was conferred with a title of the Taixuan Purple Heaven Palace. It is said that the title had relationship with Zhen Wu. One of his titles was Taixuan Marshal. The Purple Heaven Palace was the second place for Zhen Wu’s cultivation.

The site selection and the architectural pattern of the Purple Heaven palace were completely carried out according to the Chinese ancient theories on fengshui. With mountain behind and water in front, the building sits in north and faces the south. It lies on the Banner Peak and is guarded by the Black Dragon and the White Tiger Peaks on left and right. The Yuji Pool in front of the palace looks just like a golden basin collecting money and treasures. The Golden Water River traverses the big and the small Treasured Pearl Peaks like a silver thread stringing pearls. The peaks of Screen, Three-man, and Five-aged, Candle and Censer on the opposite side of the ravine provide a natural screen for the palace. All of these are typical pattern of a fortunate place. Emperor Renzong of the Yuan Dynasty once bestowed a title to the palace as "the Fortunate Place of Purple Heaven”.

All the buildings of the Purple Heaven Palace were constructed on a terrace, occupying an area of about 100,000 square meters. On the middle axis, there are the Yuji Bridge, the Dragon and Tiger Hall, the Imperial Tablet Pavilion, the Silk Burner, the Shifang Hall, the east and west Taoist courts, the grand hall, the left and right wings, the Parent Hall and other buildings. The Eastern and the Western palaces were also built. The grand hall is located on the three-storied high platform. The upper eaves of the hall were carved into flying dragon and the lower ones were carved into colorful phoenix, all in majestic splendor. Worshiped on

the shrine in the center of the hall are the colorful sculpture of the Jade Emperor and the gilded bronze idol of Zhen Wu, with Golden Boy and Jade Girl on both sides. Under the shrine, there are sculptures of other gods, all in vivid shapes and different miens. In the western area of the hall, there is a flying fir, which can transmit sound. If people slightly knock on one end of the fir, they will hear clear sound at the other end. Also in the hall, there are Lantern of Iron Tree in Blossom, the gilded bronze grand lantern, the incense vase and other Taoist sacrificial vessels and instruments, which are all fairly precious historical relics.

The Parent Hall is behind the grand hall. Parents of Emperor Zhen Wu (Emperor Mingzhen and Empress Shansheng of the Jingle Kingdom) are worshipped on the shrine in the centre of the hall. And worshipped in the shrines on the left and right sides are the Goddess of Child-sending and the Goddess of Mercy.

Going out of the Parent Hall and walking up along the left, people reach the Crown Prince Crag after passing the Purple Bamboo Forest. The Crown Prince Crag is a kind of cavern structure. A temple gate was built before it. The cavern is 10 meters high, 20 meters wide and 15 meters long. A stone hall was built in the cavern in the Zhizheng 27th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1290). An idol of the crown prince was consecrated in it .Behind the hall is a well with a history over 1,000 years. The water tastes quite sweet. Around the crag, there are sight spots of the Yuqing Crag, the Taiqing Crag and the Black Dragon Cave.

The South Crag is located above the Purple Heaven Palace. Lying in the biggest fault of Mt.Wudang, the South Crag has the most beautiful natural scenery in the mountain for its spectacular cliff, perilous peak and profound river valley. The sight spots of the South Crag are divided into two parts: the cliff scenic spots constructed in the Yanyou 1st year of the Yuan Dynasty (13 14) and the Yuanguang scenic spots built in the Yongle 11th year of the Ming Dynasty (1413).

Legendary has it that when Emperor Chengzu put into great efforts in construction on Mt. Wudang, the scene that Emperor Zhen Wu made his presence in the clouds and the phenomenon of lucky clouds of five colors appeared for several times in the South Crag. Then Emperor Yongle asked the craftsmen to build the Yuanguang scenic spots in conformity with the mountain terrain, including the Southern Heaven Gate, the Small Heaven Gate, The Yuanguan Hall, the Nanxun Pavilion, the Imperial Tablet Pavilion, the Dragon and Tiger Hall, wings, the grand hall and the dinning hall.

Walking along the grand hall to the east and passing the zigzag stone road, people see a lofty cliff. Among ring upon ring of high platforms and layer upon layer of palaces, there are the Liangyi Hall, the Eight Diagrams Pavilion, the Classics-collecting Pavilion, the Ancient Chess Pavilion, the Dragon Head Incense, the Tianyi Zhenqing Palace, the Crown-Prince-lying-on-dragon-bed, the Bell-tolling Pavilion etc.

The Tianyi Zhenqing Palace is the biggest stone structure palace existing in Mt. Wudang, which was built by Zhang Shouqing, a famous Taoist priest of the Yuan Dynasty in the Yanyou 1 year with assistance from the imperial family. The whole palace was made of huge-sized stones. The heaviest stone component weighs over five tons. All the cumbersome components were totally fit together by manpower. It is not easy even on the level ground, let along launch the construction in a cave on the precipice. The construction of the stone palace manifests the wisdom, intelligence and supreme technical skills of the ancient Chinese craftsmen. Turning to the west at the grand hall and walking downwards, tourists see a peak rising abruptly, on which the Dressing Platform and the Platform for Ascending to Heaven were built.

Legendary has it that Zhen Wu succeeded in cultivation on the South Crag. One day, he came to the

Dressing Platform. Beginner Ziqi transformed into a beauty to test his resolution. Not attracted by the beauty, Zhen Wu avoided to the Platform for Ascending to Heaven. But the beauty chased after him and threw her straight into his bosom. Zhen Wu dodged and the beauty could not stop in time but fell down the cliff.

Quite frightened, Zhen Wu thought that he could do nothing but compensate with his own life. Then he jumped down the cliff. Just at the time, five dragons rose from the lucky clouds down the cliff and held him. Escorted by the five dragons, Zhen Wu ascended to heaven.

The Golden Zenith scenic area is located on the Peak of Heaven Pillar. The main sight spots are the Yellow Dragon Cave, the Heaven-oriented Palace, the First, Second and Third Heaven Gates, the Taihe palace, the Forbidden City and the Golden Palace. With an elevation of 1,300 to l,612 meters, the area is regarded as the cream of Mt.Wudang. Mounting upward, people can enjoy the mystery of the heaven palace and the fairyland, and experience Emperor Zhen Wu’s heroic spirit of commanding land under heaven. Looking downward, people can appreciate the heaven-oriented momentum of the 72 peaks. In the rising sun and the setting moon, people hear the glad tidings of the human world.

The Yellow Dragon Cave lies on the precipice of the Purple-cover Peak, opposite to the Green Goat Peak across the ravine. In the valley, there is a immortal way up the mountain and the Yellow Dragon Cave Pavilion was constructed on the road. Three wood-sculptured characters of “Yellow Dragon Cave" were hung in the pavilion and a horizontal inscribed board with characters of " Renowned in the World" was also hung. The pavilion once was the place where Taoist priests sold eyes medicament. The way of sale was very strange. A quite long rope was hung down from the Yellow Dragon Cave and directly reached the pavilion. When pilgrims swayed the rope in the pavilion, a bamboo basket would slide down along the rope. Pilgrims put money in the basket and the basket then was pulled back to the cave. Taoist priests in the cave put the medicament in the basket according to the amount of the money and then sent it down. With the feature that the seller and the buyer could not see each other, the sales method not only was full of mystery, but also avoided many unnecessary contradictions. For its fairly good effectiveness, the medicament for the eyes enjoyed a fame of "being renowned in the world."

Walking from the Yellow Dragon Cave and passing the Heaven-oriented Palace, the First, Second and Third Heaven Gates, people reach the Taihe Palace. The palace was built in the Yongle 14th year (1416), comprising the Pilgrimage Hall, the Bell and Drum Tower, the Emperor Hall, the Imperial classics Hall, the God Kitchen, the dinning hall, the Zhenguan Hall, the Luck-changing Hall, the worshipping hall and the grand hall. Consecrated in the grand hall are Emperor Zhen Wu, the Golden Boy and the Jade Girl, and the eight Taoist Doctrine Protecting Gods. Two copper tablets were established in front of the hall, built in the Jiajing 31st year (1552) and the Jiajing 39th year (1560) respectively by Emperor Shizong of the Ming Dynasty. Both of the two tablets are quite precious historical relics. To the south of the Taihe Palace, there erects a peak looking like lotus and thus got the name of the Small Lotus Peak. On the cliff of the peak, there is an inscription of "Pillar Propping up Heaven" in official script. In bold and vigorous strokes, it has been regarded as an art treasure of the Chinese calligraphy. Embedded beside the inscription are poems of "Mounting Mt.Wudang" by Li Zongren and "Traveling in the Peak of Heaven Pillar" by Fang Zhenwu. On top of the peak, a palace was constructed and an ancient copper hall was set up inside the palace. The ancient copper hall was built in the Dade llth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1307). It was originally laid on top of the Peak of Heaven Pillar. In the Yongle 14th year, the Golden Palace was carried from the capital to the Peak of Heaven Pillar, and the ancient copper hall was moved to the Small Lotus Peak. It is said that the move of the copper hall contained a meaning that one’s luck turns in the fullness of time. Whenever tourists come to the

site, they always walk around the copper hall for one circuit in an aim to pray for good luck. The ancient copper hall was cast in Wuchang with funds raised by believers from Henan and other places, and it is said to be the earliest copper hall of China with high research value.

The Forbidden City was built around the Peak of Heaven Pillar. In the Yongle 17th year of the Ming

Dynasty (1419), Emperor Chengzu issued an imperial decree, which said "Wall around the Golden Palace in the Grand Mountain Taihe should be built. But the mountain itself needs no renovation. The height of the wall goes along with the height of the terrain. No matter what scale is adopted, the standard is that people can not get by the wall. The wall must be solid enough so as to maintain the same permanence as that of both the heaven and the earth." The Forbidden City was constructed with stones of 500 kilograms each in weight. Set up in the four directions were the Eastern, Southern, Western and Northern Heaven Gates, which look exactly like the Gate of Heaven and have great architectural value.

Entering the Forbidden City through the Southern Heaven Gate, people soon come to the top of the Peak of Heaven Pillar, where the Golden Palace stands. Built on the left and right sides of the Golden Palace were the lot-sticks room and the seal room. The Gold Bell and Jade Chime Stone were set up in front of the moon platform. There tourists can not only divine by the Eight Diagrams, burn incense and make vows, but also appreciate kinds of unique marvelous spectacles of the Golden Zenith, such as the Inverted Image of the Golden Palace, the Sea Horse Exhaling Mist, the God Pine Welcoming Guests and the Wudang Sunrise.

With an elevation of 700 to 900 meters, the Five Dragons Palace scenic area is composed of the Huayang Crag, the Immortal Yi Crag, the Lingying Crag, the Lingxu Crag, the Renwei Temple, and the Five Dragons Palace etc. The area was quite prosperous during the Tang Dynasty. With constant reconstruction at different time, a lot of man-made sight spots have formed in the area. Because it is another immortal way up to the Golden Zenith, the names of many scenic spots in the area are similar to those of the Crown Prince scenic area, such as the Old Lady Temple at the Needle-grinding Ravine and the Reception Convent. Located at the cutting section of the fault, the area has picturesque scenery. The Five Dragons Palace was firstly constructed during the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty and was reconstructed in the Yongle llth year of the Ming Dynasty. There originally were nearly 1,000 buildings in the palace, including the temple gate, the Dragon and Tiger Hall, the imperial tablet pavilion, the grand hall, the Parents Hall, wings and the dinning hall. The palace was destroyed by fire in 1930, and there currently exist the Five Dragons Well, the Taoist Tower for Li Suxi, and the classics-chanting platform.

The Five Dragons Wells are located in the palace yard. They got the name because five dragons once made their presence here. Legendary has it that the five wells were connected to one another. While drawing water in one well, people could find that water waved in the other four wells.

The Taoist Tower for Li Suxi was set up in the Yongle 23rd year of the Ming Dynasty. Taoism pursues to turn into immortal and ascend to heaven. No Taoist tower had ever been built. During the Yuan Dynasty, the

Quanzhen Sect entered a period of prosperity, and Taoist towers began to be built. Li Suxi was a well-known Taoist priest during the early period of the Ming Dynasty. In the Yongle 4th and 5th year, he twice sent people to deliver Langmei fruits and other tributes to the emperor and Li was conferred a title by the emperor as the Immortal of Langmei. Li Suxi passed away in the Yongle 19th year (1421) at the age of 93. And in the Yongle 22nd year (1424), the emperor issued an imperial decree to set up table and build a tower for him.

Surrounded by mountains, the Five Dragons Palace provides tourists with quite enjoyable scenery. Scenic spots including the Huayang Crag, the Immortal Yi Crag and the Lingying Crag were built in the mountain caverns. These scenic spots currently are being maintained and will be open to the public in the near future.

With an elevation of 500 to 1,100 meters, the Jeweled Platform scenic area comprises the Laojun Hall, the Temple of the Eight Immortals, the Lower Temple, the Middle Temple and the Upper Temple. The main feature of this area is that the Peak of Heaven Pillar erects among the connected mountains, looking like an emperor reverenced by the officials. The manmade buildings in the area were all established according to the fairy tale about Zhen Wu conferred title at the Jeweled Platform. Having been in lack of maintenance for a long time, the scenic area now is receiving repair and exploitation. And presently, roads and up-mountain-cableway have been built.

The tourist route of Mt. Wudang is 100 kilometers long. The surrounding mountains are full of peril and spectacular scenes. With cool springs and flying waterfalls, the mountain contains great variability. It seems as if the scenery of the mountain was not naturally borne, but artificially created. Surrounded by dense forests and thick and moving clouds and mist, tourists feel absent minded and lose themselves in the beautiful sounds and sights.

Taoism in Mt.Wudang has very close relations with traditional culture and art. In history, both art and religion belong to the fields of fantasy and emotion on the made of thinking. In these ways people can extricate themselves from reality, surpass ordinary life’s feelings, chase spirit happiness and finish self-molding. As far as religious art is concerned, art aesthetic and religion fanaticism cannot be parted. Art and religion influence each other and learn from each other. Therefore they have the same tendency on perception, image, association and emotion. In another word, religion is the hotbed of art, and art improves the development of religion on the other hand. Not an exception is Taoist art in Mt.Wudang. The Taoist relics such as sculptures, paintings and sacrificial vessels are the main manifestation of thinking in images' art of Taoist culture in Mt. Wudang.

The Taoist art works in Mt.Wudang were mainly from devotions of pilgrims or made with social donations. During the period of the Tang and Song Dynasties, royalties often sent envoys to build altars in Mt. Wudang, leaving numerous idols and carved stones. During the period of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Taoist rites in Mt. Wudang got fame increasingly. It became popular among royalties to go on a pilgrimage to Mt. Wudang. Especially in the Ming Dynasty, after Emperor Chengzu had bestowed " Grand Mountain" on Mt.Wudang and taken it as one of the imperial temples, the successive emperors all offered many sacrifices. Gradually Mt. Wudang becomes a huge Taoist art museum. At present the registered relics amount to 7,760, including idols, carved stones, tablets, Taoist scripture books, frescos, colored paintings, Taoist instruments and vessels etc. The qualities include gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, wood and stone. Many of them are precious relics rarely found indoors and overseas.

Among these art works the Taoist idols are the most characteristic and have the highest art value.

The Taoist idols are the core of Taoist-god creation theory. Chinese Taoism has an integrated god-pedigree. According to “The Taoist Scriptures" written before the Song Dynasty, there are more than 400 immortals in Taoism classified into seven ranks. Each rank has a god. Taoist Trinity and Four Emperors are the highest gods. Taoist Trinity includes Beginning God, Treasure God and Morality God (Lao Tsu). Four Emperors are the Jade Emperor, the Northern-pole Emperor, the Heaven Emperor and the Earth Emperor.

Emperor Zhen Wu is the primary worship by Wudang Taoism. Hence comes a specific god-pedigree, that is, Emperor Zhen Wu as the highest god, Golden Boy and Jade Girl, two commanders of Fire and Water as assistant gods, Black Dragon and White Tiger as protection gods, Thunder Gods, Fortune God as attendant gods, Holy Father & Mother as esteem gods etc. The pedigree mixes all kinds of deities from Heave, Hell and Spirit World together, which has unlimited supernatural power.

About 1,700 idols are left in Mt. Wudang, including 450 bronze statues and 530 iron ones. Almost all the idols are the consecrations from pilgrims. Most of them are grants from the Ming royalties. In Yongle 16th (1418) Emperor Zhu Di had 33 Taoist temples and palaces built in Mt.Wudang, in which were placed many idols, Taoist instruments and vessels, sacred flags, tents and shrines. In Chenghua 9th (1473), under imperial order, an eunuch named Chen Xi consecrated a set of gilded bronze sculptures, instruments and vessels to Taihe Palace, a set to Yuxu Palace. Statistics from the maintaining materials indicate that from 1473 to 1554 imperial governments consecrated 93 idols (including 7 gold ones, 6 gilded silver ones, 8 bronze ones covered with gold foil, 53 gilded bronze ones, and 19 wood ones covered with gold foil and colored make-up), 185 sacrificial vessels (including 14 gilded silver ones, 2 bronze ones with gold foil, 200 gilded bronze ones ) and a lot of Taoist instruments to Mt.Wudang. Incomplete statistics indicate that the emperors in the Ming Dynasty had sent consecrations 369 times. We can imagine the large amount of them.

The religious offerings by the Ming royalties were mainly transferred from Beijing to Mt. Wudang by land or by water. When the Grand Canal was dredged, ships carrying idols and other offerings voyaged through the Grand Canal, the Yangtze River and the Hanjiang River to Mt.Wudang. Water transportation was not only fast and comfortable but also safe for idols.

After 200 years' accumulation in the Ming Dynasty, Mt.Wudang became “the richest place under heaven" . Writers and poets at that time left many essays and poems describing the splendor of Mt. Wudang.

Generally speaking, religious rites are usually the specific expression style of religious belief. People worship, pray to, offer sacrifices and praise in hymns to idols to express their reverential fear, devoutness and loyalty to the gods. Hence, it was the most sacred thing in a district to build idols. Only highest skilled craftsmen were chosen to try their best to do the job reaching the need of religion.

The highly finished Taoist idols with fine materials in Mt.Wudang reflect the outstanding sculptural arts standard of the Ming Dynasty.

The sculpture of Zhen Wu in Golden Palace looks calm and restrained. He sits in an imperial chair with golden armor and battle dress, bare his feet, with his hair hanging down loosely, and his hands putting on the knees showing power and mercy. Being a trust worthy guide god, he seems to suggest to all the pilgrims that he is willing to help free them from sufferings and reach paradise.

With Zhen Wu sculpture in the same palace are idols of Golden Boy, Jade Girls and two commanders of Fire and Water, standing on both sides of Zhen Wu. Golden Boy in charge of god-pedigree, Jade Girl in charge of the seal, two commanders of Fire and Water holding flag and sword respectively. They are all valuables of sculpture works in the Ming Dynasty.

The group of idols in the Golden Palace is unlike Buddhism statues that are always built very huge, sometimes even as high and large as a mountain. It shows greatness and prestige of Buddha through the sharp contrast between statues and human beings. On the contrary, Taoist statues in the palace were built only as big as real. Their shapes, clothes and accessories were the same as those of imperial guards in the Ming Dynasty. As if coming from history, they always bring people kindness and human touch. Taoist gods are not dictators deciding humanity’s destiny but patriarchs who manage the world and of whom people can ask favors.

Among the sculpture art works, we’d like to mention a group of gilded bronze ones of thunder gods. Most of them are 0.5 meter high and shaped vividly. The Thunder God statue belongs to the highest grade. Thunder God brings rain and storm to the folk. In Taoism he is the spokesman on behalf of the Supreme God. The idol is dressed like a warrior, with a hammer in one hand and a graver in another hand. Glaring eyes, bare teeth and strong muscles make him look fiery, mighty and powerful. Some great power seems in his waving dress and arching feet. Unlike Zhen Wu and attendance gods, thunder gods execute decrees of Supreme God by force power.

These sculptures have not only high art value but also high scientific value. The bronze ones were made by lost-wax-casting, the most advanced technological method at that time in the world. Firstly, a wax mold was made and fire-proof materials were filled inside and outside. Then the wax mold was heated up and dissolved, making the whole casting an empty shell. At last molten copper was poured into the shell. The wax-losing method can not only keep the integrity of the casting, but also reflect vividly the dedicate parts of it. After gilded from head to toe, the idol looks shining and exquisite.

Another important part of Taoist culture in Mt.Wudang is Taoist drawings and colored paintings.

The fairly early Taoist painting in Mt.Wudang having been discovered by now is the Records with Drawings on Auspicious Omen by God Xuan Tian in the Great Ming Dynasty included by

Taoist Collections. They were drawn by royal painters by the decree of Emperor Chengzu (Zhu Di) in Yongle times. The book has two parts (the heaven and the earth), seventeen chapters (including several imperial edicts and main content). The earth part depicts souls on hills & mountains and gods and spirits in water. The heaven part depicts the phenomena of Zhen Wu making him seen in clouds for eleven times. The epiphany dates were once on lunar May 6th, 21st respectively, twice on lunar May 25th, five times on lunar August 17th, twice on lunar August 19th, Such layout is rhythmic, inspiring and favorable to religious information' s spread.

The Records with Drawings, the earliest comic book discovered in China, has great significance in the history of Chinese fine arts.

The frescos and colored paintings in Mt.Wudang are mainly kept in such places as the Purple Heaven Palace, the South Palace, the Fuzhen Temple, the Needle-grinding Well and the Yuanhe Temple. Those in the Purple Heaven Palace are preserved the best. The fine colored painting works, including the-Eight-Immortal-Sending -Fortune, Qin-Gao-Riding -a-Carp, Crown-Prince-Practicing -Taoism, and the Twenty-four Examples of Filial Piety, possess high art value for their well-knit composition, vigorous strokes, beautiful colors and vivid figures.

Among the articles granted by emperors, an inscribed board cut with an imperial decree in Yongle 11th (1413) is the most precious. The imperial decree is the earliest one about Mt. Wudang kept until now. It read

“There are many Taoists practicing Taoism in Mt.Taihe. They need absolute quietness. Besides people who ask for advice on Taoism, those who harass the Taoists should be published strictly. If a Taoist doesn’t' t put his heart on cultivation but make trouble now and then, minor offenders should be expelled from Mt.Taihe, while heavy one should be reported to my place and sentenced to strict punishment. October 18th, Yongle 11th." It was a law made for Mt. Wudang Taoism by Emperor Yongle. It’s also an essential document proving Mt. Wudang an imperial mountain. The wood-made board is in the shape of, with two golden dragons inlaid on the two sides of the words "Imperial Decree" in beautiful Li Calligraphy. The whole decree was cut in intaglio in the board painted in vermilion. Every word was painted with molten gold. According to historical documents, this kind of lacquer ware, specially made by royal workshop in the Ming Dynasty, had more than eighty decoration procedures.

Other precious relics include golden dragon, stone slips, and jade tablets in the Purple Heaven Palace by Zhu Bo in Jianwen 1st (1399). The age of Jianwen is short, so these relics with accurate chronological records are especially valuable.

Another relic in the Ming Dynasty also worth mentioning is the Holy Tablet of God Xuan Tian in Mt.Wudang, five-color chinaware in the highest class produced from royal kiln, 1.01m high and 0.5m wide. It was riveted by seven parts (pedestals, sides, core, and roof). On the pedestal are moving clouds and red-crowned cranes. On the two side tablets are dragons playing with pearls in the clouds. On the roof is also dragon in auspicious clouds. On the core are the words "The Holy Tablet of God Xuan Tian in Mt. Wudang”. The unique shape of the holy tablet makes it different from ancestral tablets of either the royalties or the folks. By now it has been the second-to-none Taoist spirit tablet with very high historic value.

The earliest religious construction in Mt. Wudang was built during the earlier period of the Tang Dynasty. According to related records, in the period of Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty (627-649), Junzhou encountered severe drought. Yaojian, a messenger in Mt.Wudang prayed for rain in the area. What he did made five dragons present and timely rain fell all over the district. Emperor Taizong made the Five-Dragon Temple built to express appreciation. Another two shrines of "Taiyi" and "Yanchang" were built during the period from Zhide to Dali (756-779). And the Invincible Wugong New Temple was built in the 3rd year of Qianning (896).

Zhao Heng, Emperor Zenzong of the North Song Dynasty, had great esteem for Taoism. In the 2nd year of Tianxi (1018), he issued an imperial order to change the shrines into temples. In the 6th year of Zhenhe (1116), the Purple Heaven Temple and the Five-Dragon Temple were built. The Taoist buildings on the whole mountain formed a certain scale. In the Qingyuan 6th year of the South Song Dynasty (1200), soldiers of the Jin Kingdom advanced south. Official Sunci in Junzhou moved office to the Purple Heaven Temple in Mt.Wudang, based on which, they had fought against the Jin Kingdom for 16 years. Later, the Song Dynasty perished and the majority of Taoist buildings on Mt.Wudang were destroyed by the war.

During the earlier days after Emperor Shizu Kublai of the Yuan Dynasty had come into the throne, Zhang Yuchu, the Taoist Master of the 43rd generation, sent the emperor a magic figure with characters of “Heaven Beating is in Yuan”. Therefore, the emperor utilized Taoism to stabilize the South. In the Zhiyuan 12th year (1275), Taoist rites on Mt.Wudang were reopened. Taoist priest Lu Dayou led other priests to reconstruct the Purple Heaven Temple and build new temples. Taoist priest Zhang Shouqing, together with other priests, constructed buildings at the South Crag by means of chiseling the cliff. In the Zhiyuan 23rd year (1286), Kublai issued an imperial order to change the temples into palaces. From September of 1286 to March the next year, no rain had fallen in the capital. The empress dowager sent commissioner to invite Taoist priest Zhang Shouqing from Mt. Wudang to pray for rain. The endeavors succeeded and the empress dowager donated money to construct the South Crag Palace. Emperor Renzong of the Yuan Dynasty shared the same birthday with Emperor Zhen Wu. In 13 12, he granted an additional title to the Five-Dragon Palace and extended the Zhen Wu Hall. During the period of Yangyou, Zhang Shouqing had prayed for rain at Mt. Wudang for several times in response of the imperial orders of the empress dowager. With his meritorious services, Zhang Shouqing was bestowed a title of True Man of Taihe. High officials and noble lords consecutively donated money to construct different buildings. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, rock temples of different sizes were constructed at 36 crags on the whole mountain. In the Hongwu 15th year of the Ming Dynasty (1382), the Department of Taoist Records was set up. Taoism was divided into two sects of Zhengyi and Quanzhen.

The position of the Commander-in-Chief was set up in Mt. Wudang to take charge of the religious

affairs of the mountain. In 1391, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty passed away, the crown grandson Zhu Yunwen succeeded to the throne. He was called Emperor Huidi, with the reign title of Jianwen. In 1399, Emperor Huidi canceled the vassal states. Zhu Di, the king of the Yan State, raised troops to resist. After three years' war, Zhu Di conquered Nanjing. Emperor Jianwen fled and Zhu Di came to the throne, with a reign title of Yongle.

At the early stage of the Yongle period, the political public opinions were quite disadvantageous to Zhu Di because he came into power with armed might. He suffered a lot from the pressure of "Official Killed the emperor" and "Internal strife" . Especially, the former officials of Emperor Jianwen never came over and pledged allegiance to him. In order to strengthen his political power and pacify the will of the people, on one hand, Emperor Yongle announced that he ceased the rebellion by order from Heaven. On the other hand, he searched for theoretical bases. Just in the Yongle 3rd year (1405) and 4th year (1406), Taoist priest Li Suxi from the Five-Dragon Palace of Mt. Wudang twice sent people to present fairy Langmei fruits to the emperor to declare that the country was in peace. Feeling quite satisfied, the emperor summoned Li Suxi. From Li, the emperor got to know that Mt. Wudang was the place where Xuan Wu, the God of the North ascended to Heaven. Later, the emperor especially summoned Jian Zhongyang, another Taoist priest from Mt. Wudang and inquired details concerning the God of the North. After fine consideration, Emperor Yongle decided to

build Mt. Wudang and organized a kind of public opinion of “a combination of Heaven and human-being" and “sovereignty bestowed by God" so as to further strengthen his political power.

In March of the Yongle 10th year, Zhu Di issued two imperial decrees and sent Sun Biyun to make on-the-spot survey at Mt. Wudang. In July the same year, the planning work was ready. On June 11th, Emperor Yongle promulgated an imperial decree on appointing related officials, soldiers and craftsmen. It said “As a famous mountain in the country, Mt. Wudang is the place for Xuantian Zhen Wu, the God of the North to ascend to Heaven. Different temples were once built in varied dynasties but burned and destroyed by mutinous soldiers during the late stage of the Yuan Dynasty. Here comes to my dynasty, the spirit of the God of the North is surrounding us and blessing the country and its people. During my first days after ceasing the rebellion by order from Heaven, 1 greatly felt the presence of the spirit. I once made up my mind to build palaces and temples in Beijing, but the wish could not be fulfilled due to the constant internal troubles. During the early days after 1 have succeeded to the throne, I thought that Mt. Wudang is the right place for Zhen Wu. The construction has been delayed because I wanted soldiers and civilians to have a rest after the war. Now it’s just the time for me to appoint relevant officials, soldiers and civilians to build palaces and temples in Mt.Wudang to thank for the favor of the God and pray for good fortune for my people." In September, Zhu Di ordered 400 imperial commissioners to lead 200,000 soldiers, civilians and craftsmen to go to Mt. Wudang to construct Taoist rites.

The construction project started on September 18th of the Yongle 10th year (1412) and ended on

February 19th of the 22nd year (1424), with a time span of 13 years. Nine palaces of the Jingle Palace, the Yuzhen Palace, the Yuxu Palace, the Five-Dragon Palace, the Purple Heaven Palace, the South Crag Palace, the Heaven-worship Palace, the Qingwei Palace and the Taihe Palace were constructed. Nine temples of the Taixuan Temple, the Huilong Temple, the Renwei Temple, the Weilie Temple, the Temple of the Eight Immortals, the Dragon

Fountain Temple and the Taichang Temple were built. And 36 subsidiary Taoist convents, 72 rock temples and almost 100 stone bridges and ceremonial gateways were constructed in the meantime. All the constructions formed the grand building complex on Mt. Wudang.

During the construction of the whole project, Emperor Yongle laid emphasis on several big factors. Firstly, in respect to the guiding thought of the integral planning, the emperor changed the former

fortunate place for Zhen Wu to practice Taoism and obtain immortality into the Taoist Holy for Zhen Wu to command the land under heaven. The previous activity centre of the Purple Heaven Palace, the South Crag Palace and the Five-Dragon Palace was extended to the Peak of Heaven Pillar. A new structure was formed which centralized on the Golden Palace and was in conformity with buildings on the whole mountain.

In respect to the integral layout, the Golden Palace was constructed on the top of the Peak of Heaven Pillar, 1,612 meters above sea level. Possessing the highest position, it imposes people with a feeling of

“overlooking all the land under heaven”. Secondly, the emperor himself paid great attention to the casting of the Golden Palace. In the Yongle 10th

year (1412), the project started. All the castings for the palace were cast in Beijing. The emperor checked them and felt quite satisfied. In order to transport the castings to Mt. Wudang safely, the emperor decided to send army to convoy them. On lunar September 9th of the Yongle 14th year (1416), Zhu Di issued the imperial decree to Commander-in-chief He Jun.

It said “Now, I order you to convoy the ships carrying the castings for the Golden Palace to Nanjing. You should be very careful throughout the journey. Only on fine day and in favorable wind can sail the ships. The ships should keep clean." At every port where the ships arrived, the local officials unexceptionally held ceremony for welcoming and seeing-off by burning incense. The castings were convoyed to the foot of Mt.Wudang via the Changjiang River and the Danjiang River. Thirdly, great concern was attached to the construction of the Peak of Heaven Pillar. In order to imitate the wonderful scenery of the Jade Capital in heaven, the platform foundation of the Golden Palace was carved by laying granite, and all sides were decorated by white-stone-made railing. After the arrival of the Golden Palace on the Peak of Heaven Pillar, Zhu Di decided to construct the Forbidden City. In the Yongle 17th year (1419), Zhu Di issued an imperial decree. It said "Wall around the Golden Palace in the Grand Mountain of Supreme Harmony should be built. But the mountain itself needs no renovation. The height of the wall goes along with the height of the terrain. No matter what scale is adopted, the standard is that people can not get by the wall. The wall must be solid enough so as to maintain the same permanence as that of both the heaven and the earth." The Forbidden City was constructed with stones of 500 kilograms each in weight. Set up in the four directions were stone-carved gates, which symbolized the Gate of Heaven. And finally, a fairyland on earth came into being.

In order to pass on the inheritance of the imperial temples permanently, Emperor Yongle decreed to send 3,123 prisoners of 550 households to Mt.Wudang. Every household was allocated with 50 mu idle land and asked to hand in seven dans of grain, tea, salt and cotton as offerings to the palaces and temples every year. Meanwhile, people in Jinzhou were exempt from the military service and related taxation. Special army was arranged to make inspection tours to fields on the mountain and servants were sent to clean and maintain the palaces and temples and bake bricks and tiles. Zhang Yuqing, the Taoist Master of the 44th generation, received the emperor’s imperial order to dispatch senior Taoist priests of high reputation to take charge of different palaces and temples in the mountain.

Emperor Yongle, through the above-mentioned measures, wisely changed the Taoism of Mt.Wudang into an imperial ancestral temple, especially enshrining and worshipping Emperor Zhen Wu. He also successfully accomplished his political sermon of “Sovereignty bestowed by Heaven" and “Ruling by decree from Heaven" . He eliminated the political obstacles and attained his goal of using religion to permanently strengthen the power.

After Emperor Chengzu, his descendants always treated Mt.Wudang as the imperial ancestral temple where the ancestor pioneered and the gods rested. Whenever a new emperor came into the throne, he unexceptionally imitated the ancestors' deeds. Court eunuchs were sent to make pilgrimage to Mt.Wudang as the imperial commissioners. And the taxation paid by Junzhou was utilized in repairing the palaces and temples. Especially during the mid Ming Dynasty, Emperor Shizong, Zhu Houzong twice rebuilt Mt.Wudang.

Why did Emperor Shizong rebuild the mountain? On October 21st of the Jiajing 21st year, Yang Jinying, a maid in the imperial palace could not bear Emperor Shizong’s maltreat. She tried to scrag the emperor to death with a silk ribbon while the emperor was in a doze after drinking. But the silk ribbon was tied into a slipknot, so the emperor was not killed and saved by the empress. Yang Jinying together with other people were put to death. In the Jiajing 29th year (1550), a governor had secret communication with Tartar. And one of the Tartar’s tribes reached the city wall of Beijing. Fortunately, the tribe only aimed at

plundering but not attacked the city. After plundering in the outskirts of the city for four days, the tribe withdrew itself. With two experiences of ill luck turning into good, the emperor who had believed in Taoism became more pious. Before coming into the throne, Emperor Shizong had not been the crown prince. As the blood cousin of Emperor Wuzong, Zhu Houzhao, he succeeded to the throne because Emperor Wuzong had no son. Emperor Shizong thought that this was also partially because of the blessing and protection from Emperor Zhen Wu. Therefore, he decided to rebuild Mt.Wudang.

In February of the Jiajing 31st year (1552), Emperor Shizong issued an imperial decree to send officials to Mt.Wudang to inspect palaces and temples needing maintenance, estimate the expenditure and feedback the situation to relevant department within 40 days. On April 15th, the emperor allocated silver of over 10,000 Hang as the expenses for rebuilding Mt.Wudang. Ninety-nine officers took the charge of supervising the project. Army men, civilians and craftsmen from over 60 prefectures and counties in Hubei and Hunan were ready for dispatch. The project started in June of the Jiajing 31st year (1512) and was completed in October the next year.

The key items to be repaired were large-sized palaces of Taihe, South Crag, Five-Drago, Yuxu, Yuzhen, Ying' en and Jingle, and temples of Yuanhe, Fuzhen, Huilong, Renwei, Eight-immortal and Weilie, and some attached rock temples, Taoist convents and stone bridges.

The rebuilding of Mt.Wudang by Emperor Shizong did not just maintain the temples constructed under the decree of Emperor Yongle, but also further replenished buildings on the mountain. He enriched the key palaces. What should be especially pointed out was that the establishment of the Xuanyue stone memorial gateway, which finally consummated the pattern of the imperial ancestral temples.

During the period of Yongle, the boundary for the scope of Mt.Wudang approximately was the Yuxu Palace, from which, up was the mysterious mountain and down was the human world. There was no distinct mark. In his plan, Emperor Shizong laid emphasis on building the Xuanyue Gate. He made a stone memorial gateway built which was 15 li away from the Yuxu palace. The emperor himself inscribed “Country-administering Mountain" on the stone memorial gateway, which meant to administer the country with the spirit of Wudang Taoism. Once again it showed the special position of Mt.Wudang as the imperial ancestral temple. What was more important was that the pattern of the ancestral temple was ameliorated, making the top-mountain and the foot-mountain distinguished. It not only strengthened the religious field, but also enhanced the momentum of Mt.Wudang. Reaching the Xuanyue Gate, travelers feel the dignity of “Entering the Xuanyue Gate, you give your fate to gods. Out of the Xuanyue Gate, you return to be a human."

During the late Ming Dynasty, eunuchs were in dictatorship. The emperor only continued to implement the preferential conditions for Mt.Wudang set by the ancestors. The public security and the maintenance were directly administered by the locality. Provincial commanders basically were eunuchs. They were psychologically more cordial towards the religion. Whenever big events took place, they unexceptionally made inspection tours to Mt.Wudang on behalf of the emperor. The Taoist buildings of Mt.Wudang received effective maintenance and all the palaces and temples were expanded in different degrees. The mountain was always regarded as the center of Taoism in the country.

The Taoist architecture of Mt.Wudang had formed certain layout during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. The main buildings were arranged in accordance with a Taoist fortunate place. Its religious activities gained the fame for "setting up altars and holding sacrificial ceremony" and "praying for rain and averting disasters”. The Fortunate Place centralized on Purple Heaven and extended to palaces and temples on all peaks and crags.

When Emperor Yongle reconstructed Mt.Wudang on a large sacle, his guiding thought was to utilize the power of the religion and the potential might of the religious authority to serve for the politics. He adjusted the previous layout and created a unique architectural pattern of the imperial ancestral temple.

1. The overall layout of a combination of the religious authority and the worldly monarchical power. The religious authority and the monarchical power were two mainstay of the feudal society. It was a

habitual practice of the emperors of all the dynasties to propagate that the monarchic power was bestowed by god. Emperor Yongle fought from Beijing to Nanjing and came into the throne as the crown prince. It coincided with the legend that the Zhen Wu went to the south where he made his power felt and descended to the world and finally commanded the land under heaven as the crown prince of the Jingle Kingdom .It naturally became the guiding thought of the architectural layout to propagate the idea.

Construction during the Ming Dynasty was centralized on the Golden Palace. Based on stories that Zhen Wu made his presence and descended to the world, the overall planning was divided into two parts of upper mountain and lower mountain.

The part of the lower mountain carried out its layout according to the story that Zhen Wu made his presence and was born out by Empress Shansheng of the Jingle Kingdom, applied himself to Taoism with great concentration. The Jingle Palace with an area of 120,000 square meters was firstly constructed in ancient Junzhou, which was likened to the Jingle Kingdom. Built in the palace were the Hall of Crown Prince and the Hall of Holy Parent and other temples and convents. Outside were some attached buildings. With a length of 60 li, an official road made of stones reached Mt.Wudang directly. Dotted along the road were diverse temples and Taoist convents.

The part of upper mountain was arranged in accordance with the legend that Zhen Wu went to Mt.Wudang to practice asceticism at the age of 15 and was conferred a title by the Jade Emperor after he accomplished the asceticism and finally commanded the land under heaven. When people enter the Xuanyue Gate, they enter the mountain. The Yuzhen Palace and the Yuxu Palace were two palaces for asceticism. Buildings were constructed at different levels, which symbolized the different stages of Zhen Wu’s asceticism. Built up most were the Heaven-worship Palace, the First, Second and Third Heaven Gates, the Taihe Palace and the Golden Palace, which all were the sites for Zhen Wu to command the land under heaven.

2. Creating a mysterious place by selecting sites according to the Yin and Yang arts, concerning the natural environment at the same time. In order to make the Taoist buildings in Mt.Wudang similar not only to the imperial palaces but also to the mysterious mountain and jade palaces, Emperor Yongle took two measures. Firstly, felling trees on Mt. Wudang was forbidden. Wood needed in construction was all bought from other places. Special officials were dispatched to Mt.Wudang to take charge of sending persons to Shanxi, Henan, Sichuan and other places to purchase divine wood. The wood then was transported to Mt.Wudang by waterway.

Secondly, Wang Ming, a famous Yin Yang specialist and Chen Yupeng, a Yin&Yangist were ordered to lead disciples to inspect fengshui and choose the right sites for construction.

In respect to the existing constructions and the natural environment, the palaces and temples are unexceptionally in harmony to the environment and possess a kind of beauty of mystery and tranquility. With meticulous analyses, it is easy to find out that the sites of the buildings on Mt.Wudang were all chosen after repeated explorations and careful comparisons.

“Bearing Yin and embracing Yang; backed by mountain and faced with water”. This is the most basic principle of the concept of “fengshui”. According to the geological environment of Mt.Wudang, the fengshui specialists adopted three ways including re-selecting site, adjusting and renovating, and remedying defects.

New palaces, such as the Yuzhen Palace, the Qingwei Palace and the Taihe Palace, were all chosen at places on slope or basin and surrounded by mountains. In front of the palaces, there were natural rivers or man-digging pools, which formed a kind of environment of “backed by mountain and faced with water."

The way of adjustment and renovation was adopted in the already-existing palaces. The original buildings of the Five-Dragon Palace and the Purple Heaven Palace were not large in size. Although located on basins surrounded by mountains, the two mountains of Black Dragon and White Tiger respectively on left and right did not have a favorable terrain. Therefore, the East and West Palaces were built on the left and right sides so as to shorten the distance to the two mountains. The Dragon and Tiger Hall was moved ahead along the central axis. The original palace then turned into the Shifang Hall on the axis. In this way , the size of the temples was enlarged, which made them be in better harmony to the surrounding grand mountains. And the Dragon and

Tiger Hall extended to the valley brook, which helped gather qi. The Wudang mountain ranges mostly run from north to south. Among them, there are two faults. The scenic spots, due to religious contents, must keep some distance from each other. And the geological environment exerted considerable restraints on constructions. In order to ease the contradiction, specialists applied to remedy defects and enhance strong points.

The second place that people meet after entering the mountain is the Yuxu Palace. According to the requirements of the mountain-entering routes, the palace must receive people in their face. Therefore, It could only be built towards north, which was quite a disadvantage in protecting "qi”. Thus, three walls were built around the Yuxu Palace for the purpose of "collecting the wind”. The original South Crag Palace was on the cliff, where there was short of water and in lack of capacious place to gather wind. Therefore, a set of buildings was established on the northern slope, and a well was dug which solved the problem of water deficiency. The expanded palace complex faced the Five-Dragon Palace and the Taichang Temple.

The Golden Palace on the Peak of Heaven Pillar reflects the most consummate craftsmanship. The Peak of Heaven Pillar is 1,612 meters above sea level. It is the pinnacle of all the peaks and is regarded as the ancestral mountain of all the mountains. Built on the Peak of Heaven Pillar, the Golden Palace faces the east. There is no mountain around it. In an aim to collecting wind and gathering “qi”, the Forbidden City was constructed around the peak. Built in the city are four heaven gates of Eastern, Southern, Western and Northern. Only the Southern Heaven Gate can be opened. The other three are artificial ones in order not to let go of "qi”. The construction of the Forbidden City not only sets off the holy and majestic atmosphere of the Heaven Kingdom by contrast, but also makes the Golden Palace more magnificent. It has become a bright pearl among the Taoist buildings on Mt. Wudang.

3. "Built artificially, but looking naturally born”, a kind of natural artistic skills of Taoism. Taoism believes in "The ways of men are conditioned by those of earth. The ways of earth, by those of heaven. The ways of heaven, by those of Tao, and the ways of Tao, by nature (the self go)." In the apparent meaning, it

is a circle. But in respect to its philosophic theory, it reveals that all things go back to nature. Abiding by the ways of nature and making every building look like naturally born and harmonious to men, earth and heaven, it is another feature of the Taoist buildings on Mt.Wudang .

Mt.Wudang has rather complicated geological structure and the mountain ranges have sharp elevation drop. How to make men, earth and heaven follow the ways and how to make every palace and temple get its gains it must be planned by applying the natural laws. It' s 120 li from the Peak of Heaven Pillar to the ancient Junzhou town, in which the distance between the Junzhou town and the Xuanyue Gate is 60 li, ascertained as the environment of men; the distance between the Xuanyue Gate and the South Crag is 40 li, ascertained as the environment of earth and that between the South Crag and the Peak of Heaven Pillar is 20 li, ascertained as the environment of heaven. Let’s see how nature abides by the ways.

Man (from Junzhou to the Xuanyue Gate): Earth (from the Xuanyue Gate to the South Cliff): Heaven (from the South Cliff to the Peak of Heaven Pillar)=60:40:20=3:2:l

One in Taoism is the start point of yang numbers. Everything in the world originates from it. Two in Taoism is the basic unit of yin numbers, which originates from the One. And One plus Two equals to Three. It coincides with Lao Tzu’s concept of "Tao gave birth to One. One gave birth to Two. Two gave birth to Three and Three brought out everything. Everything bears Yin and contains Yang on which harmony depends." This philosophic theory of endless life in circulation reflects the simple wish of broadening existence space for mankind.

The section from the ancient Junzhou town to the Xuanyue Gate embodies the concept of man. The terrain slopes gently. Groups of small-sized buildings were constructed in every three to five li according to the distance as far as the eye could see, such as the Zhoufu Convent, the Shenfu Convent and the Mt. Tai Temple. And groups of large-scale buildings were set up in every eight to ten li in accordance to people’s moods, such as the Jingle Palace, the Ying' en palace and the Wuzong Temple. In order to let the building groups echo with each other, a stone road was built running through them. The whole space is full of warmness of the human world, and in complete agreement with tourists' psychological demands.

The section from the Xuanyue Gate to the South Crag undulates in terrain and is regarded as the sphere of the holy mountain. The holy mountain here refers to the concept of earth. According to movement trend of the mountain ranges, the buildings should be arranged in combination of the slope and the collection of vision

field. With thick stone pillars, a grand stone gate with inscriptions of “Country-administering Mountain" rose steeply from level ground. Overlapping upturned eaves tower into the sky and flights of stairs guide the pilgrims and believers to the mysterious high mountains. The Yuzhen Palace, the Yuxu Palace, the Purple Heaven Palace and the South Crag Palace are all located on the tableland in the valley. They are comparatively huge in size, which tallies with the rhythm formed with the undulation of the mountain ranges. Other small-sized building groups, such as the Needle-grinding Well and the Guandi Temple, due to their special outlook and bright colors, turn into a symbol, hinting and guiding people to go forward.

The space form of heaven. It starts from the Crow Ridge and passes the Langmei Memorial Hall, the Seven-Star Tree, the Facing -heaven Palace, the First, Second and Third Heaven Gate, the Pilgrimage Gate, The Taihe Palace and finally reaches the Golden Palace. All the buildings launched construction at perilous sites. Peaks of cliffs and mountains were regarded as the turning points for directions and rhythm, on which god temples or heaven gates were built. The buildings create a kind of leap in space, which is psychologically transformed into a call of divinity. It seems that climbers are winding through notes in the mountains and heaven is performing songs praising the eternity of life.

The theme of Taoism is that through practice and cultivation Taoist priests attain Tao and become immortal. The Taoist constructions must follow this religious demand. The combination pattern emphasizing on quietness and seclusion and the unique construction technique are the main characteristics of the Taoist architectures in Mt.Wudang.

The Taoist building groups, regardless of their sizes, generally could be divided into the god section; the practicing section and the living section, and according to their practical functions, include palaces, temples and dining halls. The combination pattern was that the mountain slopes were enclosed into diverse compounds. Large-sized building groups adopted the means of multi-axis arrangement in construction. The mid-axis is the god section, in which the Dragon and Tiger Hall, the Shifang Hall, the Grand Palace, wings, side halls and the parent Hall were built. The axis on the right is the living section. Established in it were the dining halls, storehouses, and god kitchens. The axis on the left was the practicing section, in which, the god halls, classics rooms and bedrooms were built. Each section was surrounded by walls and formed independent space of its own. Buildings in the god section on the mid-axis are always grand and imposing to enhance the importance of the section. For example, the Yuzhen Palace, the Yuxu Palace and the Purple Heaven Palace all took this combination pattern. With hills behind and openings in front, the palaces are strictly symmetric in the overall arrangement. Dense enclosing walls, high stairs, ring upon ring of compounds and palaces, all of these exert a kind of momentum full of might and dignity.

For the buildings that could not be constructed symmetrically due to topographical influence, the layout of the zigzag-shaped axis with unevenness on the left and right sides was taken to get an integral balance. For example, the Fuzhen Temple is located on a narrow tableland on the gentle slope of the Lion Hill. People could only set up the axis along the slope. The Fuzhe Bridge was put up across the stream. Passing the bridge there is a god road, five meters wide and 150 meters long, which directly leads to the First Palace Gate ---a side gate. The palace wall brings people to the Second Palace Gate. Across the gate, there is the front Taoist yard. Turning left in the yard, people enter the Dragon and Tiger Hall . Crossing the palace, people step into a quadrangle, in which, the grand palace and the left and right wings were built. Turning left again and crossing the palace gate, people see the Taoist yard of the third ring, where two axes were laid out, leading to the dining hall and the classics-collecting pavilion respectively. This pattern makes the buildings be undulating and crisscross. It can not only stagger the sunshine dead angles caused by the buildings, but also make it favorable for ventilation and set off the mysterious atmosphere by contrast. This kind of pattern was successfully applied in constructing the South Crag Palace, the Five-Dragon Palace and the Taihe Palace.

During the period of construction on Mt.Wudang in the Ming Dynasty, skillful craftsmen were transferred from the whole country to the mountain. And a lot of excellent construction techniques were passed on to Mt.Wudang which played a vital role in conquering difficulties in the construction and left us good experiences on taking different measures in accordance with different natural environment. The palace buildings are mostly in official style of the north. It is the huge pillars that support the ridgepole, on which claw pillars are set up to prop up the second beam. The second beam sustains the claw pillar on the ridge and the claw pillar supports the purlin. This pattern creates capacious inner space that is an ideal place for enshrining

god statues. The Taoist convents and wings have the pattern often seen in the south. Pillars directly support the

purlin of the building. It’s easy to construct and the buildings have good stability. For the fine inner environment, they were generally applied for Taoist priests to practice and live in.

For comparatively great buildings, the above-mentioned two patterns were both applied. Possessing features of good stability and flexibility, they were always used as religious sites and living sections. Terrain and composition of the soil vary greatly in mountains region. Regarding to different conditions, corresponding techniques should be adopted.

Platform pattern. Platform is a kind of ancient architectural pattern, enjoying a momentum of dignity. According to various requirements, there are three kinds of platform constructions on Mt.Wudang. The first is high platforms, which were mainly built in front of the grand hall. A high platform is enclosed by stone railing, forming an imposing grandeur, such as the high platforms in the Yuxu Palace, the Purple Heaven Palace and the South Crag Palace. The second one is moon platforms. It refers to a kind of protruding platform in front of the grand hall. Enclosed by stone railing on one side, the platform is around by stairs in the other three sides. Moon platforms are often used for Taoist priests' outdoor asceticism practicing. They play a good transition role in space, such as the grand hall moon platforms of the Fuzhen Temple, the Yuzhen Palace and the Taishan Temple. The third one is god platforms. This kind of platforms was always constructed at perilous places. With an area of three to five square meters, the platform is surrounded by stone railings on three sides and stone stairs were built on the other side, connecting with the god road. The Thank-expressing Platform on the Crow Ridge, the Flying-to-Heaven Platform on the South Crag and the Dressing Table Platform are all of this kind.

Architectural pattern of projecting house. It is often seen in minority nationalities' region in mountain areas, and always built on the mountain slope. Half of the house is on the high slope and the other half is hung in the air, supported by stone pillar. The projecting buildings in Mt. Wudang mostly have three to five stories and are used for Taoist priests to live in or collecting classics, such as the Five-Storied Building of the Fuzhen Temple and the Classics -collecting Pavilion of the South Crag Palace.

The Golden Palace. The Golden Palace occupies a fairly special position among the Taoist constructions in Mt. Wudang. In respect to the geological position, it is on the top of the highest peak, having momentum that a palace surrounded by mountains guards the surrounding mountains. Meanwhile, the natural conditions on the top are rather adverse, solid construction materials must be applied. The Golden Palace is made up of gilded bronze and all the parts were mortised together. It is 5.54 meters high, 5.8 meters long and 4.2 meters wide. All the components are accurate in proportion and the decorative patterns of the palace are quite elaborate. With precise calculation, the palace wall joined perfectly and let in no air. Even if wind is whistling outside the palace, the flame of candle in it won' t move. When it is raining and blowing with lightening accompanied by peals of thunder, blaze flashes around the palace. And the Golden Palace becomes more clean and bright after the thunderstorm. 500 years have passed, the Golden Palace still stands erect on the top of the Peak of Heaven Pillar and glistens as it originally did. It is regarded as a piece of precious works combining techniques of both construction and casting.

The Taoist buildings in Mt. Wudang reflect the long history and the profound cultural tradition of China. The palaces and temples scattered throughout the whole mountain all reached a high level of construction on the overall constitution, plane layout, foundation site selection, architectural space, construction skills and artistic features. Especially, the style of pursuing a high unity of the inside spirit and the outside natural look in the construction plays a very important and enlightening role in the ecological houses advocated nowadays.

In 1994, the Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization of the United Nations sent experts to pay inspection tours to Mt. Wudang, and after repeated proof, the ancient building complex in the Wudang Mountains was inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Taoist music refers to the music applied by Taoism in ceremonious activities. The Taoist music of Mt.Wudang enjoys a quite long history. During the late stage of the Eastern Han Dynasty when the religion of Five-dou-rice came into being before long, it was spread from Hanzhong in the Shu Kingdom to its neighboring area Mt.Wudang. The sacrifice-to-gods ceremony of the Five-dou-rice in Mt. Wudang was fairly

magnificent in its form. The ceremony was carried on in a form of singing and dancing by wizards. The ancient wizards entertained or subdued the gods through singing and dancing to achieve the goal of praying for good fortune.

During the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, emperors of the Northern Wei Dynasty believed in Taoism. Kou Qianzhi, a well-known Taoist who practiced Taoism in Mt.Huashan and Mt. Songsha implemented reforms on Taoism. It was another development stage of the Taoist music to set up altar and chant classics in Taoist ceremonies. What should be especially mentioned was the Taoist classics-chanting was changed into classics-singing. Learned personages from the north constantly went to Mt.Wudang for herbal medicine and other purposes. Kou Qianzhi’s movements thus were extensively spread to Mt.Wudang.

During the periods of Tang and Song Dynasties, more and more influential social activities were held in Mt.Wudang. In the Zhenguan Period of the Tang Dynasty, Yaojian, the minister of Junzhou State set up an altar to pray for rain and succeeded, and then Mt.Wudang received great attention. Before long, frustrated persons of the Tang Dynasty were constantly degraded and resided in Fangxian and Yunxian counties in Wudang mountain area. The royal music of the Tang Dynasty was then brought to Mt.Wudang. Chen Tuan in the Five Dynasties was very familiar with classics and history and he was quite cultured in music. He had practiced Taoism in Mt. Wudang for over 20 years and exercised the five-dragon-sleep method. What was special was that there was music in his sleep and the music probably was a kind of lullaby. Zhaogou, an emperor of the Northern Song Dynasty, called Sun Jiran who was in charge of Mt. Wudang to the imperial palace in Lin' an to set up an altar and sing classics. It not only took Wudang Taoist music to the royal court, but also brought back the royal court music to Mt.Wudang. All of these exerted profound impact on the Taoism music of Mt.Wudang.

Emperors of the Yuan Dynasty had the greatest esteem for Emperor Zhen Wu. It was special that the birthday of Emperor Renzong was on the same day with that of Emperor Zhen Wu, Thus, when the day came, large-scale sacrificial ceremony was held at Mt.Wudang. After Emperor Renzong, holding sacrificial ceremony for emperor' s birthday was on an increasing trend, sometimes even four times a year. According to historical records, the ceremonies were carried out in the form of passing joss-sticks, which had a comparatively great influence on the society. And many historical records portrayed the magnificent scene of those ceremonies. The classics reading and chanting and the Taoist singing and dancing directly arranged by the imperial family were on large scale, of high taste, and had profound influence as well.

It was in the Ming Dynasty that the Taoist music of Mt.Wudang enjoyed the most brilliant period. At the earlier Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang established the Institute of the Metaphysical Sect to manage national Taoism. In 1382, the institute was changed into the Taolu Department, which was divided into two groups of “Quanzhen" and “Zhengyi" under the jurisdiction of the Board of Rites. When Emperor Chengzu ascended the throne, he threw a lot of endeavors in constructing Mt.Wudang. And he wrote “The Great Ming Emperor-made Metaphysical Sect Musical Chapters" to be performed and sung on Mt.Wudang. The emperor ordered the God Music Temple to send 400 dancing music students to the Taoist temples of Mt.Wudang. This unprecedented act promoted the Taoist music of Mt.Wudang up to a position in advance of the royal court music. Thus, the Taoist music of Mt.Wudang became the most important musical activity at that time and its special status in China’s music history was ascertained.

The Great Ming Emperor-made Metaphysical Sect Musical Chapters comprised three parts and totally recorded 14 Taoist songs.

The first part included nine songs, which were all written by the emperor himself and legally ascertained as the standard for singing in the Taoist' s sacrificial activities. Comprising 10 songs, the second part was the core of the emperor-made musical chapters.

The third part was composed for Xu Zhicheng and his younger brother Xu zhi'er. Serving for the king of the Wu Kingdom, the two brothers believed in Taoism and had a merit of loving the people and being loyal to the emperor. The aim for Emperor Chengzu to write the musical chapter lied in strengthening his political power. The first chapter emphasized on unifying the thoughts and singing for peace. The second chapter focused on popularizing that the power of the emperor was bestowed by god, establishing the absolute

authority and power of the emperor. The third chapter intended to advise the subjects of the feudal rulers to abide by the law and behave themselves.

Its regretful was the above-mentioned royal court music, due to the impacts of other Taoist music, wasn’t passed on in Mt.Wudang. While Emperor Chengzu was constructing Mt.Wudang, in response to the request of Zhang Yuqing-the 44th Heavenly Teacher, the emperor ordered Sun Biyun to dispatch senior Taoist priests from different places across the country to take charge of all the temples in Mt.Wudang. The deed brought the Taoist sacrificial ceremony music of varied many historical records portrayed the magnificent scene of those ceremonies. The classics reading and chanting and the Taoist singing and dancing directly arranged by the imperial family were on large scale, of high taste, and had profound influence as well.

It was in the Ming Dynasty that the Taoist music of Mt.Wudang enjoyed the most brilliant period. At the earlier Ming Dynasty, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang established the Institute of the Metaphysical Sect to manage national Taoism. In 1382, the institute was changed into the Taolu Department, which was divided into two groups of “Quanzhen" and “Zhengyi" under the jurisdiction of the Board of Rites. When Emperor Chengzu ascended the throne, he threw a lot of endeavors in constructing Mt.Wudang. And he wrote “The Great Ming Emperor-made Metaphysical Sect Musical Chapters" to be performed and sung on Mt.Wudang. The emperor ordered the God Music Temple to send 400 dancing music students to the Taoist temples of Mt.Wudang. This unprecedented act promoted the Taoist music of Mt.Wudang up to a position in advance of the royal court music. Thus, the Taoist music of Mt.Wudang became the most important musical activity at that time and its special status in China’s music history was ascertained.

The Great Ming Emperor-made Metaphysical Sect Musical Chapters comprised three parts and totally recorded 14 Taoist songs.

The first part included nine songs, which were all written by the emperor himself and legally ascertained as the standard for singing in the Taoist’s sacrificial activities. Comprising 10 songs, the second part was the core of the emperor-made musical chapters.

The third part was composed for Xu Zhicheng and his younger brother Xu zhi' er. Serving for the king of the Wu Kingdom, the two brothers believed in Taoism and had a merit of loving the people and being loyal to the emperor. The aim for Emperor Chengzu to write the musical chapter lied in strengthening his political power. The first chapter emphasized on unifying the thoughts and singing for peace. The second chapter focused on popularizing that the power of the emperor was bestowed by god, establishing the absolute authority and power of the emperor. The third chapter intended to advise the subjects of the feudal rulers to abide by the law and behave themselves.

Its regretful was the above-mentioned royal court music, due to the impacts of other Taoist music, wasn’t passed on in Mt.Wudang. While Emperor Chengzu was constructing Mt.Wudang, in response to the request of Zhang Yuqing-the 44th Heavenly Teacher, the emperor ordered Sun Biyun to dispatch senior Taoist priests from different places across the country to take charge of all the temples in Mt.Wudang. The deed brought the Taoist sacrificial ceremony music of varied the empress and the imperial concubines could hold grand sacrificial ceremony of jade Taoist amulet. In the Yuan Dynasty, empress set up the grand sacrificial ceremony of jade Taoist amulet to pray for rain and snow. Two of the events were recorded in the Annual of the Wudang Mountain. The sacrificial ceremony held by the officials was called the Taoist service performance of yellow Taoist amulet or the Luotian grand sacrificial ceremony.

The sacrificial ceremony usually lasted for three days, five days and seven days. Sometimes, it lasted for nine days, 49 days or even one or two year. The sacrificial ceremony in common palaces and temples went on for three to five days. The sacrificial ceremony cost considerable expenditures of manpower and money. Various documents cost two months to complete, which were all written in regular script by writing brush without any mistake and extra character.

At the end of 1994, the Luotian Grand Sacrificial Ceremony, a national significant ritual meeting, was held in the White Cloud Temple in Beijing. It was jointly sponsored by the White Cloud Temple of Beijing, the Green Pine Temple of Hongkong and the Paling Guidance Temple of Taiwan, and assisted by Mt. Wudang of Hubei, the White Cloud of Shanghai, the Xuanmiao Temple of Suzhou, the Baopu Taoist Academy of Hanzhou, the Sanyuan Temple of Guanzhou, the Qingcheng Mountain of Sichuan, the Eight Immortals

Palace of Shanxi and the Green Pine Temple of Australia. The event could be regarded as the first in Chinese history. Participated in the ceremony were not only senior Taoist priests from over ten provinces across the country, but also some overseas Taoist priests.

In lunar September of 1996, the Taoist Association of Mt. Wudang held the Jiujiu Imperial Altar Sacrificial Ceremony at the Purple Heaven Palace. The Zixu imperial altar was set up in an aim to eliminate disaster and pray for good fortune of a country' s prosperity and peace. The altar had three rings---the exterior ring, the middle ring and the interior ring. The exterior ring was built from the ground with an area of 419.9 square meters. The mid-ring is 0.8 meter higher than the outside one and its area is 416.7 square meters. The interior ring was 0.7 meter higher that the middle one, with an area of 413.5 square meters. Gates of the altar were set according to the directions. Seven poles were planted in each direction on each ring of the altar and a total of 147 lanterns were hung. Placed in the gate were the five cereals in which scissors, ruler, balance, mirror and lantern were stuck. 28 Taoist priests paid obeisance to the South Gate, the East Gate, the West Gate and the North Gate in front of the Obeisance-paying Platform. In the soft music by flutes and pipes, all the believers were guided to walk around the ritual altar by the girls scattering flowers.

There are two kinds of Taoist religious rituals—the Yang sacrificial ceremony and Yang ritual, and the Yin sacrificial ceremony and Yin ritual. The above-mentioned is the Yang ritual. The Yin ritual is for extensively sparing people’s life. When it begins, instrumental music will be played for half an hour. In the drum music, the senior Taoist priests in Taoist garments make three circuits of the altar, receiving the joss sticks presented by the errand-man. Then the senior Taoist priests mount the altar. After burning the joss sticks for gods, the senior priests lead the ritual Taoist priests to pay obeisance. Following, different classics are chanted by the Taoist priests for different purposes until the ritual reaches its climax. Finally, the senior Taoist priests pay obeisance and all the ritual participants chant "Sanguiyi”. The ceremony concludes.

The Jade Emperor is one of the honorable gods consecrated by Wudang Taoism. On every birthday of the Jade Emperor, Taoist musical ritual is always held and classics for the Jade Emperor is chanted, praising for the Jade Emperor and the Sanqing Heaven God and praying to the gods to ward off calamities and send down blessings. With a simple and elegant style, the vocal is similar to the chanting music.

The Taoist Master here refers to Emperor Zhen Wu consecrated by Wudang Taoism. On his birthday or ascension day (May 3rd and September 9th in Chinese lunar calendar). Memorial Presented to the Taoist Master Musical Ritual will be held on Mt. Wudang. Scaling mountains and fording streams, believers in groups from all directions make pilgrimages to Mt. Wudang. There remain nine songs in the existing Memorial Presented to the Taoist Master. The lyrics, representing the wish of the Taoist priests and the believers, are written on the yellow paper for worshiping the gods. In the singing and dancing, the paper together with the joss sticks and fruits are presented to the Taoist Master, praying Emperor Zhen Wu to bestow his kindness and ensure that the believers' wish could come true. After the praise classics are sung, the worshiping paper is burned in the censer, wishes reaching the heaven in the smoke.

The Taoist music of Mt. Wudang is divided into the vocal music, the instrumental music and songs. The vocal music is parted into the Yang tune and the Yin tune. The Yang tune is applied in practicing Taoism and obtaining longevity and the Yin tune is for isolated souls and wild ghosts. The instrumental music has three kinds of the formal tune, the informal tune and the ritual instrumental tune. The formal tunes are ones with thick religious hues. The informal tunes mostly are the folk musical tunes and the ritual instrumental tunes refer to the instrumental tunes performed by diverse percussion instruments. A number of percussion instruments such as cymbals, gong , drum and wooden fish are regarded by Taoism as the ritual instruments and possess magic function, therefore, corresponding rules and regulations were laid down on the musical tunes in Mt. Wudang are related to the ritual procedures and the classics content, mainly serving for the Taoist service performance and ritual.

The Taoist music of Mt. Wudang has a kind of tension. In the specific atmosphere, it mixes with the mountains, rivers, valleys, temples and Taoist figures into an integrity, making people generate a magic feeling of aestheticism. During the long development course of the Taoist music of Mt. Wudang, it has formed various music patterns of solo, chanting, unison, drum-beating and trumpet-blowing, instrumental ensemble and so on. According to the requirements of the religious ceremonies, flexible changes and

combinations are always adopted to cope with diverse religious sites. The Taoist music of Mt. Wudang plays a special role in respect to the functions required by Taoism. The Taoist music ingeniously transplanted certain ingredients of the folk witch dance and drama into itself, further enhancing its function of entertainment. To the common people, watching the Taoist service performance and ritual is like enjoying a drama and listening to a concert. Nowadays, we still can hear the wonderful naturally borne Taoist music that gently reverberates in the temples and mountains.

Wudang Gongfu is regarded as an important school of Chinese Wushu, enjoying an equal fame as

Shaolin, There is a saying that the North advocates Shaolin, as the South respect Wudang. Tradition has it that the founder of Wudang Gongfu is Zhang Sanfeng, a legendary Taoist priest.

Considerable discrepancies have been discovered in varied historical records about Zhang Sanfeng. It is written in Ci Yuan (a dictionary specially recording the origins of Chinese words ) " Zhang Sanfeng 1) A specialist of the art of attack and defense in wushu in the Song Dynasty, also a Wudang alchemist of making pills of immortality, who was expert at Chinese boxing. 2) A Taoist priest of the Ming Dynasty, from Yizhou of Liaoning once lived in Mt. Wudang." The two Zhang Sanfeng leave people a puzzle. Were the Zhang Sanfeng in the Song Dynasty and the Zhang Sanfeng in the Ming Dynasty the same person? Or could it be said that Zhang Sanfeng kept alive till the Ming Dynasty But according to the law of the biological genetics, this is impossible. Thus, it is much reasonable that there once were two Zhang Sanfeng. The two had the same name, believed in the same religion, practiced austerities at the same place, skilled in the same martial art and enjoyed the same fame, which was inconsistent with Chinese habits in giving names and also did not agree with traditional taboo. Therefore, the issue about Zhang Sanfeng and his life has always been a hotspot drawing great concern in the historiography circles.

The records about Zhang Sanfeng as a specialist of the attack and defense art are also seen in the epitaph for Wang Zhengnan by Huang Zongxi in the Kangxi 11th year of the Qing Dynasty (1669). Huang Zongxi was a famous thinker during the late period of the Ming Dynasty and the early stage of the Qing Dynasty. Possessing erudite knowledge and a large number of works, he was especially proficient in historiography. It seems that there were some bases for his opinion that Zhang Sanfeng was a specialist of the art of attack and defense in the Song Dynasty. In the Tongzhi 6th year of the Qing Dynasty (1867), while he was copying the illustrative boxing book, Li Yifan, a descendant of the Taiji Boxing, found that it was written that the Taiji Boxing was initiated by Zhang Sanfeng. It thus became clear that a great number of people from wushu circles believed that Zhang Sanfeng lived in the Song Dynasty.

The records about Zhang Sanfeng as a Taoist priest of Mt. Wudang in the Ming Dynasty are also seen in the Ming History, in which it said "Zhang Sanfeng, from Yizhou of Liaodong, with the given name of Quanyi, he had the sobriquet of ' Sanfeng’. Behaving himself slovenly, he also enjoyed another sobriquet of 'ZhanLata' (Lata in Chinese means ‘slovenly’). Strong and gigantic in stature, Zhang Sanfeng had a pair of big ears and round eyes. No matter in winter or in summer, what he wore was a cassock and a straw rain cape. He sometimes ate only one meal in several days and sometimes did not eat anything for several months. He could remember all the content of books and classics after just reading it only once. Traveling around, he could cover 1000 li in one day. He once visited Mt. Wudang and said that the mountain could be flourishing in the future." The record extended Zhang Sanfeng’s life from the Jin Dynasty (1127-1234) to the Taishun 3rd year of the Ming Dynasty (1459), with a time span of 332 year, which obviously exceeded the limit of human life. The life of Zhang Sanfeng turned into a mystery of mysteries.

The Chinese ancient emperors always had three kinds of purposes in respect to the religion. The first was for advocating. The emperor himself was a believer to a certain religion in an aim to acquire longevity and enter the heaven after his death. The second was for political purpose, and the third was for both the religious belief and the political purpose.

In the Hongwu 24th year, Zhu Yuanzhang sent senior Taoist priests to travel around with a purpose to rectify Taoism. Emperor Zhu told the messengers that if one met Zhang Sanfeng, invited him. His intention was out of political requirements. In the Yongle 3rd year, Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di sent Wang Zongdao to travel in all the famous mountains across the country to look for Zhang Sanfeng. In the 6th year, Zhang Yuqing was sent to look for Zhang Sanfeng. In the imperial order to Zhang Sanfeng issued in the 10th

year, it said that the emperor admired Zhang Sanfeng for a long time and he was always waiting for a chance to meet this legendary figure. The emperor once sent messengers to all the well-known mountains to look for Zhang Sanfeng but in vain. The emperor regarded Zhang as a True Man with lofty morality. The emperor once again sent messenger piously to Zhang Sanfeng to come to the palace to fulfill the emperor’s long-time sincere cherished desire. Emperor Yongle had issued the imperial orders to Zhang Sanfeng four times in succession. It obviously was out of political purposes. Some scholars held the opinion that the emperor’s efforts had something to do with the attempt to look for Emperor Huidi of the Ming Dynasty. In the Tianshun 3rd year of the Ming Dynasty (1459), Emperor Yingzong conferred a title to Zhang Sanfeng. There still exists the relief bronze statue tablet of Zhang Sanfeng bestowed by Emperor Yingzong. The inscription on the table fully expressed the emperor’s admiration towards Zhang Sanfeng. Emperor Yingzong encountered a lot of fluctuations in his political career. He was in power twice in his life. In the Zhengtong 14th year (1449), he was captured as a prisoner by Wala soldiers. When he was released and went back home before long, he was soon put under house arrest by the newly-enthroned Emperor Daizong. In the Jingqin 7th year (1456), he regained his power with the assistance from officers and eunuchs, enjoying the title of the emperor’s reign of Tianshun. The two absolutely different fates as a prisoner and as an emperor led to his dependence and trust in religion. Conferring a title to Zhang Sanfeng as a True Man, the emperor hoped that Zhang Sanfeng could teach him the method of obtaining permanent life.

Was Zhang Sanfeng from the Song Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty? The historical records leave us a space for reverie.

No matter Zhang Sanfeng as an alchemist of making pills of immortality in Mt.Wudang in the Song Dynasty or as a Taoist priest in Mt.Wudang in the Ming Dynasty, there is one similarity that Zhang Sanfeng was a Taoist priest in Mt.Wudang, who was expert in the internal exercises, skilled in the art of boxing and founded Wudang Gongfu. He was regarded as the first ancestor of Chinese Internal Gongfu.

The Taoist art of making p i l l s of immortality has a fairly long history. It was divided into the internal art and the external art. The internal one adopts the breathing-in and breathing-out s k i l l so as to build up the body and acquire longevity. The external one refers to that the Taoist priest; used inorganic compounds or organic compounds to synthesize p i l l s of immortality. It was believed that if people ate the p i l l s he could remove illness, live forever and never die. During the period of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, the poisoning effect o the immortality pills was gradually recognized by the noble which caused the immortality-pill-making theory to internal exercised. In the History of Chinese Scientific Technology written by Arthur Lee, a famous British scholar, it discusses the art of making p i l l s of immortality of the Yuan and Min£ Dynasties. It said "The concept of immortality pills loitered around in China for several centuries. There was no trace showing that the art of making pills of immortality common} revived, but it did arouse the interests from several emperor' of the Ming Dynasty. The history of the imperial families told us that Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty once receives alchemist Liu Yuan and sent messengers to look for an alchemist named Zhang Sanfeng. During the Yongle period, Emperor Chengzu was s t i l l looking for Zhang Sanfeng. And finally in 1459, Emperor Yinzong bestowed a t i t l e to Zhang Sanfeng as a True Man. There were some political reasons for these emperors to call in the alchemists. It was also for the purpose of widening their experience in understanding this extremely mysterious and magic internal art.

Zhang Sanfeng’s method in exercising the internal art was interlinked to the Taoist theories. Some historical records vividly depict the formation course of the internal art. There remains two pieces of drawings, portraying the asceticism-practicing of the internal art. The two drawings were created by Zhang Sanfeng and both are typical internal art asceticism-practicing drawings. The drawings integrate the main and collateral channels and acupoints, the sate of the internal organs in traditional Chinese medical science and Taoist qigong in combination with the changes, fully demonstrating the marrow of the internal art.

Due to the unstableness of the social development and complexity of the natural environment, Taoist priests should possess certain resisting s k i l l s to cope with unpredicted incidents and attack of the beasts during the practicing course. The Taoist internal exercises inevitably developed from the art of keeping in good health into the art of attack and defense in wushu and then created Taijiquan (Shadow Boxing) and Internal Boxing.

The circle of wushu commonly holds an opinion that Taijiquan was developed on the basis of Zhang

Sanfeng’s internal exercise. According to the theory on the Yin qi and the Yang qi between the heaven and the earth, Taijiquan is a kind of boxing that recuperates the operation of the human body. The skill of softness as the movement tenor, it reaches the goal of removing illness and building up the body through skillfulness and variations. People should be internally fixed by the spirit but externally should show in easiness, walking as quiet as a cat, moving as slowly as reeling s i l k threads. Taijiquan is quite helpful for old or weak people’s health. The benefits further promote the development of Taijiquan. And a lot of schools thus came into being, such as the Chen’s, Yuan’s, Wu’s, Sun' sand He’s Taijiquan. Arthur Lee in his above-mentioned book wrote "The name of Zhang Sanfeng now is connected with one school of Chinese boxing that is Taijiquan."

Taijiquan that we exercise nowadays guides the movement and gesture through the main points. It can be regarded as a kind of high degree condensation and refinement of the application of qi of the internal art, which reveals the important role of the internal art in Taijiquan.

Zhang Sanfeng not only had a fairly profound attainment in Still Gong, but also was quite skillful at Moving Gong.

Tradition has it that Zhang Sanfeng’s attacking skill was taught by some supernatural. In the Epitaph for Wang Huinan written by Huang Zongxi, it said that one night Zhang Sanfeng dreamed Emperor Xuandi and the emperor taught his boxing skill. The next day, Zhang Sanfeng fought against over 100 enemies by himself. There was another legendary saying that Zhang Sanfeng invented Moving Gong while seeing the fight between magpie and snake. In the Character and Function of Taijiquan written by Chen Zhijin, it said, “Taijiquan is originally founded in Mt.Wudang. While seeing the fight between magpie and snake, Zhang Sanfeng was hit upon by some understanding and invented the boxing." Also spreading in Mt.Wudang area was that Zhang Sanfeng founded Wudang Boxing after watching the fight between cat and snake. It indicated that Wudang Boxing was originated from the fight between dragon and tiger. No matter which one is true, the three legends all brought a mysterious colour to Zhan Sanfeng’s gongfu. This is also a traditional way for the Chinese to praise the ancestor, with some remnants of the primitive region’s admiration to the heaven god. Meanwhile, we should admit that during the cold weapon period, it was only the religion that could truly and calmly summarize the experience of the art of attack and defense and gain marked achievements despite of the frequent wars. This had a close connection with the specified environment for practicing asceticism and the special requirements on the believers set up by the religion.

The Chinese nation always pays much attention to experience. People tend to seek the origin and the development of everything and attach emphasis on the continuity and the consistency of the history, but always ignore the qualitative change during the development. Therefore, no matter where it is---the Shaolin Temple or Mt.Wudang, and no matter who it is Damo or Zhang Sanfeng, the seeking for the origin and the ancestor in wushu should not be restricted by a certain kind of school or saying. It should rationally treat different historic phenomena, eliminate the mythological factors in the history and find out the basic laws. Zhang Sanfeng, despite of his identity as a person or a supernatural and regardless of his dynasty---the Song Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty, should be regarded as a flag representing the internal gongfu. The Wudang Gongfu, which was formed under this flag, should be treated as crystallization accumulated by people of several generations, crossing tens of hundreds of years in Mt. Wudang. Some historical records attributed Wudang Boxing to Taoist teachings. It is extremely correct. On the basis of inheriting the ancient wushu attack and defense theories, Wudang Internal Boxing applied some philosophy in the Book of Changes and formed its unique theoretical system founded on the attack methods of the Taoist internal art. Presently, the Taoist Association of Mt. Wudang and some other organizations have unearthed and sorted out over 30 kinds of Wudang boxing gongfu, 18 types of boxing weapon skill and trick series and 9 kinds of qigong.

In spring of 1931, General He Long led the Third Red Army to withdraw from the Honghu Lake area and strategically transferred troops towards the northwestern area of Hubei Province. He entered Mt.Wudang via Yunyang. Xu Benshan who was in charge of Taoism of Mt. Wudang cordially received the Red Army. General He Long was arranged to live in the Parent Hall. A number of Red Army soldiers were injured at that time. Xu arranged Taoist priests to help save and cure them. Xu was not only noble-minded, but also quite skillful in Wudang Gongfu. While knowing this, General He Long formally took Xu as his teacher to learn Wudang Boxing. Every morning, General He together with Xu, practiced Wudang

Boxing in front of the Parent Hall, and every evening Xu guided General He to learn boxing skills on the platform of the Purple Heaven Grand Temple. Only several months later, the general not only mastered Wudang Boxing, but also successfully defeated the attack of the 51st Army of the Kuomintang for several times in light of the philosophy learned from the Wudang Boxing. After the founding of the new China, Marshal He Long twice sent people to find out the situation of wushu in Mt. Wudang and the living conditions of the aged Taoist priests, and expressed thanks for their contribution to the revolution. He also instructed the local government to solve the difficulties in the Taoist priests' life in time and pay attention to the development of Wudang Wushu.

Wudang Gongfu is an outstanding cultural heritage of Chinese nation. The state lays special emphasis on carrying forward and developing the Wudang wushu. In recent years, Taijiquan becomes popular across China and it has been warmly welcomed by the mass. (Research on the Wudang Boxing edited by Jiang Bailong, Publishing House of Beijing Physical Institute, Version of 1992) The Boxing Skill Research Association of Mt.Wudang was set up in 1982. The magazine of Wudang starting publication in 1983 was set up to unearth, sort, research and popularize the Wudang wushu as its tenor. Under Chairman Wang Guangde, the Taoist Association of Mt.Wudang has unearthed and sorted out a number of the Wudang Boxing and Wudang sword pedigrees. The Wudang Gongfu group was established to actively carry forward the Wudang wushu. In the meantime, wushu-training classes have been opened in an aim to cultivate wushu talents. And varied symposiums have been held to promote the exchanges of Wudang wushu. The municipal governments of Shiyan and Danjiangkou cities once organized Mt. Wudang wushu invitational competitions and Wudang cultural wushu festivals.

Nationally famous specialists of wushu and qigong gathered at Mt. Wudang to give performances and exchange experience. Their joint efforts have promoted the wushu activities in Mt. Wudang up to a stage of new development.

Chinese pilgrimage activity initially originated from natural worship in primitive religion, but large-scale and organized pilgrimage-to-mountain activities started from grand ceremonies of worship of Heaven and Earth during the Qin and Han Dynasties. Altars were built both on the top of and at the foot of Mt. Tai to offer sacrifice to Heaven and Earth respectively. After the Kingdom of Qin eliminated the other six kingdoms, the political power of the six kingdoms did not completely disappear. Qin Shihuang made an inspection tour to Mt. Tai and made inscription carved on stone to express his wish that his subjects behaved themselves obediently and complied with rules and responsibilities, which clearly uncovered his political purposes. But the pilgrimages made by Emperor Wu in the Han Dynasty to Mt. Tai were from his belief of supernatural. In the Historical Records, it said "As soon as Emperor Xiaowu came into power, he immediately hold ceremony to offer sacrifice to ghosts and gods." Other historical records mentioned that Emperor Wu held a total of seven grand ceremonies at Mt. Tai. In fact, there were totally eight ceremonies when Emperor Wu was on the throne. The two emperors chose famous mountain to hold ceremonies to sing their exploits, which exerted deep impact on the emperors of later generations.

The pilgrimage activities in Mt. Wudang could trace back to the period from the late stage of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. And the majority was carried out by the believers in a form of training and cultivating themselves to attain immortality. In the late Han Dynasty, due to political reasons, a number of people that once served in the imperial palace went to Mt. Wudang to learn to attain immortality and lived in seclusion in the mountain.

During the period of the Tang and Song Dynasties, the emperors believed in Emperor Zhen Wu. Thus, the worship to Zhen Wu changed from animal adore into personality adore. The activities of pilgrimages to Mt. Wudang became quite flourishing. After Yaojian’s successful pray for rain, Emperor Taizong made a temple built for people to worship. Later, Chen Tuan lived in seclusion in Mt. Wudang. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty constructed the purple Heaven Palace. Mt. Wudang therefore became a famous fairyland.

In the Yuan Dynasty, as a fairy place for Emperor Xuan’s ascending to heaven, Mt. Wudang drew great concern from the emperors. And the mountain turned into an important Taoist site for the coincidence that Emperor Renzong shared the same birthday with Emperor Xuan. The Grand Sacrificial Ceremony participated by imperial family members was not only large in scale and high in frequency, but also long in time and profound of influence. It further propelled the worship to Emperor Zhen Wu (Emperor Xuan) from high-rank

officials and noble lords to folk people. March 3rd and September 9th in Chinese lunar calendar have both become festivals for mountain pilgrimages and incense-offering. Pilgrims gathered at Mt. Wudang from all directions. They brought a great number of sesame oil and local products that provided a material base for the religious development.

In the Ming Dynasty, Mt. Wudang was conferred a t i t l e as the Grand Mountain and became the place for the imperial court to worship Emperor Xuan. The pilgrimage activities in Mt. Wudang by the imperial court were held frequently, with a minimum of several times or a maximum of ten times a year. From Emperor Chengzu, all the newly-enthroned emperors would send imperial commissioners to Mt. Wudang to hold grand sacrificial ceremony praying for the populace. Everywhere the commissioners went, welcoming ceremony was held by local officers. In the Yongle 22nd year (1424).Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty ordered the Taoist Master of the 44th generation and Ren Ziyuan who was in charge of the Yuxu Temple to hold a 7-day -and -night grand ceremony to celebrate the completion of constructing Taoist temples and palaces in Mt. Wudang. Over 1,000 relevant officers at different levels took part in the event. In the Jiajing 5th year (1 526), Emperor Shizong ordered the Taoist Master of the 48th generation and officer Wu Shangli to Mt. Wudang to hold sacrificial ceremony celebrating "the completion of the Grand Ceremony." (Emperor Shizong succeeded to the throne as a monarch. Later, despite of the objection from the courtiers, he conferred posthumously a t i t l e to his father as Emperor Gongruixian. The event was called "the Grand Ceremony”.) 460 Taoist priests joined the construction work of the grand sacrificial ceremony. Also participating in the construction were tens of hundreds of officers of different ranks from varied places. Besides the emperor, other imperial family members including empresses and imperial concubines also made pilgrimages to Mt. Wudang, holding grand sacrificial ceremonies and spending a great deal of money. The behavior of the imperial family inevitably influenced the ministers. And there were also quite a lot of pilgrims from the folk. Many historical records vividly portrayed the magnificent scene while people were make pilgrimages to Mt. Wudang.

The pilgrims were from different places across the country. By land, " Pilgrims from Sichuan came to the mountain via Fang (today' s Fangxian county), Pilgrims from Shanxi came via Yun (today' s Yunxian county ) and those from the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River came via Xiang (today' s Xiangfan city)." (The Annals of the Grand Mountain Taihe) For the waterway, pilgrims mainly came to Junzhou by the Grand Canal, the Yangtze River and the Hanshui River. This route connected the capital in the north and Suzhou and Hangzhou in the south with Mt. Wudang. When officers from the capital made pilgrimages to Mt. Wudang, they sometimes were accompanied by almost 80 ships. It was recorded that in every lunar

February, pilgrims to Mt. Wudang from Suzhou were accompanied by above 100 ships. And the Lianrong Lake in Wuxi had become the assemble place for seven counties including Taicang, Wujiang, Kunshan, Changshu, Jiading and Chongming. When boats all gathered in the lake, they would start the journey to Mt. Wudang together. The day before departure, grand ceremony was always held. Every pilgrimage boat raised the mast and every pilgrim hung a lantern over the boat. Boats were linked together and lanterns were joined one by one, which looked like colorful bridges dotted by shinning stars. Then firework show started. Instantaneously, the dazzling displays of fireworks and lanterns decorated the boats, the sky and the water, forming magnificent scenery. At the time, local officers and prominent families a l l went out home to enjoy the beautiful scene by boats. The number of lantern-sightseeing boats sometimes reached over 1,000.Lanterns and fireworks cast light upon the lake and the water shone red. On the north bank of the Lianrong Lake, there was a business-flourishing district which was called "Beitang”. Hence, there came the name of "Beitang Pilgrimage Lantern”.

The Beitang Pilgrimage Lantern had transferred to annual on-water gathering in Wuxi during the late period of the Ming Dynasty. The mountain pilgrimage activities turned into a jubilant festival warmly welcomed by the populace. The worship to Emperor Zhen Wu and the pilgrimage therefore deeply went into the folk people.

During the period from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, Mt. Wudang Taoism gradually declined due to the lack of official support. But the worship to Emperor Zhen Wu and the pilgrimage-to-mountain had been widely accepted by the populace and turned into a folk custom. A few emperors also joined in. Emperor Kangxi twice sent people to Mt. Wudang to sacrifice the God of Xuantian (Emperor Zhen Wu).

And Emperor Qianlong made Mt. Wudang exempt from the incense tax. But the extraordinary grandeur of the past could not be found any more. In comparison with the imperial family, the folk devotees showed a keen determination despite of all kinds of hardship. According to the Annals of the Grand Mountain Wudang, people that made pilgrimage to Mt. Wudang in the Qing Dynasty were from Guangxi, Guizhou, Yunnan, Zhcjiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hubei and other places. The incense-offering people developed into different groups, which were called company of Taoist pilgrims. The company selected a person as the head, who was in charge of the organization for the annual mountain pilgrimage. Meanwhile, influenced by other folk religions, the company of pilgrims took shape in some etiquette and custom. The first was to sacrifice the company flag and select the propitious date for pilgrimage. The second was to organize pilgrims. And the third was to collect money as the incense-offering expenses and prepare flags and other things needed in the pilgrimage. Before the departure, grand banquette and sacrificial ceremony for heaven and earth would be held. On the way of pilgrimage, four young men in golden armour with flags in their hands cleared the way. Head of the company followed them, holding the command flag. Behind i t , there were the embroidered flags. Colorful cloth strips with believers' names were hung over the flags. They were also called “Ten-thousand-people-umbrella”. Censers were set up under the umbrella. Incense was burned constantly a l l the way. Following was the band, then the offerings. The incense-offering believers were at the end of the procession. Each believer carried a yellow cloth wrapper, in which there were paper and s i lk for worship. The pilgrimage procession beat drums and blew trumpets all the way, exerting a lively atmosphere. Currently, there still exist several hundreds of merit tablets and a great amount of believers' offerings dated from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China. Varied customs in different places made the ways of pilgrimage quite different. Some believers held stones in their hands, moved forward one step and then kowtowed once. They constantly kowtowed until they reached the Golden Zenith. After worshipping the Taoism founder, they used the incense ash in the temple to stop the blooding of the forehead. It was called “long kowtow”. Some believers were barebacked and a small sword was pricked through the checks, which was called “locking the mouth”. Each of them lifted censers in both hands and was supported by two men. In front of them, other believers beat the gongs and cleared the way, calling out "There comes the man burning big incense”. Running widely from the foot of the mountain to the Golden Zenith, they worshiped Emperor Zhen Wu. Then the head of the temple pulled out the mouth-locking sword, used the incense ash to stop the blooding and wrote down the name, birthplace and wishes of the big-incense-burning believer on the book for recording contribution. The next day, the head of the temple wrote memorial to send the believer’s wish to heaven, which was called "burning big incense”. Some believers who were filial towards their parents would burn incense on the stone-carved dragon head hung on the precipice of the South Crag. The dragon head is three meters long and 0.3 meter wide. It is opposite to the Golden Zenith. Beneath it, there is the abyss. The incense-burning man should walk forward t i l l he reached the dragon head. Standing on the precipitous dragon body, he should pay religious homage to the Golden Zenith, burn three joss sticks and insert them into the censers on the dragon head and then slowly move back. It was called «burning dragon head incense" . The whole thrilling process let people feel tremble with terror. Wudang Taoism exerts great influence on Southeastern Asian, especially on Taiwan. According to historical records, Zheng Chengong, a general in the Ming Dynasty deeply believed in the God of Xuantian. He sacrificed before every battle. After he successfully recovered Taiwan, General Zhen brought his worship to the God of Xuantian to the region. According to the textual research made by Mr. Lin Daoheng in Taiwan, the God of the Pole Xuantian was also called Emperor Zhen Wu. At the late stage of the Ming Dynasty when Zheng Chengong conquered Taiwan, he successively built the Small God Temple and the Grand God Temple, which were treated as god temples to guard the region, and Zheng encouraged the folk’s worship. Therefore, quite a number of ancient temples for the God of Xuantian can be found in Taiwan nowadays. Meanwhile, Taoist priests were sent to further carry forward Taoism during its development course of Wudang Taoism. Records proved that in the Kangxi 26th year (1687), the three brothers of the Hong Family in Gucheng of Hubei who were Taoist priests of the Zhengyi Sect of Mt. Wudang went to Taiwan by ship and built temples to worship the God of Xuantian. In the Qianlong 22nd Year of the Qing Dynasty (1757), Taoist priests came to Taiwan by ship from Fujian. They also constructed temples to worship the God of Xuantian. Additionally, among the immigrants to Taiwan from Fujian and Guangdong, many were believers to the God of Xuantian. They also brought the

belief to Taiwan. In the Shunzhi 14th year of the Qing Dynasty (1657), people of the four names of Li, Lin, Chen and Fu in Fujian transferred to Taiwan. Living in Songboling, they were also worshippers to Emperor Xuandi. In the Kangxi 20th year (1 68 1), they donated money and built the Temple for Emperor Xuandi. In 1 937, the temple was extended to a four-storied temple. And in 1976, it was extended again. The ancestors of the residents in Taiwan were mainly from Fujian and Guangdong. In order to bless peace while crossing the ocean, they were all accompanied by the god statues and joss sticks. When safely arrived, they built temples in succession so as to thank for the god’s protection. The temples were also used to maintain the unity and safety of the clansman.

It is learned that there are over 4,700 temples with formal registration in Taiwan, many of which worship the God of Xuantian. More than 30,000 people from Taiwan have come to Mt.Wudang for pilgrimage in recent years. Together with the Taoist Association of Mt.Wudang, they are making uncased efforts in further carrying forward the Taoist culture of China. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Mt. Wudang was listed as a national key scenic spot and many of i ts temples have been classified as the national key protected cultural relic unit. In 1994, the ancient building complex in the Wudang Mountain was listed as the World Cultural Heritage. With attention from Hubei Province, Shiyan County and the Municipal Government of Danjiangkou, Mt.Wudang established the government of the special zone and built the roads and cableway for going up the mountain. The Department of Cultural Relics and the Taoist Association of Mt.Wudang have repaired a number of ancient buildings. The government also has built related tourist auxiliary facilities and offered multiple tourist services including one day to four days travel. The mountain has turned into a national famous tourist scenic spot.

With its magnificent and marvelous humane scenery, Mt.Wudang enjoys a potation for its abundant but unique culture. All of these are out of the naturally-borne beauty of the mountain and the immortal spirit of Taoism formed in its tens of hundreds of years of history. People, no matter tourists or pilgrims, can only look up Mt.Wudang, which is covered by a mysterious veil.

When you enter Mt.Wudang and place yourself in the Grand Mountain of Supreme Harmony, what you sec are the clouds roaming among the peaks, what you hear is the morning bell, the evening drums as well as the melodious Taoist music. You will definitely get lost in the vigorous and extraordinary natural scenery, the unrivalled imperial temples, the longstanding Taoist culture, the elegant and matchless gems of the cultural relics, the enjoyable Taoist music, the mysterious and profound Wudang Gongfu and the breathtaking fairytales and legends. At the moment, you will forget a l l the gratitude and resentments in the world and discover the deep meaning hidden in your life. You will believe that your soul is a pine, a flower, a cloud and a peak; all melt in Mt.Wudang-a truly existing fairyland full of mysterious colors.