Emei Mountain

Emei Mountain, a World Natural and Cultural Heritage in China, is located in Emeishan City of Sichuan Province. It is in the southwest of Sichuan Basin. It is in the upstream-section of Yangtze River. Emei Mountain is the famous tourism destination and famous Buddhist Mountain, which is one of four famous Buddhist Mountains.

 

 

Emei Buddhist Mountain is densely cloudy, little sunshine and sufficient rainfalls. It belongs to subtropical humid monsoon climate. The average temperature in January is 6.9 degrees and the average temperature is 26.1 degrees in July. Emei Mountain is steep and of a high altitude. The climate zone is dispatched clearly according to the different mountain sites. Altitude from 1500 meters to 2100 meters belongs to warm temperate-zone climate and Altitude from 2100 meters to 2500 meters belongs to medium temperate-zone climate. The area with altitude above 2000 meters is covered by snow and ice for half a year, generally from August to April next year. The different climate shows in different altitude. 

The main peak of Emei Mountain, Wanfoding Peak has 3079.3 meters. Climbers generally need to walk for nearly one-hundred miles, so the weak-man is hard to get to the summit. Recently it was installed the ropeway for mountaineering, the tourist can easily get to the peak and enjoy the heavenly scene. The magnificent scenery of sunrise, cloud-sea, Buddha ray and the holy light are available. In 1982, Emeishan Scenic Area is listed to be the first group of state-level scenic protection area. In 1996, Emei Mountain together with Leshan-Mountain Big Buddha Statue was listed to be one of natural and cultural heritages in China. In 2007, it became one of the state-level Five-A scenic area. The total area of Emei Mountain scenic zone is 154 square kilometers. It is comprised of four mountains like Dae Mountain and so on. The attractions of Emei Mountain are diverse and colorful. Getting into Emei Mountain, the firs feeling is unearthliness. It is another world indeed!

The kinds of animals and plants are diverse and rich with the title of Ancient Plant Kingdom. The coverage of Emei Mountain is thick and dense. According to analysis, there are 3700 kinds of plants. Thanks to its special landform, sufficient rainfall, diverse climates and complicated soil structures, it is the best habitat for many species to increase and exist. Some one said the amount of plants is equal to the sum of all the plants in Europe. Among the plants, living fossils of plants include Gongtong and Shaluo. The famous plants in Emei Mountain include: Lengshan tree, Hongchun tree and Zhenglan Tree. The diversity of orchids and azaleas also enriches the plant-circle of Emei Mountain. The large amount of bamboo forests and many rare herb plants is exclusively here. The rare animals, like giant panda, black marabou, bobtail monkey, little panda, withered-leaf butterfly, has the total number of 2300 kinds. Emei Mountain Wild Monkey Reserve is China’s largest monkey reserve. 

Emei Mountain is one of China’s four great Buddhist Holy-Lands. It is said that the Buddhism entered Emei Mountain in the first century. During the period of East Han Dynasty, there was some Taoist Temples. In the early period of Jin Dynasty, Buddhism came to Emei Mountain. Emei Mountain is said to be sutra-teaching place of Panxian Bodhisattva, so it is mainly for this Buddha. According to the illustration of sutra, Puxian Bodhisattva is the chief assistant of Sakyamuni, its name means the virtue. Puxian Bodhisattva in commoners’ image is riding an elephant with six teeth. The Buddhism in Emei Mountain belongs to Mahayana, which is an important part of Buddhism. Additionally, its music is very impressive and unique.

Buddhism in the past 2000 years leaves Emei Mountain rich cultural heritages on Buddhism and also raised a lot of Buddhist masters, which make Emei Mountain become the world-influential Buddhist Holy-Land. There are around 300 monks and 30 temples. The famous temples are Baoguo Temple, Fuhu Temple, Leiyin Temple, Chunyang Temple and so on. The Buddha statues of temples in mud, jade, wood, iron, bronze, porcelain and son are excellent examples of ancient art levels. The statue of Puxian Bodhisattva riding the white elephant was made in Song Dynasty, more than 1000 years ago. It has the weight of 62 ton and height of 7.85 meters. Kongfu of Emei Mountain is equal to that of Shaolin and Wudang in China. It is an authoritative martial art school.