Climbing Taishan affords a window on traditional Chinese culture. One passes a myriad of stone inscriptions en route that present different stages and schools of Chinese calligraphic art, from the earliest carved in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), to 2,200 later inscriptions written by emperors. If visitors have a particular interest in Chinese painting and calligraphy, the Taishan Galley in Tai’an City is also a good place to deepen one’s knowledge of the disciplines. The gallery focuses on Taishan Mountain as depicted in art, and its collection is second to none.

Poems relating to Taishan represent some of the grandest examples of Chinese poetic achievement. Experts estimate that roughly 16,000 historical poems were composed on the mountaintop. Many of these are still known today; some have even made the transition into proverbs.

Confucius (551–479 BC) once said that standing on Taishan, one will find out how small the world actually is. China’s great historian Sima Qian (145–87 BC) wrote in his Records of the Historian, “Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather.” Two of the country’s greatest poets, Li Bai (701–762) and Du Fu (712–770), also composed poems while climbing the mountains. Li waxed that, “calling out at Tianmen Gate, the wind comes in from a thousand miles away.” Du wrote: “Some day when I reach the top, all peaks in view will be dwarfed.”

Taishan is the incarnation of 5,000 years of Chinese culture. But today the mountain still finds a place in modernity. Since the First International Climbing Festival was held there in 1987, Taishan has played host to sports and cultural carnivals, theatrical performances and even trade talks. Tourists continue to ascend its famed slopes, injecting vitality into the old colossus.

“What shall I say of the Great Peak?

The ancient dukedoms are everywhere green,

Inspired and stirred by the breath of creation,

With the Twin Forces balancing day and night.”

These are the first four lines of Du Fu’s A View of Taishan. On arrival at the mountain, travelers, just like Du Fu, are sure to be in awe of the majesty of the scenery and the grandness of the peak in front of them.

On the south slope, there are three geographic faults – the Yunbuqiao Fault, the Zhongtianmen Fault, and the Tai-qian Fault. They rise like steps, forming three distinct, sharply contrasting landscapes. Zhongtianmen, literally “Half-way Gate to Heaven,” rises to 700 meters over Tai’an City. The mountain peak, Yuhuangding, is 700 meters higher than Zhongtianmen. The stretch between the bottom of the Songshan Valley and Nantianmen, or South Gate to Heaven, is 400 meters in vertical height. The section is the most challenging for hikers, who face 1,600 steps and 18 bends.

From the foot of the mountain to the Half-way Gate to Heaven, the slope is quite gentle and is lush with dense forests of pine trees. Arriving at the Gate, the slope rises and the path becomes narrow and winding. Hikers start puffing, but no one, not even those in their 70s, gives up with the peak in sight. As the saying goes, “The most beautiful scenery is saved for the perilous peak.”

From the mountaintop, the view is spectacular no matter which way one looks. But four sights stand above all others: sunrise, the golden ribbon of the Yellow River, the sea of clouds (best viewed on an overcast day), and the dull glow of sunset. Climbers time their arrival at the peak to fit in with one of these spectacular phenomena.