Yellow Mountain Trek
Today starts a journey. This is not an ordinary trip or one taken lightly. The trek to the Yellow Mountains (Huang Shan) has been reported to be both a spiritual and heroic climb of epic proportions. Fortunately the trip has been made easier in modern times with the addition of three gondolas that will take us up more than half way and eliminate much of the long climb to the base of the steepest climbs to the peaks. (Picture is from China Odyssey Tours with link)
The Yellow Mountain district was made famous during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) by a poet-traveler, Xu Xiake who once commented on Yellow Mountain in one of his poems:
“You will find viewing another mountain no longer worthy after you visit the Five Sacred Mountains. Nor will you find viewing the Five Sacred Mountains worthy after you visit Yellow Mountain.”
The Five Sacred Mountains include the Taishan Mountain, Hengshan Mountain in Henan Province, Huashan Mountain, Hengshan Mountain in Shanxi and Songshan Mountain. Non of these compare, according to the poem, with the Yellow Mountain. This mountain district of legend is located in the south of Anhui Province, covering an area of roughly 250 square kilometers. These mountains are a geological wonder of the earths crust movement thrusting upwards some 100 million years ago. The mountains are primarily granite which has gone through glacier erosion creating steep peaks and deep gorges of fantastical proportions. Much of the 72 or so peaks are reported to be above 1,800 meters or about something over 6,000 feet – not a terribly high elevation but the climb is very steep and from see level a bit strenuous. The highest peaks are above the cloud cover creating the Cloud of Seas.
The Yellow Mountain was first known as the Yi Shan Mountain in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) and changed to its current name in the Tang Dynasty (608-917 AD). Ancient Chinese legend has said that the mythical Yellow Emperor who is regarded in legend as the foremost ancestor of the Chinese people, was a seeker of herbs on the Yi Shan Mountain and sought to make an immortality potion. The origin of the Mountain’s name comes from this illustrious mythical ancestor who succeeded in finding the immortality he was seeking and became a god ascending into heaven. Our trip has no such aspirations.
Searching through the web another report is given as to the origin of the name for the Yellow Mountains. According to the ChinaVista report the poet Li Bai (701-762), the great Tang poet, wrote these lines naming the district:
Thousands of feet high towers the Yellow Mountains
With its thirty-two magnificent peaks,
Blooming like golden lotus flowers,
Amidst red crags and rock columns.
For pictures and more information about the Yellow Mountain you can check ChinaVist.com and do a search for Yellow Mountain in Google. Its an interesting voyage. Be sure to check out the images of the Yellow Mountain district. Mine will be coming soon.
