Mount Emei (; ), alternately Mount Omei, is a

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually highe ...

Sichuan Province Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

, China, and is the highest of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. Mount Emei sits at the western rim of the

Sichuan Basin The Sichuan Basin (), formerly transliterated as the Szechwan Basin, sometimes called the Red Basin, is a lowland region in southwestern China. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is drained by the upper Yangtze River and its tributar ...

. The mountains west of it are known as

Daxiangling Daxiangling (), or Daxiang Range is a fairly small mountain range in China's Sichuan Province. It runs in the general western and northwestern direction from the famous sacred Mount Emei, and is part of the western mountainous rim of the Sichuan Bas ...

. A large surrounding area of countryside is geologically known as the Permian Emeishan Large Igneous Province, a

large igneous province A large igneous province (LIP) is an extremely large accumulation of igneous rocks, including intrusive (sills, dikes) and extrusive (lava flows, tephra deposits), arising when magma travels through the crust towards the surface. The formation ...

generated by the Emeishan Traps volcanic eruptions during the

Permian Period The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...

. Administratively, Mount Emei is located near the

county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

of the same name (

Emeishan City Emeishan () is a county-level city in Sichuan province, China. It is administered by the prefecture-level city Leshan. Its population in 1990 stood at 396,445. It is named after Mount Emei, a famous mountain located within its administration. Cli ...

), which is in turn part of the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China ...

Leshan Leshan, formerly known as Jiading or Jiazhou, is a prefecture-level city located at the confluence of the Dadu and Min rivers in Sichuan Province, China. Leshan is located on the southwestern fringe of the Sichuan Basin in southern Sichuan, abou ...

. It was made a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

in 1996.

As a sacred mountain

Mount Emei is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China, and is traditionally regarded as the

bodhimaṇḍa Bodhimaṇḍa (Sanskrit and Pali) or daochang () is a term used in Buddhism meaning the "position of awakening". According to Haribhadra, it is "a place used as a seat, where the essence of enlightenment is present". Bodhimaṇḍas are regular ...

, or place of enlightenment, of the

Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra is known in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

as Pǔxián Púsà (). Sources of the 16th and 17th centuries allude to the practice of martial arts in the monasteries of Mount Emei, which made the earliest extant reference to the Shaolin Monastery as Chinese boxing's place of origin..

Buddhist architecture on Emei

This is the location of the first Buddhist temple built in China in the 1st century CE. The site has seventy-six Buddhist monasteries of the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

and Qing dynasties, most of them located near the mountain top. The monasteries demonstrate a flexible architectural style that adapts to the landscape. Some, such as the halls of Baoguosi, are built on terraces of varying levels, while others, including the structures of Leiyinsi, are on raised stilts. Here the fixed plans of Buddhist monasteries of earlier periods were modified or ignored in order to make full use of the natural scenery. The buildings of Qingyinge are laid out in an irregular plot on the narrow piece of land between the

Black Dragon River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long ...

and the

White Dragon River The Bailong River () is a river 576km long river in the Yangtze River basin. From its source to confluence with the Jialing River, the Bailong is actually longer and is thus the main stem of the Jialing River system. The scenic Jiuzhaigou reserve ...

. The site is large and the winding footpath is long, taking several days to walk. Cable cars ease the ascent to the two temples at

Jinding The Jinding (), elevation , is the main peak of Mount Emei, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Sichuan, China. It is also a common name for the Buddhist Huazang Temple () built on the summit. Jinding is the highest Buddhist temple in traditionall ...

(3,077 m), an hour's hike from the mountain's peak.Hayes, Holly (2009
Emei Shan
Sacred Destinations. Updated 24 July 2009.Gluckman, Ron (2002)

''Silk Road'', December 2002. Hong Kong; Dragon Airlines.

Climate

The summit of Mount Emei has an alpine subarctic climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

''Dwc''), with long, cold (but not severely so) winters, and short, cool summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, and the annual mean is . Precipitation is common year-round (occurring on more than 250 days), but due to the influence of the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

, rainfall is especially heavy in summer, and more than 70% of the annual total occurs from June to September.

Indigenous animals

Visitors to Mount Emei will likely see dozens of

Tibetan macaque The Tibetan macaque (''Macaca thibetana''), also known as the Chinese stump-tailed macaque or Milne-Edwards' macaque, is a macaque species found from eastern Tibet east to Guangdong and north to Shaanxi in China. It has also been reported from ...

s, which can often be viewed taking food from tourists. Local merchants sell nuts for tourists to feed the monkeys. Other featured animals includes '' Rana adenopleura'', '' Vibrissaphora liui'' and '' Pheretima praepinguis''.

Flora

Mount Emei is known for its high level of

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

and approximately 200 plant species in various plant families have been described from this mountain. A rare species of Fir tree is endemic to this mountain it is

Abies Fabri ''Abies fabri'' (Faber's fir) is a conifer species in the family Pinaceae. It is endemic to Sichuan in western China, occurring on the sacred mountain of Emei Shan (from where it was first described) and westward to the Gongga Shan massif, growi ...

Gallery

File:峨眉山风景区 Mount Emei Scenic Area 06.jpg, Wanfoding File:Mount Emei pic 3.jpg, A temple at the Golden Summit File:Massive golden buddha on the sumit of Eimei Shan.jpg, Massive statue of Samantabhadra at the summit of Mount Emei File:Baoguosi.jpg, Baoguo Temple, a Buddhist temple File:报国寺弥勒殿.JPG, Buddhist temple at Mount Emei File:CrystalStreamOverpass2.jpg, Wooden bridgewalk over the Crystal Stream, western slopes File:MacaqueEmeishan.jpg, Macaque indigenous to the region File:Sunrise at Eimei Shan.jpg, Sunrise over Mount Emei File:Sunrise over clouded sea on sumit of Eimei Shan.jpg, Sunrise over a sea of clouds at Mount Emei File:Guangfu pavilion at Mount Emei.JPG, Guangfu pavilion, with summit visible in background File:Elephant statues in the fog on the steps of the temple atop Mount Emei.jpg, Elephant statues on the steps leading to the statue of Samantabhadra File:Mount emei tour.jpg, alt=mount emei travel guide, Monkeys of Mount Emei File:在峨秀湖远望峨眉山 Mount Emei 1.jpg, Mount Emei and Exiu Lake File:在峨秀湖远望峨眉山 Mount Emei 2.jpg, Mount Emei and Exiu Lake

References

External links

Religion and the environment in China, 中国的宗教与环境 - chinadialogue article

Mount Emei, including Leshan Giant Buddha, Scenic Area: official Unesco site
{{authority control Chinese Buddhist grottoes Emei National parks of China World Heritage Sites in China Chinese architectural history Emei Tourist attractions in Leshan Buddhism in Sichuan Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Sichuan Buddhist sites in China Emei