Mount Wutai (Five Plateau Mountain, Wutai Mountain, Qingliang Shan), located in Shanxi Province of China, is one of the Four Sacred Mountains in Chinese Buddhism. Each of the four mountains are viewed as the place of practice of one of the four great bodhisattvas. Wutai is the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjusri or Wenshu. Mount Wutai also has an enduring relationship with Tibetan Buddhism.
It takes its name from its unusual topography, consisting of five rounded peaks (North, South, East, West, Central), of which the North peak, called Beitai Ding or Yedou Feng, is the highest, and indeed the highest point in northern China.
Wutai was the first of the four mountains to be identified and is often referred to as "first among the four great mountains." Mount Wutai is home to some of the oldest existent wooden buildings in China that have survived since the era of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). This includes the main hall of Nanchan Monastery and the East Hall of Fuguang Monastery, built in 782 and 857, respectively. The architectural designs of these buildings have since been studied by leading sinologists and experts in traditional Chinese architecture.
June 26, 2009 UNESCO added China's Mount Wutai to its World Heritage List.
It takes its name from its unusual topography, consisting of five rounded peaks (North, South, East, West, Central), of which the North peak, called Beitai Ding or Yedou Feng, is the highest, and indeed the highest point in northern China.
Wutai was the first of the four mountains to be identified and is often referred to as "first among the four great mountains." Mount Wutai is home to some of the oldest existent wooden buildings in China that have survived since the era of the Tang Dynasty (618–907). This includes the main hall of Nanchan Monastery and the East Hall of Fuguang Monastery, built in 782 and 857, respectively. The architectural designs of these buildings have since been studied by leading sinologists and experts in traditional Chinese architecture.
June 26, 2009 UNESCO added China's Mount Wutai to its World Heritage List.