Mount Qiyun齐云山

Type

Daoist Sacred Mountains

Location

China · Anhui · Xiuning, Huangshan · About 15 kilometers west of Xiuning county town; the main peak, Langya Cliff, rises to 585 meters

Coordinates

29.808, 118.033 Map ↗

School

Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) Daoism, Wudang Daoism

First built

the Qianyuan era of the Tang (758–760) · The Youshen Zhenwu Shrine was built during the Baoqing era of the Song; the Xuantian Taisu Palace was built by imperial decree during the Jiajing reign of the Ming, when the mountain reached the height of its prosperity

Heritage status

Stone Inscriptions of Mount Qiyun: Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (2006)National Scenic Area (1994)UNESCO Global Geopark (2019, Huangshan)

Overview

Mount Qiyun, anciently called Mount Baiyue, is a famous Daoist mountain of the Huizhou region; like Mount Wudang it venerates the Great Emperor Zhenwu, and is known as 'the Little Wudang of Jiangnan,' counted among the 'Four Great Daoist Mountains.' During the Qianyuan era of the Tang, the Daoist priest Gong Qixia built a hermitage here; in the Baoqing era of the Southern Song, the Youshen Zhenwu Shrine was built; in the eleventh year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming (1532), Emperor Shizong, after the Celestial Master Zhang Yanyu of Longhushan proved efficacious in praying for an heir on his behalf, ordered the Xuantian Taisu Palace to be built by imperial decree and bestowed the mountain's name himself, with Zhengyi priests as its custodians, and the mountain thereby became the center of Daoism in Huizhou. The mountain has a Danxia landform, and its temples and hermitages are mostly built against caves and cliffs, the main ones being Taisu Palace, Yuxu Palace, the Grotto of the True Immortals, and Yuehua Street; there are over five hundred cliff and stele inscriptions on the mountain, with inscriptions by Tang Yin, Hai Rui, Xu Xiake, and others. Today it is a National Scenic Area, and Daoist priests still reside on Yuehua Street on the mountain and carry out Daoist activities there.

Highlights

• Xuantian Taisu Palace
• The Grotto of the True Immortals
• Yuxu Palace
• Yuehua Street
• The cluster of cliff inscriptions