The Southern Mountain (Mountain Hengshan) is the Shou Mountain in China's Five Sacred Mountains. Its blessing and Shou culture has a long history and over a long time it is a halidome for blessing and begging for long life. Southern Mountain was called the “Shou Mountain” since the Han Dynasty. The mountain in “May your age be as high as the Southern Mountain” popular in folks is the Southern Mountain. Since Song Huizong left the carved stone “Shou Mountain” in the Jinjian peak of Southern Mountain, the name “Shou Mountain” was popul ar. For thousands of years, the Southern Mountain has been respected as the symbol of “long life and prosperity”.
Southern Mountain has a prosperous shou mountain culture and the atmosphere is dense. Many architectures and relics are named after “shou”, such as Wanshou Palace, Shouning Palace, Shoujian Bridge, Shoujian Stream, Baishou Booth, Yanshou Booth, Yanhou Village, Shoufo Hall, etc. The Southern Mountain Temple is the architecture integrates the achievements of the Shou culture of Southern Mountain. The remarkable place is a “shou” letter, and “shou” can be seen everywhere, such as on the eaves, beams, decoration frames. Especially, there are 100 “shou” letters with different shapes on the Imperial Tablet Booth, so it is called “Baishou Booth”. Ten thousand “shou” letters with different fonts from famous calligraphers are carved on the “Wanshou Dading”, which adds new connotation to the Shou culture of Southern Mountain.
There is another important for the name “first mountain” of Southern Mountain, that is, the Southern Mountain possess the excellent conditions that are appropriate for people's health promotion and body building as well as elongation of life. There are prosperous trees in everywhere of Southern Mountain, the coverage ratio of its forest reaches above 80%. There are more than 1,400 kinds of plants; the atmospheric oxygen anion reaches 26,000 per stere, it can be called the “natural oxygen bar” that is beneficial to health.
Southern Mountain also produces specialities that are beneficial for the elongation of life, such as ganoderma, polygonatum kingianum, fleeceflower root, etc.
There are many people who have long lives in Southern Mountain area. As recorded in Nanyue Gazetteer: Sima Zhen in the Jin Dynasty had the age of 89; Miaoying was in her 130s when she died; Zhan Ruoshui, who retired to Southern Mountain to teach in the late Ming Dynasty, had a 96 years' life. Most of current people who are living on the mountain have long lives. Only by the primary statistics of the year 2000, there are 4 people who are above 100 years old, and hundreds of people are above 90 years old in the Nanyue Town that has a population of 40 thousand. Up to present, the custom of “praying life on (lunar calendar) February 8” is kept among folks.
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