Mountain Hengshan, one of China's Five Sacred Mountains, is located in Nanyue District, about 50 kilometers from Hengyang City, Hu'nan province. The mountain is made up of gigantic granite, and its 72 peaks are towering, precipitous and in queer shapes.
Mountain Hengshan has always been the scenic spots for tourism, summer resort, and leisure for its large trees, natural and human landscapes. There are more than 1,200 kinds of natural plants, 9 primary forests, more than 150 kinds of precious trees in the scenery. Ginkgo of the East Jin Dynasty, the old pinaster of the Ming Dynasty, the rare seen gleditsia vestita, the ready source of money and two branches of different trees twined together in nature with fable colour are all existed in the scenic area. Zhurong Peak, Water Curtain Cave, Fangguang Temple and Sutra Collection Hall are called the four excellences of Mountain Hengshan for their height, strange, depth and elegant. Mountain Hengshan has pleasant sceneries, you can appreciate the strange flowers in spring, the cloud sea in summer, the sunrise in autumn and the snow in winter, which makes you forget to go back.
Both Buddhism and Taoism are in Mountain Hengshan, which forms the specialty of the mountain and is an excellence in famous mountains of China. In the history of China's Buddhism and Taoism, the Buddhism and Taoism of Mountain Hengshan have an important position. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, Taoism had opened the blessing spots in Mountain Hengshan, and to the Tang Dynasty, there appeared the prosperities of ten large forests and eight hundred bamboo houses. Since the second year of the South Dynasty, large groups of famous monks appeared in Mountain Hengshan, they established the Weiyang Sect, Linji Sect, Caodong Sect, Yunmen Sect, and Fayan Sect, which are called the “five leaves passing” in the buddhisam history, and had a significant impact in the whole Southeast Asia area even in the world. Buddhism and Taoism have the sutra of doxy, and finally formed the characteristics respected by all the Buddhism.
Mountain Hengshan has a long history and profound content. All the ancient China's emperors had close connections with Mountain Hengshan, Yan, Huang, Yao, Shun and Yu all went to the mountain. About after the Eastern and Western Jin Dynasty and the South and North Dynasty, Taoism Buddhism and came to Mountain Hengshan successively, thereafter the mountain became the center of the Buddhism in the south. After the Song Dynasty, more than 20 colleges were established successively in Mountain Hengshan, forming a unique college culture. The rising Hu-Xiang school still has a big influence on the modern school. It is the vice minister Guan Daxun of the Ming Dynasty that first favored Mountain Hengshan by combining “civilization” and “special area”.
The Shou culture of Mountain Hengshan has a long history, the Xingjing records: Mountain Hengshan corresponds the Zhen star of the 28 Star Mansions, and Zhen star manage the lives of people in the world, therefore Mountain Hengshan got the name “Mountain Shou”. Song Huizong inscribed the “Mountain Shou” for the large carved stone of Mountain Hengshan and now it is still in the Emperor Rock of Jinjian Peak of Mountain Hengshan. Restore the temple stone of Mountain Hengshan written by the Emperor Kangxi had the records: Mountain Hengshan is the large town in the east sky, it corresponds the North Star Yuheng, so it is called Mountain Shou. He named it Mountain Shou again. The history records of each dynasty often respectfully called Mountain Hengshan as “mountain to compare life” and “mountain of charging life”. It is explained in Ciyuan: Mountain Shou is Mountain Hengshan. Therefore, Mountain Hengshan is called Mountain Shou of China.
For a long time, Mountain Hengshan is famous for “Mountain Hengshan scenery is the best of five mountains”, “religious famous scenic spot”, “civilization special area”, “Shou Mountain of China”. Now it is the national scenic spots and historical sites, model of national civilized scenic spots and the AAAA-grade tourist destination.