Sacred Places in China: Mountains, Temples, and Heritage Sites

Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism

• Mount Wutai (Shanxi) — Bodhisattva Manjushri
• Mount Emei (Sichuan) — Bodhisattva Samantabhadra; Leshan Giant Buddha nearby
• Mount Putuo (Zhejiang) — Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin); island mountain
• Mount Jiuhua (Anhui) — Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha; mummified monks

Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism

• Mount Tai (Shandong) — East; imperial sacrifices, sunrise worship
• Mount Hua (Shaanxi) — West; sheer cliffs, plank walk, "most dangerous hike"
• Mount Song (Henan) — Center; Shaolin Temple, Songyang Academy
• Mount Heng (Hunan) — South; longevity, Taoist temples
• Mount Hengshan (Hebei) — North; Hanging Temple (Xuankong Si)

Other Major Sacred Sites

• Forbidden City (Beijing) — Imperial cosmology
• Temple of Heaven (Beijing) — Imperial harvest rites
• Summer Palace (Beijing) — Imperial retreat, UNESCO
• Terracotta Army (Xi'an) — Qin Shi Huang's afterlife guard
• Mogao Caves (Dunhuang) — Buddhist art, Silk Road
• Potala Palace (Lhasa) — Dalai Lama's winter palace
• Jokhang Temple (Lhasa) — Tibetan Buddhism's holiest
• Grand Canal — Cultural landscape, UNESCO
• Great Wall — Spiritual as well as military

China's sacred geography blends Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, folk religion, and imperial ideology.