Trekking on Mount Qingcheng

Trekking route on Qingcheng Mountain
Qingcheng Mountain is a holy Taoist mountain some 65 km west of Chengdu, with a summit of only 1600 m. Qingcheng Mountain (admission fee RMB 41) is a excellent vacation place. It offers beautiful trails lined with gingko, plum and palm trees, picturesque vistas and plenty of atmospheric sights along its four-hour return route. In nasty weather it's a good alternative to Emei Mountain as its somewhat sturdier steps are stone rather than slate (and therefore less slippery) and the views here are less likely to be obscured by mist and cloud.

Situated outside the entrance gate, Jianfu Temple is the best preserved of the mountain's temples. Of the 500 or so Taosit monks resident here prior to liberation, there are still about 100 living here.

Further up the hill, both Chaoyang Cave and Taoist Master Cave (Tianshi Dong) are temples built into hollows in the side of the mountain. In the courtyard of Taoist Master Cave are ancient twin gingko trees planted during the Han dynasty over 1000 years ago. Only 500 m from the mountain's summit is Shangqing Temple, established in the Jin Dynasty.

The most popular way of ascending Qingcheng Mountain is by gliding across Yuecheng Lake on a small ferry (RMB 40 round trip) to within a 20-minute walk from Shangqing Temple. This removes most of the hard work and makes it very easy to fit Qingcheng Mountain into a day trip from Chengdu. If you do walk only one way, the western trail past Chaoyang Cave and Taoist Master Cave offers the most sights and views. At the southern end of this route is the lush Chunxian Mountain Path, created early in the 19 th century by headmaster Chunxian Peng who had each visitor to the mountain plant a tree along the path.