Mount Tai ( Chinese : 泰山 ; pinyin : Tài Shān ) is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an . It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the Jade Emperor Peak ( simplified Chinese : 玉 皇 顶 ; traditional Chinese : 玉 皇 頂 ; pinyin : Yùhuáng Dǐng ), which is commonly reported as being 1,545 meters (5,069 ft) tall.
128-472: Mount Tai is known as the eastern mountain of the Sacred Mountains of China . It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal, and is often regarded the foremost of the five. Mount Tai has been a place of worship for at least 3,000 years and served as one of the most important ceremonial centers of China during large portions of this period. Because of its sacred importance and dramatic landscape, it
256-426: A bodhisattva and protector of beings in hell realms . " Mount Potalaka (Sanskrit)" ( 普陀山 ), Zhejiang, 284 m (932 ft) 30°00′35″N 122°23′06″E / 30.00972°N 122.38500°E / 30.00972; 122.38500 This mountain is considered the bodhimanda of Avalokitesvara ( Guan Yin ), bodhisattva of compassion. It became a popular pilgrimage site and received imperial support in
384-469: A nucleus that has a vowel (which can be a monophthong , diphthong , or even a triphthong in certain varieties), preceded by an onset (a single consonant , or consonant + glide ; a zero onset is also possible), and followed (optionally) by a coda consonant; a syllable also carries a tone . There are some instances where a vowel is not used as a nucleus. An example of this is in Cantonese, where
512-457: A subject–verb–object word order , and like many other languages of East Asia, makes frequent use of the topic–comment construction to form sentences. Chinese also has an extensive system of classifiers and measure words , another trait shared with neighboring languages such as Japanese and Korean. Other notable grammatical features common to all the spoken varieties of Chinese include the use of serial verb construction , pronoun dropping , and
640-510: A Chinese character is the morpheme, as characters represent the smallest grammatical units with individual meanings in the Chinese language. Estimates of the total number of Chinese words and lexicalized phrases vary greatly. The Hanyu Da Zidian , a compendium of Chinese characters, includes 54,678 head entries for characters, including oracle bone versions. The Zhonghua Zihai (1994) contains 85,568 head entries for character definitions and
768-599: A Shanghai resident may speak both Standard Chinese and Shanghainese ; if they grew up elsewhere, they are also likely fluent in the dialect of their home region. In addition to Standard Chinese, a majority of Taiwanese people also speak Taiwanese Hokkien (also called 台語 ; 'Taiwanese' ), Hakka , or an Austronesian language . A speaker in Taiwan may mix pronunciations and vocabulary from Standard Chinese and other languages of Taiwan in everyday speech. In part due to traditional cultural ties with Guangdong , Cantonese
896-669: A Temple of Confucius ( Chinese : 孔 子 庙 ; pinyin : Kǒngzi Miào ), a Temple of Doumu ( Chinese : 斗 母 宫 ; pinyin : Dòumǔ Gōng ) and the Puzhao Buddhist Temple ( Chinese : 普 照 寺 ; pinyin : Pǔzhào Sì ). Among the tablets and inscriptions on the top of Mount Tai, the inscription that declares Mount Tai the "Most Revered of the Five Sacred Mountains" ( simplified Chinese : 五 岳 独 尊 ; traditional Chinese : 五 嶽 獨 尊 ; pinyin : Wǔyuè Dúzūn ) on
1024-462: A central variety (i.e. prestige variety, such as Standard Mandarin), as the issue requires some careful handling when mutual intelligibility is inconsistent with language identity. The Chinese government's official Chinese designation for the major branches of Chinese is 方言 ; fāngyán ; 'regional speech', whereas the more closely related varieties within these are called 地点方言 ; 地點方言 ; dìdiǎn fāngyán ; 'local speech'. Because of
1152-615: A compromise between the pronunciations of different regions. The royal courts of the Ming and early Qing dynasties operated using a koiné language known as Guanhua , based on the Nanjing dialect of Mandarin. Standard Chinese is an official language of both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan), one of the four official languages of Singapore , and one of
1280-714: A corresponding increase in the number of homophones . As an example, the small Langenscheidt Pocket Chinese Dictionary lists six words that are commonly pronounced as shí in Standard Chinese: In modern spoken Mandarin, however, tremendous ambiguity would result if all of these words could be used as-is. The 20th century Yuen Ren Chao poem Lion-Eating Poet in the Stone Den exploits this, consisting of 92 characters all pronounced shi . As such, most of these words have been replaced in speech, if not in writing, with less ambiguous disyllabic compounds. Only
1408-418: A huge subsiding belt or sea canal. The orogeny made the rock layers on the subsidence zone folded and uplifted into ancient land, forming a huge mountain system, which has experienced 2 billion years of weathering and denudation, and the terrain has gradually become flat. About 600 million years ago, Mount Tai sank into the sea again. After more than 100 million years, the entire area rose to land again, and
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#17327719571891536-514: A means of communication between heaven and earth and as the place where immortality can be found. The sanctity of the Five Great Mountains is the reason why even today these mountains still host an exceptional diversity of plants, trees and animal species. "Tranquil Mountain" ( 泰山 ) Shandong , 1,545 m (5,069 ft) 36°15′N 117°06′E / 36.250°N 117.100°E / 36.250; 117.100 This mountain
1664-576: A millennium. The Four Commanderies of Han were established in northern Korea in the 1st century BCE but disintegrated in the following centuries. Chinese Buddhism spread over East Asia between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE, and with it the study of scriptures and literature in Literary Chinese. Later, strong central governments modeled on Chinese institutions were established in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, with Literary Chinese serving as
1792-741: A number of interruptions, this imperial custom was preserved until the end of the last dynasty, when, after the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911, Yuan Shikai had himself crowned as emperor at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing . But just to be safe, he also made an offer to the god of the northern Mount Heng . In the 2000s formal sacrifices both in Confucian and Taoist styles have been resumed. The Five Great Mountains have become places of pilgrimage where hundreds of pilgrims gather in temples and caves. Although
1920-716: A replica of the imperial palace, which makes it one out of three extant structures in China with the features of an imperial palace (the other two are the Forbidden City and the Confucius Temple in Qufu ). The temple has five major halls and many small buildings. The centerpiece is the Palace of Heavenly Blessings (Tian Kuang), built in 1008, during the reign of the last Northern Song emperor, Huizong . The hall houses
2048-542: A secure reconstruction of Proto-Sino-Tibetan, the higher-level structure of the family remains unclear. A top-level branching into Chinese and Tibeto-Burman languages is often assumed, but has not been convincingly demonstrated. The first written records appeared over 3,000 years ago during the Shang dynasty . As the language evolved over this period, the various local varieties became mutually unintelligible. In reaction, central governments have repeatedly sought to promulgate
2176-508: A similar way to the use of Latin and Ancient Greek roots in European languages. Many new compounds, or new meanings for old phrases, were created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to name Western concepts and artifacts. These coinages, written in shared Chinese characters, have then been borrowed freely between languages. They have even been accepted into Chinese, a language usually resistant to loanwords, because their foreign origin
2304-678: A single language. However, their lack of mutual intelligibility means they are sometimes considered to be separate languages in a family . Investigation of the historical relationships among the varieties of Chinese is ongoing. Currently, most classifications posit 7 to 13 main regional groups based on phonetic developments from Middle Chinese , of which the most spoken by far is Mandarin with 66%, or around 800 million speakers, followed by Min (75 million, e.g. Southern Min ), Wu (74 million, e.g. Shanghainese ), and Yue (68 million, e.g. Cantonese ). These branches are unintelligible to each other, and many of their subgroups are unintelligible with
2432-631: A unified standard. The earliest examples of Old Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones dated to c. 1250 BCE , during the Late Shang . The next attested stage came from inscriptions on bronze artifacts dating to the Western Zhou period (1046–771 BCE), the Classic of Poetry and portions of the Book of Documents and I Ching . Scholars have attempted to reconstruct
2560-575: A variety of Yue from a small coastal area around Taishan, Guangdong . In parts of South China, the dialect of a major city may be only marginally intelligible to its neighbors. For example, Wuzhou and Taishan are located approximately 260 km (160 mi) and 190 km (120 mi) away from Guangzhou respectively, but the Yue variety spoken in Wuzhou is more similar to the Guangzhou dialect than
2688-509: Is Samantabhadra , known in Chinese as Puxian ( 普贤菩萨 ). "Nine Glories Mountain" ( 九华山 ; 九華山 ), Anhui , 1,341 m (4,400 ft), 30°28′56″N 117°48′16″E / 30.48222°N 117.80444°E / 30.48222; 117.80444 Many of the mountain's shrines and temples are dedicated to Ksitigarbha (known in Chinese as Dìzàng, 地藏 , in Japanese as Jizō ), who is
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#17327719571892816-602: Is Taishanese. Wuzhou is located directly upstream from Guangzhou on the Pearl River , whereas Taishan is to Guangzhou's southwest, with the two cities separated by several river valleys. In parts of Fujian , the speech of some neighbouring counties or villages is mutually unintelligible. Local varieties of Chinese are conventionally classified into seven dialect groups, largely based on the different evolution of Middle Chinese voiced initials: Proportions of first-language speakers The classification of Li Rong , which
2944-655: Is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in China , as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora . Approximately 1.35 billion people, or 17% of the global population, speak a variety of Chinese as their first language . Chinese languages form the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. The spoken varieties of Chinese are usually considered by native speakers to be dialects of
3072-603: Is a tilted fault-block mountain, higher to the south than north, and is the oldest and most important example of the paleo-metamorphic system representative of the Cambrian Period in eastern China. Referred to as the Taishan Complex, it comprises magnetized, metamorphic, sedimentary rock and an intrusive mass of various origins that were formed in the Archean Era 1700-2000 million years ago. Subsequently, in
3200-752: Is associated with Feng Shan and by extension the Mandate of Heaven and life or death, being the most important of all the mountains "Splendid Mountain" ( 华山 ; 華山 ), Shaanxi , 2,154 m (7,067 ft) 34°29′N 110°05′E / 34.483°N 110.083°E / 34.483; 110.083 "Balancing Mountain" ( 衡山 ), Hunan , 1,290 m (4,230 ft) 27°15′17″N 112°39′21″E / 27.254798°N 112.655743°E / 27.254798; 112.655743 "Permanent Mountain" ( 恒山 ; 恆山 ), Shanxi, 2,017 m (6,617 ft) 39°40′26″N 113°44′08″E / 39.67389°N 113.73556°E / 39.67389; 113.73556 In
3328-490: Is called either 华语 ; 華語 ; Huáyǔ or 汉语 ; 漢語 ; Hànyǔ ). Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin. The governments of both China and Taiwan intend for speakers of all Chinese speech varieties to use it as a common language of communication. Therefore, it is used in government agencies, in the media, and as a language of instruction in schools. Diglossia is common among Chinese speakers. For example,
3456-639: Is famous for being one of the birthplaces of Taoism and particularly important to the Zhengyi Dao , with many Taoist temples built upon the mountainside. Literally "Neat Clouds" ( 齐云山 ; 齊雲山 ), Anhui . Main peak: 585 m (1,919 ft). 29°48′29.9988″N 118°01′56.9994″E / 29.808333000°N 118.032499833°E / 29.808333000; 118.032499833 Literally "Misty Green City Wall" ( 青城山 ); (Nearby city: Dujiangyan, Sichuan . Main peak: 1,260 m (4,130 ft) (surveyed in 2007). In ancient Chinese history, Mount Qingcheng area
3584-458: Is found in running water at 300–800 m. Mount Tai is of key importance in Chinese religion , being the eastern one of the five Sacred Mountains of China . According to historical records, Mount Tai became a sacred place visited by emperors to offer sacrifices and meditate in the Zhou dynasty before 1000 BC . A total of 72 emperors were recorded as visiting it. Legend holds that Emperor Shun began
3712-467: Is located at 36° 16′N and 117° 6′E. Mount Tai was formed in the middle of the Cenozoic about 30 million years ago. The stratum of Mount Tai is ancient, mainly composed of several ancient rocks such as mixed rock, mixed granite and various gneiss . The government prevented exploration of the caves, for they are unassessed and potentially dangerous. The Luxi region (including Mount Tai) used to be
3840-603: Is often described as a 'monosyllabic' language. However, this is only partially correct. It is largely accurate when describing Old and Middle Chinese; in Classical Chinese, around 90% of words consist of a single character that corresponds one-to-one with a morpheme , the smallest unit of meaning in a language. In modern varieties, it usually remains the case that morphemes are monosyllabic—in contrast, English has many multi-syllable morphemes, both bound and free , such as 'seven', 'elephant', 'para-' and '-able'. Some of
3968-445: Is only about an eighth as many as English. All varieties of spoken Chinese use tones to distinguish words. A few dialects of north China may have as few as three tones, while some dialects in south China have up to 6 or 12 tones, depending on how one counts. One exception from this is Shanghainese which has reduced the set of tones to a two-toned pitch accent system much like modern Japanese. A very common example used to illustrate
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4096-531: Is seen as a goddess of fertility, like Yanguang Nainai, she is often portrayed as an attendant to Bixia Yuanjun. Shi Gandang ( Chinese : 石 敢 当 ; pinyin : Shígǎndāng ) is a spirit sent down from Mount Tai by Bixia Yuanjun to protect ordinary people from evil spirits. As part of cultural tradition, there will also often be Taishan Shi Gandang stones set up near buildings and other places, in order to protect those place from evil spirits. These are not to be confused with spirit tablets . The Temple of
4224-668: Is specifically meant. However, when one of the above words forms part of a compound, the disambiguating syllable is generally dropped and the resulting word is still disyllabic. For example, 石 ; shí alone, and not 石头 ; 石頭 ; shítou , appears in compounds as meaning 'stone' such as 石膏 ; shígāo ; 'plaster', 石灰 ; shíhuī ; 'lime', 石窟 ; shíkū ; 'grotto', 石英 ; 'quartz', and 石油 ; shíyóu ; 'petroleum'. Although many single-syllable morphemes ( 字 ; zì ) can stand alone as individual words, they more often than not form multi-syllable compounds known as 词 ; 詞 ; cí , which more closely resembles
4352-563: Is the daughter or the consort of the Great Deity of Mount Tai. Statues of Bixia Yuanjun often depict her holding a tablet with the Big Dipper as a symbol of her authority. Yanguang Niangniang ( Chinese : 眼 光 奶 奶 ; pinyin : Yǎnguāng Nǎinǎi ) is venerated as goddess of eyesight and often portrayed as an attendant to Bixia Yuanjun. Songzi Niangniang ( Chinese : 送 子 娘 娘 ; pinyin : Sòngzi Niangniang )
4480-662: Is the eastern one of the Five Manifestations of the Highest Deity ( Wufang Shangdi ). Bixia Yuanjun ( Chinese : 碧 霞 元 君 ; pinyin : Bìxiá Yuánjūn ), literally the "Goddess of the Blue Dawn", also known as the "Heavenly Immortal Lady of Jade" ( Chinese : 天 仙 玉 女 ; pinyin : Tiānxian Yùnǚ ) or the "Lady of Mount Tai" ( Chinese : 泰 山 娘 娘 ; pinyin : Tàishān Niangniang ). According to some mythological accounts, she
4608-524: Is the home to a complex of Taoist temples and monasteries associated with the Lord of the North, Xuantian Shangdi . It is also renowned as being the place of origin for Tai chi . Literally "Dragon and Tiger" ( 龙虎山 ; 龍虎山 ), Jiangxi . Main peak: 247.4 m (812 ft). 28°06′48.999″N 116°57′29.998″E / 28.11361083°N 116.95833278°E / 28.11361083; 116.95833278 It
4736-489: Is the largest reference work based purely on character and its literary variants. The CC-CEDICT project (2010) contains 97,404 contemporary entries including idioms, technology terms, and names of political figures, businesses, and products. The 2009 version of the Webster's Digital Chinese Dictionary (WDCD), based on CC-CEDICT, contains over 84,000 entries. The most comprehensive pure linguistic Chinese-language dictionary,
4864-501: Is used as an everyday language in Hong Kong and Macau . The designation of various Chinese branches remains controversial. Some linguists and most ordinary Chinese people consider all the spoken varieties as one single language, as speakers share a common national identity and a common written form. Others instead argue that it is inappropriate to refer to major branches of Chinese such as Mandarin, Wu, and so on as "dialects" because
4992-500: Is used in education, media, formal speech, and everyday life—though Mandarin is increasingly taught in schools due to the mainland's growing influence. Historically, the Chinese language has spread to its neighbors through a variety of means. Northern Vietnam was incorporated into the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE) in 111 BCE, marking the beginning of a period of Chinese control that ran almost continuously for
5120-552: Is used in the Language Atlas of China (1987), distinguishes three further groups: Some varieties remain unclassified, including the Danzhou dialect on Hainan , Waxianghua spoken in western Hunan , and Shaozhou Tuhua spoken in northern Guangdong . Standard Chinese is the standard language of China (where it is called 普通话 ; pǔtōnghuà ) and Taiwan, and one of the four official languages of Singapore (where it
5248-428: Is very complex, with a large number of consonants and vowels, but they are probably not all distinguished in any single dialect. Most linguists now believe it represents a diasystem encompassing 6th-century northern and southern standards for reading the classics. The complex relationship between spoken and written Chinese is an example of diglossia : as spoken, Chinese varieties have evolved at different rates, while
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5376-543: The Bamboo Annals , and at present, it is recognized by most scholars as the first recorded earthquake in Chinese history . Mount Tai is located in western Shandong , just north of the city of Tai'an and to the south of the provincial capital Jinan . It extends from 150–1,545 meters (492–5,069 ft) above sea level and covers an area of 426 km (164 sq mi) at its base. The Jade Emperor Peak, which rises 1,532.7 meters (5,029 ft)} above sea level,
5504-697: The Qieyun rime dictionary (601 CE), and a late period in the 10th century, reflected by rhyme tables such as the Yunjing constructed by ancient Chinese philologists as a guide to the Qieyun system. These works define phonological categories but with little hint of what sounds they represent. Linguists have identified these sounds by comparing the categories with pronunciations in modern varieties of Chinese , borrowed Chinese words in Japanese, Vietnamese, and Korean, and transcription evidence. The resulting system
5632-859: The Han Dynasty Cypresses , which were planted by the Emperor Wu Di , the Tang Chinese Scholartree (about 1,300 years old), the Welcoming-Guest Pine (500 years old) and the Fifth-Rank Pine , which was named originally by the Emperor Qin Shi Huang, but was replanted about 250 years ago. Mount Tai rises abruptly from the vast plain of central Shandong, and is naturally endowed with many scenic sites. Geologically, it
5760-533: The Korean , Japanese and Vietnamese languages, and today comprise over half of their vocabularies. This massive influx led to changes in the phonological structure of the languages, contributing to the development of moraic structure in Japanese and the disruption of vowel harmony in Korean. Borrowed Chinese morphemes have been used extensively in all these languages to coin compound words for new concepts, in
5888-710: The May Fourth Movement beginning in 1919. After the fall of the Northern Song dynasty and subsequent reign of the Jurchen Jin and Mongol Yuan dynasties in northern China, a common speech (now called Old Mandarin ) developed based on the dialects of the North China Plain around the capital. The 1324 Zhongyuan Yinyun was a dictionary that codified the rhyming conventions of new sanqu verse form in this language. Together with
6016-595: The National Language Unification Commission finally settled on the Beijing dialect in 1932. The People's Republic founded in 1949 retained this standard but renamed it 普通话 ; 普通話 ; pǔtōnghuà ; 'common speech'. The national language is now used in education, the media, and formal situations in both mainland China and Taiwan. In Hong Kong and Macau , Cantonese is the dominant spoken language due to cultural influence from Guangdong immigrants and colonial-era policies, and
6144-481: The Northern Wei dynasty . The west route, taken by fewer tourists, is more scenic, but has less cultural heritage. Sacred Mountains of China The Sacred Mountains of China are divided into several groups. The Five Great Mountains ( simplified Chinese : 五岳 ; traditional Chinese : 五嶽 ; pinyin : Wǔyuè ) refers to five of the most renowned mountains in Chinese history, which have been
6272-630: The Paleolithic period. Evidence of human settlement of the area can be proven from the neolithic period onwards. During this time, two cultures had emerged near the mountain, the Dawenkou culture to the south and the Longshan culture to the north. During the Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BC) the mountain was known as Mount Dai ( Chinese : 岱山 ; pinyin : Dài Shān ) and lay within
6400-715: The Proterozoic Era, the Taishan region began to rise, becoming part of the continent by the end of the era. Uplift continued until the middle of the Cenozoic Era . The gneiss which emerged in the Taishan region is the foundation for all of North China. Cambrian strata, fully emerged in the north, are rich in fossils. Six streams flow from the summit, their water renowned for its extremely low mineral content, slight acidity (pH = 6.3) and relatively high oxygen content (6.4 milligrams per liter (mg/L)). The area falls within
6528-574: The Warring States period (475 BC – 221 BC), and the term Wuyue ("Five Summits") was made popular during the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Western Han dynasty 140-87 BC. In Chinese traditional religion they have cosmological and theological significance as the representation, on the physical plane of earth, of the ordered world emanating from the God of Heaven ( Tian – Shangdi ), inscribing
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#17327719571896656-478: The oracle bone inscriptions created during the Shang dynasty c. 1250 BCE . The phonetic categories of Old Chinese can be reconstructed from the rhymes of ancient poetry. During the Northern and Southern period , Middle Chinese went through several sound changes and split into several varieties following prolonged geographic and political separation. The Qieyun , a rime dictionary , recorded
6784-596: The phonology of Old Chinese by comparing later varieties of Chinese with the rhyming practice of the Classic of Poetry and the phonetic elements found in the majority of Chinese characters. Although many of the finer details remain unclear, most scholars agree that Old Chinese differs from Middle Chinese in lacking retroflex and palatal obstruents but having initial consonant clusters of some sort, and in having voiceless nasals and liquids. Most recent reconstructions also describe an atonal language with consonant clusters at
6912-413: The vassal states of Qi and Lu bordered Mount Tai to the north and south respectively, from where their feudal lords both made independent sacrifices on Mount Tai. According to Zhou ritual belief, the spirit of Mount Tai would only accept sacrifices offered by a feudal lord, leading Confucius (in his Analects 3.6) to criticize the ministers who offered state sacrifices here after usurping power. In
7040-581: The "Lu-Viewing Platform" ( Chinese : 瞻 鲁 台 ; pinyin : Zhānlǔ tái ) from which Confucius took in the view over his home state of Lu and then pronounced "The world is small". The Wordless Stele ( Chinese : 无 字 碑 ; pinyin : Wúzì Bēi ) stands in front of the Jade Emperor Temple. Legend has it that the emperor who commissioned the stele was dissatisfied with the inscription suggested by his scribes and decided to leave it blank instead to leave its meaning to be imagined by
7168-484: The "Northern Great Mountain" ( 北岳 ; 北嶽 ; Běi Yuè ), "Southern Great Mountain" ( 南岳 ; 南嶽 ; Nán Yuè ), "Eastern Great Mountain" ( 东岳 ; 東嶽 ; Dōng Yuè ), "Western Great Mountain" ( 西岳 ; 西嶽 ; Xī Yuè ), and "Central Great Mountain" ( 中岳 ; 中嶽 ; Zhōng Yuè ). According to Chinese mythology, the Five Great Mountains originated from the body of Pangu ( 盘古 ; 盤古 ; Pángǔ ), the first being and
7296-465: The "Sun Viewing Peak" ( Chinese : 日 观 峰 ; pinyin : Rìguān Fēng ) is of particular renown. It was written by a member of the Aisin Gioro clan ( Chinese : 爱 新 觉 罗 玉 构 ; pinyin : Àixīn Juéluō Yùgòu ) in 1907 and is featured on the reverse side of the five yuan bill of the 5th series renminbi banknotes and page 26 of PRC biometric passport. Another inscription marks
7424-436: The 180 precepts of Lord Lao for how to live a good and honest life. Twenty of these precepts focused explicitly on the conservation of nature, while many other precepts were indirectly aimed at preventing the destruction of nature. Respect for nature has been a key component of Taoism from the very outset and, in its own right, explains why the Five Great Mountains are considered sacred. In addition, Taoists consider mountains as
7552-595: The Blue Dawn ( Chinese : 碧 霞 祠 ; pinyin : Bìxiá Cí ), near the top of the mountain is another grand building complex, a special combination of metal components, wood, and bricks and stone structures. It is dedicated to the goddess Bixia (Blue Dawn). From the Taishan Temple to the Blue Dawn Temple there are numerous stone tablets and inscriptions and ancient buildings on the way. Visitors derive much pleasure from climbing Mount Taishan. From
7680-405: The Chinese term for pilgrimage ( 朝圣 ; 朝聖 ; cháoshèng ) being a shortened version of an expression which means "paying respect to a holy mountain" ( 朝拜圣山 ; 朝拜聖山 ; cháobài shèng shān ). The Five Great Mountains or Wuyue are arranged according to the five cardinal directions of Chinese geomancy , which includes the center as a direction. The grouping of the five mountains appeared during
7808-471: The Chinese territory as a tán ( 壇 ; 'altar'), the Chinese concept equivalent of the Indian mandala . The five mountains are among the best-known natural landmarks in Chinese history, and since the early periods in Chinese history, they have been the ritual sites of imperial worship and sacrifice by various emperors. The first legendary sovereigns of China went on excursions or formed processions to
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#17327719571897936-601: The East Peak of Mount Tai, along its course, there are 11 gates, 14 archways, 14 kiosks, and four pavilions. In total, there are 22 temples, 97 ruins, 819 stone tablets, and 1,018 cliff-side and stone inscriptions located on Mount Tai. These include a Temple of the Jade King ( Chinese : 玉 皇 庙 ; pinyin : Yùhuáng Miào ), a Temple of the Blue Deity ( Chinese : 青 帝 宫 ; pinyin : Qīngdì Gōng ),
8064-416: The Five Great Mountains are not traditionally canonized as having any exclusive religious affiliations, many of them have a strong Taoist presence, thus the five mountains are also grouped by some as part of "Sacred Taoist Mountains". There are also various Buddhist temples and Confucian academies built on these mountains. Alternatively, these mountains are sometimes referred to by the respective directions:
8192-555: The Four "Sacred Mountains of China" are: "Five-Platform Mountain" ( 五台山 ), Shanxi, 3,058 m (10,033 ft), 39°04′45″N 113°33′53″E / 39.07917°N 113.56472°E / 39.07917; 113.56472 Wutai is the home of the Bodhisattva of wisdom, Manjusri or Wenshu ( 文殊 ) in Chinese. "High and Lofty Mountain" ( 峨嵋山 ), Sichuan , 3,099 m (10,167 ft) The patron bodhisattva of Emei
8320-406: The God of Mount Tai, known as the Dai Temple ( Chinese : 岱 庙 ; pinyin : Dàimiào ), is the largest and most complete ancient building complex in the area. It is located at the foot of Mount Tai in the city of Tai'an and covers an area of 96,000 square meters. The temple was first built during the Qin dynasty . Since the time of the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), its design has been
8448-490: The Latin-based Vietnamese alphabet . English words of Chinese origin include tea from Hokkien 茶 ( tê ), dim sum from Cantonese 點心 ( dim2 sam1 ), and kumquat from Cantonese 金橘 ( gam1 gwat1 ). The sinologist Jerry Norman has estimated that there are hundreds of mutually unintelligible varieties of Chinese. These varieties form a dialect continuum , in which differences in speech generally become more pronounced as distances increase, though
8576-426: The Midway Gate to Heaven or all the way up from the foot of the mountain. To climb up the mountain, one can take one of two routes. The more popular east route starts from Taishan Arch. On the way up the 7,200 stone steps, the climber first passes the Ten Thousand Immortals Tower (Wanxianlou), Arhat Cliff (Luohanya), and Palace to Goddess Dou Mu (Doumugong). The climbing from the First Gate to Heaven (yi1 tian1 men2),
8704-439: The Proterozoic, it had become part of the continent. Besides the Jade Emperor Peak, other distinctive rock formations are the Heaven Candle Peak , the Fan Cliff , and the Rear Rock Basin . Mount Tai lies in the zone of oriental deciduous forest; about 80% of its area is covered with vegetation. The flora is known to comprise almost 1,000 species. Some of the trees in the area are very old and have cultural significance, such as
8832-426: The Song dynasty. Mount Xuedou has been recently promoted as a fifth sacred mountain of Chinese Buddhism. This was first advocated by Changxing (1896-1939), an associate of the famous reformer Taixu . Xuedou mountain is seen as the sacred place of bodhisattva Maitreya . It is located 8 kilometers north-west of Xikou Town, Fenghua City , Zhejiang. Mount Xuedou is home to the newly expanded Xuedou monastery, which
8960-435: The ancient Mount Tai uplifted into a relatively low barren hill. In the late Mesozoic period about 100 million years ago, due to the extrusion and subduction of the Pacific plate to the Eurasian Plate , the Taishan stratum experienced extensive folds and fractures under the influence of the Yanshanian . During the crustal movement above, Mount Tai was rapidly uplifted. In the mid- Cenozoic period about 30 million years ago,
9088-415: The borders of Qingzhou , one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China . Religious worship of Mount Tai has a tradition dating back 3,000 years, from the time of the Shang (c. 1600–1046 BC) to the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Over time, this worship evolved into the Feng and Shan sacrifices . The sacrifices were an official imperial rite and Mount Tai became one of the principal places where
9216-575: The country. Some trees are very old and famous, notably the Han Dynasty Cypresses (planted 2,100 years ago by Emperor Wu Di of the Han dynasty), 'Welcoming Guest Pine' (500 years old) and 'Fifth Rank Pine' (named by Emperor Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty ). There are over 200 species of animals in addition to 122 species of birds, but precise details are lacking. Large-scaled fish Varicorhinus macrolepis
9344-543: The course of history, there had been more than one location with the designation for Mount Heng, the North Great Mountain. The Great Northern Mountain was designated on the original Mount Heng with the main peak known as Mount Damao ( 大茂山 ) today, located at the intersection of present-day Fuping County , Laiyuan County and Tang County in Hebei province. Mount Heng was renamed Mount Chang ( 常山 ) to avoid
9472-749: The creator of the world. Because of its eastern location, Mount Tài is associated with the rising sun which signifies birth and renewal. Due to this interpretation, it is often regarded as the most sacred of the Five Great Mountains . In accordance with its special position, Mount Tài is believed to have been formed out of Pangu's head. Mount Heng in Hunan is believed to be a remainder of Pangu's right arm, Mount Heng in Shanxi of his left arm, Mount Song of his belly, and Mount Hua of his feet. In ancient times mountains were places of authority and fear, ruled by dark forces and faithfully worshipped. One reason for such worship
9600-399: The different spoken dialects varies, but in general, there has been a tendency to a reduction in sounds from Middle Chinese. The Mandarin dialects in particular have experienced a dramatic decrease in sounds and so have far more polysyllabic words than most other spoken varieties. The total number of syllables in some varieties is therefore only about a thousand, including tonal variation, which
9728-484: The difficulties involved in determining the difference between language and dialect, other terms have been proposed. These include topolect , lect , vernacular , regional , and variety . Syllables in the Chinese languages have some unique characteristics. They are tightly related to the morphology and also to the characters of the writing system, and phonologically they are structured according to fixed rules. The structure of each syllable consists of
9856-846: The earth. Confucian Buddhism, preaching, and experience, and cultural figures climbed the mountain, leaving behind a dazzling array of stone inscriptions, cliffs, and couplet stone carvings. The cliff carvings on Mount Tai are also the most famous mountains. There are more than 1,800 stone inscriptions in Mount Tai, including more than 800 steles and 1,000 cliff stone inscriptions, distributed in 157 Daimiao, 215 at Dailu, 576 at Shantou East Road, 258 at Daiding, more than 80 at Daixi, and Daiyin 44 locations, more than 400 locations in Lingyan Temple, more than 100 locations in Shentong Temple. It mainly includes 5 types of sacrificial ceremonies of
9984-538: The emperor would carry out the sacrifices to pay homage to heaven (on the summit) and earth (at the foot of the mountain) in the Feng ( Chinese : 封 ; pinyin : Fēng ) and Shan ( Chinese : 禪 ; pinyin : Shàn ) sacrifices respectively. The two sacrifices are often referred to together as the Fengshan sacrifices ( Chinese : 封 禪 ; pinyin : Fēngshàn ). Carving of an inscription as part of
10112-735: The emperors of the past dynasties, the creation and restoration of temples, the tomb inscriptions of the stone scriptures, the poems of chants, the scenery and the couplets, most of which are natural stone inscriptions. Japan , India, the Persian court in exile , Goguryeo , Baekje , Silla , the Turks , Khotan , the Khmer , and the Umayyad Caliphate all had representatives attending the Feng and Shan sacrifices held by Emperor Gaozong of Tang in 666 at Mount Tai. Also, Chinese worshippers of
10240-576: The end of the syllable, developing into tone distinctions in Middle Chinese. Several derivational affixes have also been identified, but the language lacks inflection , and indicated grammatical relationships using word order and grammatical particles . Middle Chinese was the language used during Northern and Southern dynasties and the Sui , Tang , and Song dynasties (6th–10th centuries CE). It can be divided into an early period, reflected by
10368-498: The ensuing Warring States period (475–221 BC), to protect itself against invasion, the State of Qi erected a 500-kilometer (310 mi)-long wall, the ruins of which are still present today. The name Tai'an of the neighboring city is attributed to the saying "If Mount Tai is stable, so is the entire country" (both characters of Tai'an , "泰" and "安", have the independent meaning of "peace"). In 219 BC, Qin Shi Huang ,
10496-751: The fifth sacred mountain of Chinese Buddhism. Mount Lu is also an important sacred mountain in Chinese Buddhism, especially for Pure Land Buddhism . It is the site Donglin Temple , founded by the Pure Land patriarch Huiyuan . There are also sacred mountains in Tibetan Buddhism , which are considered holy sites of Tibetan Buddhism. Chan Buddhism developed the Five Mountains and Ten Temples System (五山十刹, wushan shicha ) during
10624-449: The first emperor of China , held a ceremony on the summit and proclaimed the unity of his empire in a well-known inscription. During the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), the Feng and Shan sacrifices were considered the highest of all sacrifices. Rituals and sacrifices were conducted by the Sui. The emperors of the past dynasties went to Mount Tai to worship the heavens and tell
10752-413: The first one, 十 , normally appears in monosyllabic form in spoken Mandarin; the rest are normally used in the polysyllabic forms of respectively. In each, the homophone was disambiguated by the addition of another morpheme, typically either a near-synonym or some sort of generic word (e.g. 'head', 'thing'), the purpose of which is to indicate which of the possible meanings of the other, homophonic syllable
10880-517: The foothills, deciduous forests , broad-leaved coniferous mixed forests, Coniferous forest, alpine shrubs and grass can be seen in sequence. The vertical boundaries of the forest belts are distinct and the vegetation landscapes are different. There are 989 species of seed plants in 144 families, including 433 species of woody plants in 72 families, 556 species of herbaceous plants in 72 families, and 462 species of medicinal plants in 111 families. Traces of human presence at Mount Tai date back to
11008-491: The form of a word), to indicate a word's function within a sentence. In other words, Chinese has very few grammatical inflections —it possesses no tenses , no voices , no grammatical number , and only a few articles . They make heavy use of grammatical particles to indicate aspect and mood . In Mandarin, this involves the use of particles such as 了 ; le ; ' PFV ', 还 ; 還 ; hái ; 'still', and 已经 ; 已經 ; yǐjīng ; 'already'. Chinese has
11136-618: The government of the People's Republic of China, with Singapore officially adopting them in 1976. Traditional characters are used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and among Chinese-speaking communities overseas . Linguists classify all varieties of Chinese as part of the Sino-Tibetan language family , together with Burmese , Tibetan and many other languages spoken in the Himalayas and the Southeast Asian Massif . Although
11264-586: The language of administration and scholarship, a position it would retain until the late 19th century in Korea and (to a lesser extent) Japan, and the early 20th century in Vietnam. Scholars from different lands could communicate, albeit only in writing, using Literary Chinese. Although they used Chinese solely for written communication, each country had its own tradition of reading texts aloud using what are known as Sino-Xenic pronunciations . Chinese words with these pronunciations were also extensively imported into
11392-651: The late Southern Song (1127–1279). The five mountains where the top Chan monasteries in the empire were located were: The Four Holy Mountains of Tibetan Buddhism, located in Yunnan , Qinghai , and the Tibet Autonomous Region , are: The "Four Sacred Mountains" of Taoism are: Literally "Military Wherewithal" ( 武当山 ; 武當山 ); northwestern Hubei . Main peak: 1,612 m (5,289 ft). 32°40′0″N 111°00′4″E / 32.66667°N 111.00111°E / 32.66667; 111.00111 . It
11520-528: The late 19th century. Today Japanese is written with a composite script using both Chinese characters called kanji , and kana. Korean is written exclusively with hangul in North Korea, although knowledge of the supplementary Chinese characters called hanja is still required, and hanja are increasingly rarely used in South Korea. As a result of its historical colonization by France, Vietnamese now uses
11648-663: The main entrance bordering on Tai'an town, up the entire mountain can take two and a half hours for the sprinting hiker to six hours for the leisure pace. Reaching the Midway Gate to Heaven from First Gate to Heaven is one hour at a sprint up to two and a half hours leisurely. To the northeast of the Palace to Goddess Dou Mu is Sutra Rock Valley in which the Buddhist Diamond Sutra was cut in characters measuring fifty centimeters across believed to be inscribed in
11776-455: The more conservative modern varieties, usually found in the south, have largely monosyllabic words , especially with basic vocabulary. However, most nouns, adjectives, and verbs in modern Mandarin are disyllabic. A significant cause of this is phonetic erosion : sound changes over time have steadily reduced the number of possible syllables in the language's inventory. In modern Mandarin, there are only around 1,200 possible syllables, including
11904-532: The mountain playing an important role in the development of both Buddhism and Taoism . Mount Tai is a tilted fault-block mountain with height increasing from the north to the south. It is the oldest example of a paleo-metamorphic formation from the Cambrian Period in eastern China, and is known as the Taishan Complex . The uplift of the region started in the Proterozoic Era; by the end of
12032-600: The mountain who were not nobles have also played an important role in the history of communities near the mountain and pilgrimage across China. In 2003, Mount Tai attracted around six million visitors. A renovation project was completed in late October 2005, which aimed at restoring cultural relics and renovating damaged buildings of cultural significance. Widely known for its special ceremonies and sacrifices, Mount Tai has seen visits by many poets and literary scholars who have traveled there to gain inspiration. There are grandiose temples, many stone inscriptions and stone tablets with
12160-546: The mural painting "The God of Mount Tai Making a Journey", dated to the year 1009. The mural extends around the eastern, western and northern walls of the hall and is 3.3 meters (11 ft) high and 62 meters (203 ft) long. The theme of the painting is an inspection tour by the god. Next to the Palace of Heavenly Blessings stand the Yaocan Pavilion and the entrance archway as well as the Bronze Pavilion in
12288-425: The mutual unintelligibility between them is too great. However, calling major Chinese branches "languages" would also be wrong under the same criterion, since a branch such as Wu, itself contains many mutually unintelligible varieties, and could not be properly called a single language. There are also viewpoints pointing out that linguists often ignore mutual intelligibility when varieties share intelligibility with
12416-583: The nasal sonorant consonants /m/ and /ŋ/ can stand alone as their own syllable. In Mandarin much more than in other spoken varieties, most syllables tend to be open syllables, meaning they have no coda (assuming that a final glide is not analyzed as a coda), but syllables that do have codas are restricted to nasals /m/ , /n/ , /ŋ/ , the retroflex approximant /ɻ/ , and voiceless stops /p/ , /t/ , /k/ , or /ʔ/ . Some varieties allow most of these codas, whereas others, such as Standard Chinese, are limited to only /n/ , /ŋ/ , and /ɻ/ . The number of sounds in
12544-469: The northeast corner. The Dai Temple is surrounded by 2,100‑year‑old cypresses that date back to the Han dynasty. The oldest surviving stair may be the 6,000 granite steps to the top of the mountain. The site contains a number of well-preserved steles from the Huizong reign, some of which are mounted on bixi tortoises. There is a much later, Qianlong era bixi -mounted stele as well. The Shrine of
12672-525: The original Mount Heng meant that for much of the eras of fragmentation, the region was either under non-Han rulers or a contested area. The shrines built to perform the rites were neglected and damaged from time and natural disasters. The decline was especially acute after the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty when the local population fell sharply after the wars. This created opportunities for Ming dynasty officials who were natives of Shanxi to spread rumours that
12800-538: The other varieties within the same branch (e.g. Southern Min). There are, however, transitional areas where varieties from different branches share enough features for some limited intelligibility, including New Xiang with Southwestern Mandarin , Xuanzhou Wu Chinese with Lower Yangtze Mandarin , Jin with Central Plains Mandarin and certain divergent dialects of Hakka with Gan . All varieties of Chinese are tonal at least to some degree, and are largely analytic . The earliest attested written Chinese consists of
12928-412: The outline of Mount Tai was basically formed today. Due to its height, Mount Tai also has a vertical climate change. The lower part of the mountain is a warm temperate zone and the top of the mountain is a medium temperate zone. The mountain is cloudy and foggy, with an average annual precipitation of 1132mm, while the surrounding area receives only 750mm. Taishan scattering coverage rate reaches 80%. On
13056-404: The rate of change varies immensely. Generally, mountainous South China exhibits more linguistic diversity than the North China Plain . Until the late 20th century, Chinese emigrants to Southeast Asia and North America came from southeast coastal areas, where Min, Hakka, and Yue dialects were spoken. Specifically, most Chinese immigrants to North America until the mid-20th century spoke Taishanese ,
13184-563: The red gate at the foot of the mountain to the South Heaven Gate at the top are some 6,660 stone steps, which wind their way up the mountain slopes, each step offering a different view. The "Shibapan" ( 十八盘 ) means 18 levels stairs, which is the most advantageous part of stairs in Mount Tai. A total of 1,827 stone steps, is one of the main signs Mount Tai. People always say: "Mount Tai of the majestic, all in Shibapan, Mount Tai of
13312-552: The related subject dropping . Although the grammars of the spoken varieties share many traits, they do possess differences. The entire Chinese character corpus since antiquity comprises well over 50,000 characters, of which only roughly 10,000 are in use and only about 3,000 are frequently used in Chinese media and newspapers. However, Chinese characters should not be confused with Chinese words. Because most Chinese words are made up of two or more characters, there are many more Chinese words than characters. A more accurate equivalent for
13440-509: The relationship was first proposed in the early 19th century and is now broadly accepted, reconstruction of Sino-Tibetan is much less developed than that of families such as Indo-European or Austroasiatic . Difficulties have included the great diversity of the languages, the lack of inflection in many of them, and the effects of language contact. In addition, many of the smaller languages are spoken in mountainous areas that are difficult to reach and are often also sensitive border zones. Without
13568-527: The relevant rites to continue to be performed in the historic Beiyue Temple . The movement for the change persisted after the demise of the Ming dynasty and into the Qing dynasty. Finally, Emperor Shunzhi consented to have the rites to be moved to Shanxi as well. "Lofty Mountain" ( 嵩山 ), Henan, 1,494 m (4,902 ft) 34°29′5″N 112°57′37″E / 34.48472°N 112.96028°E / 34.48472; 112.96028 In Chinese Buddhism ,
13696-495: The sacrifices marked the attainment of the "great peace". By the time of the Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–256 BC) sacrifices at Mount Tai had become highly ritualized ceremonies in which a local feudal lord would travel there to make sacrifices of food and jade ritual items. These would then be arranged in a ritually correct pattern before being buried on the mountain. In the Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BC)
13824-463: The six official languages of the United Nations . Standard Chinese is based on the Beijing dialect of Mandarin and was first officially adopted in the 1930s. The language is written primarily using a logography of Chinese characters , largely shared by readers who may otherwise speak mutually unintelligible varieties. Since the 1950s, the use of simplified characters has been promoted by
13952-561: The slightly later Menggu Ziyun , this dictionary describes a language with many of the features characteristic of modern Mandarin dialects. Up to the early 20th century, most Chinese people only spoke their local variety. Thus, as a practical measure, officials of the Ming and Qing dynasties carried out the administration of the empire using a common language based on Mandarin varieties , known as 官话 ; 官話 ; Guānhuà ; 'language of officials'. For most of this period, this language
14080-685: The spirit of Mount Heng had abandoned the original location and settled on Xuanwu Mountain in Hunyuan County in Shanxi . Between the reigns of Emperor Hongzhi and Emperor Wanli , they kept petitioning the emperors to declare the change and decree for the rites for the Northern Great Mountain to be shifted there. In 1586, Emperor Wanli opted a compromise by re-designating the Xuanwu Mountain as Mount Heng, but ordered
14208-604: The subjects of imperial pilgrimage by emperors throughout ages. They are associated with the supreme God of Heaven and the five main cosmic deities of traditional Chinese religion . The group associated with Buddhism is referred to as the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism ( 四大佛教名山 ; Sì dà fójiào míngshān ), and the group associated with Taoism is referred to as the Four Sacred Mountains of Taoism ( 四大道教名山 ; Sì dà dàojiào míngshān ). The sacred mountains have all been important destinations for pilgrimage,
14336-484: The sublime, all in the climb in!" Shibapan has three parts, the "Slow Eighteens"( 慢十八 ), the "Hard Eighteens"( 紧十八 ), and the "No slow no hard Eighteens" ( 不紧不慢又十八 ). The "Slow Eighteens" means this period is easier to climb, and the "Hard Eighteens" means it is harder to climb, which is interesting. A flight of 7,200 total steps (including inner temple steps), with 6,293 Official Mountain Walkway Steps, lead up
14464-535: The summits of the Five Great Mountains. Every visit took place at the same time of the year. The excursions were hunting trips and ended in ritual offerings to the reigning god. The emperors, starting with the First Emperor of Qin , formalized these expeditions and incorporated them into state ritual as prescribed by Confucianism. With every new dynasty, the new emperor hurried to the Five Great Mountains in order to lay claim to his newly acquired domains. Barring
14592-412: The taboo of sharing the same personal name as Emperor Wen of Han . The appellations Heng and Chang were used extensively in the past to name various districts in the region, such as Changshan Prefecture ( 常山郡 ), Hengshan Prefecture ( 恒山郡 ), and Hengzhou ( 恒州 ). While it was customary of the ethnic Han emperors to order rites to be performed regularly to honour the Five Great Mountains, the location of
14720-623: The tonal distinctions, compared with about 5,000 in Vietnamese (still a largely monosyllabic language), and over 8,000 in English. Most modern varieties tend to form new words through polysyllabic compounds . In some cases, monosyllabic words have become disyllabic formed from different characters without the use of compounding, as in 窟窿 ; kūlong from 孔 ; kǒng ; this is especially common in Jin varieties. This phonological collapse has led to
14848-427: The tradition of imperial visits to Mount Tai. Writers also came to acquire inspiration, to compose poems, write essays, paint and take pictures. Hence, a great many cultural relics were left on the mountain. The Dongyue Emperor ( Chinese : 東嶽大帝 ; pinyin : Dōngyuè Dàdì ) is the supreme god of Mount Tai. According to one mythological tradition, he is a descendant of Pangu. According to other theologies, he
14976-547: The traditional Western notion of a word. A Chinese cí can consist of more than one character–morpheme, usually two, but there can be three or more. Examples of Chinese words of more than two syllables include 汉堡包 ; 漢堡包 ; hànbǎobāo ; 'hamburger', 守门员 ; 守門員 ; shǒuményuán ; 'goalkeeper', and 电子邮件 ; 電子郵件 ; diànzǐyóujiàn ; 'e-mail'. All varieties of modern Chinese are analytic languages : they depend on syntax (word order and sentence structure), rather than inflectional morphology (changes in
15104-512: The use of tones in Chinese is the application of the four tones of Standard Chinese, along with the neutral tone, to the syllable ma . The tones are exemplified by the following five Chinese words: In contrast, Standard Cantonese has six tones. Historically, finals that end in a stop consonant were considered to be " checked tones " and thus counted separately for a total of nine tones. However, they are considered to be duplicates in modern linguistics and are no longer counted as such: Chinese
15232-414: The viewer. Another theory is that weather eroded the original calligraphic inscription. Visitors can reach the peak of Mount Tai via a bus which terminates at the Midway Gate to Heaven , from there a cable car connects to the summit. Covering the same distance on foot takes from two and a half to six hours. The supplies for the many vendors along the road to the summit are carried up by porters either from
15360-527: The warm continental monsoon climate (Koppen Dwb ). Meteorological data is not available. The regular climate is molly to -2 degrees Celsius. Vegetation covers 79.9% of the area, which is densely wooded, but information about its composition is lacking. The flora is diverse and known to comprise 989 species, of which 433 species are woody and the rest herbaceous. Medicinal plants total 462 species and include multiflower knotweed, Cannabis, Taishan ginseng, Chinese gromwell and sealwort, which are renowned throughout
15488-452: The words in newspapers, and 60% of the words in science magazines. Vietnam, Korea, and Japan each developed writing systems for their own languages, initially based on Chinese characters , but later replaced with the hangul alphabet for Korean and supplemented with kana syllabaries for Japanese, while Vietnamese continued to be written with the complex chữ Nôm script. However, these were limited to popular literature until
15616-465: The written language used throughout China changed comparatively little, crystallizing into a prestige form known as Classical or Literary Chinese . Literature written distinctly in the Classical form began to emerge during the Spring and Autumn period . Its use in writing remained nearly universal until the late 19th century, culminating with the widespread adoption of written vernacular Chinese with
15744-453: Was a koiné based on dialects spoken in the Nanjing area, though not identical to any single dialect. By the middle of the 19th century, the Beijing dialect had become dominant and was essential for any business with the imperial court. In the 1930s, a standard national language ( 国语 ; 國語 ; Guóyǔ ), was adopted. After much dispute between proponents of northern and southern dialects and an abortive attempt at an artificial pronunciation,
15872-697: Was famous for being for "The most secluded place in China". 30°58′35.73″N 103°30′59.90″E / 30.9765917°N 103.5166389°E / 30.9765917; 103.5166389 . The term "Three Mountains" ( 三山 ) has varied meanings. The Three Sacred Mountains commonly refer to: The Three Famous Mountains are: The Three Holy Mountain Peaks at Yading , Daocheng County : Download coordinates as: Chinese language Chinese ( simplified Chinese : 汉语 ; traditional Chinese : 漢語 ; pinyin : Hànyǔ ; lit. ' Han language' or 中文 ; Zhōngwén ; 'Chinese writing')
16000-485: Was hidden by their written form. Often different compounds for the same concept were in circulation for some time before a winner emerged, and sometimes the final choice differed between countries. The proportion of vocabulary of Chinese origin thus tends to be greater in technical, abstract, or formal language. For example, in Japan, Sino-Japanese words account for about 35% of the words in entertainment magazines, over half
16128-616: Was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. It meets 7 of the 10 evaluation standards of World Heritage, and is listed as a World Heritage site that meets the most standards, along with the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area in Australia . An earthquake or thunderstorm occurred in Mount Tai in 1831 BC or 1652 BC, also known as Mount Tai earthquake . This event was first recorded in
16256-568: Was originally founded during the Jin dynasty and is connected with the eccentric monk named Budai , who is considered to have been an emanation of Maitreya . Fanjingshan ( 梵净山 ; Fànjìngshān ), part of the Wuling Mountains in Tongren , Guizhou , is another sacred mountain associated with Maitreya. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Fanjing shan is also often claimed to be
16384-456: Was the value of the mountains to human existence as a spring of welfare and fertility, as the birthplace of rivers, as a place where herbs and medicinal plants grew and as a source of materials to build houses and tools. A basic element of Taoist thought was, and still is, an intuitive feeling of connectedness with nature. As early as the fourth century, the Taoists presented the high priests with
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