Mt.Taishan [Tai an]

Man and ape-man are distinguished by manufacturing stone artifacts.

The history of Mount TaiShan originates from stone,and the culture related to Mount Taishan has been written about based on Mount TaiShan crags and rocks.

So many common people have had a great longing for stones from Mount TaiShan, emperors dreamt of stones from Mount TaiShan,and so many legends have grown up around stones from Mount TaiShan over the past 5,000 years.The 7,OOO stone steps leading up to the top of the Mount are engraved with painstaking efforts of the labouring people in their millions,war cries of numerous patriots of lofty ideals and integrity,and songs in praise of scaling for ever.Hymns of Lu in the Book of Songs praises Mount Taishan as "Lofty is Mount Taishan looked up to from Lu state. "Loftiness means myriads of crags and cliffs rising one higher than another that have indelibly engraved on the memory of those who have ascended Mount Taishan.

Mythic are stones of Mount Taishan.

At Moshan Hill in the north of Mount TaiShan there used to be a unique range of stones as was proved by historical writings:"There are huge crags and rocks around,and loud cries and echoes are heard at night."Like ranges of crags and rocks in French Brittany and in the HongShan Culture in China's northeast,they constitute a place where ancient people prayed to and communicated with heaven, as has been verifed by anthropologists,and they are representative ruins of World Sone Culture.In the eyes of ancients,Mount TaiShan crags were intelligent.Writings such as "The Xia Dynasty (c.21st-c.16th century B.C.)will perish,and Mount Taishan crags cry and weep","Huge crags in Mount Taishan start burning on their own,and that signifies the Han Dynasty (206B.C-A.D.220)is perishing" are found here and there in history books.

When the Chinese First Emperor and emperors of the succeeding Han Dynasty (206B.C.-A.D.220)offered sacrifices to heaven and earth on Mount Taishan,they prayed to a rock that was vast and nat, 33 feet in circumference.They believed crags and rocks on the Mount would ensure their social stability and grant peace to their people.

After the Tang Dynasty (618-907)and the Song Dynasty (960-1279),tablets made of Mount Taishan rock began to be popular among the populace. In the country in Shanxi, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces, stone tablets inscribed with Matchless is the Stone from Mount Taishan was placed facing street corners, for people believed tablets made of Mount Taishan rock could ward off evil spirits, stem off disasters and ensure peace for them. Worshipping such stone tablets evolved into a folk custom, and such stone tablets canstill be found in the country in North China. Such a costum has also spread to the Chinese in Southeast Asian countries and other countries. For instence, a museum in Kyoto, Japan, keeps such a stone tablet unearthed from Okinawa, Japan.

Today, overseas Chinese with grey or snow-white hair are often seen to be solemnly picking up a stone on Mount Taishan, take it home by crossing oceans and seas and enshrine it on the alter at home. So stone from Mount Taishan has an object in which they place their love for the motherland.

Magnificent are stones from Mount Taishan.

Mount Taishan lay deep in the vast sea about 2.5 billion years ago. Changes in the earth's crust brought up Mount Taishan. Tempered by fire from the earth's core and by changeable weather over the past hundreds of millions of years, crags and rocks of Mount Taishan came to be magnificent and multi-coloured.

Mount Taishan is chiefIy composed of granite and has rich reserves of jade stone, trilobite stone,stone for appreciation and Mai Fan stone.Crags and stones from Mount Taishan are hard in texture,close in structure and are of various grains.They are chief1y in red,green,yellow,brown,white and black colours,and are shiny and smooth and their grains are fascinating.More than 200 crags for appreciation and enjoyment are located here and there on Mount Taishan,such as Red Gate Stone, Black Stone,Drunken-in-Heart Stone,Try-the-Sword Stone,Tiger Stone,Dragon-Grain Stone,Celestial-Peach Stone, Arhat Stone,Eagle Stone Gully,Tortoise Stones,Jutting-out into-the -Sea Stone,Top Stone,Try -the -Heart Stone,Father-in-Law Stone,Elephant Trunk Stone,Basalt Stone, Silver-Ingot Stone,Camel Stone,Pig Stone,Sire Long Stone and Grandpa-and-Grandson Stone.

Unlike the south of the Yangtze River where rivers wind like green ribbons,and hills and mountains stand high like green jade,Mount Taishan is characterized by lofty crags and rocks,green pine trees growing on cliffs,and people derive from them a sense of tranquillity,solemnity and majesty.

Profound are stone from Mount Taishan.

"Lofty is Mount Taishan,but it is not made up of a single rock,"said Yan Ying,prime minister of Qi state in the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476B.C.).He exhorted people that to administer affairs of the state well,many people firm,tenacious and noble like Mount Taishan were needed,and the great historian of the Western Han Dynasty (206B.C.--A.D.24) Szuma Chien said,"Though death befalls all men alike,it may be weightier than Mount Taishan or lighter than a feature"in praise of the spirit of taking death calmly for one's country.A man of letters of the Song Dynasty(960-1279)OUYang Xiu said of Mount Taishan as "Scholars looked up to as Mount Taishan is looked up to "in praise of great character. Living in the world one must be as noble as Mount Taishan,and as arm as Mount Taishan rock.

After Confucius ascended Mount Taishan,men of letters such as Cao Zhi,Li Bai,Du Fu, Su Dongpo,Yuan Haowen,Dang Huiying,Tang Zhongmian all ascended Mount Taishan where they praised crags and rocks and expressed their high aspirations, giving profound cultural implications to Mount Taishan crags and rocks.Almost all our classic novels such as outlows of the Marsh,Journey to the West,Three Kingdoms,Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio,the Golden Lotus contain descriptions about Mount TaiShan,and few hills or mountains in China or elsewhere in the world enjoy such a position as Mount TaiShan has enjoyed.

For thousands of years allusions such as weighty as Mount Taishan, as peaceful as Mount Taishan and as firm as Mount Taishan have spread far and wide across China and they constitute a component part of Chinese culture.That Mount TaiShan crags and rocks would rather destroy themselves than bend and their spirit of remaining steadfast and unyielding have been inspiring offsprings of the Chinese nation in their efforts for national prosperity.People look up to and praise Mount TaiShan and place their hopes and inspirations in Mount TaiShan stones.The Monument to the People's Heroes and foundation stones of Mausoleum for Mao Zedong at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing were built of granite from Mount Taishan, signifying that the people's leader and heroes died as weighty as Mount TaiShan. Our revolutionary pioneer Li Dazhao's grave in HebeL, the grave for Lei Feng in Hunan and graves for revolutionary martyrs at Longhua in Shanghai were all built of stones from Mount Taishan, signifying that people praise them for the great spirit of dedicating their lives to the nation as lofty as Mount Taishan and as eternal as Mount Taishan.

Agreat deal has been written in prise of Mount Taishan and its crags and rocks.

Possibly you have ascended the 7,000 steps and enjoyed the fascinating scenes all along the way. Possibly you once stood on the Stone Jutting out into the Sea, watching the splendid sunrise on top of Mount Taishan. When you have gone through this collection, Mount Taishan will present itself as a new scene.

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