Hua Mountain is one of China's five sacred mountains. In the east: Tai Mountain, in the west: Hua Mountain, in the south: Southern Heng Mountain, in the north: the Northern Heng Mountain and in the center: Song Mountain. As it is the western mountain of them it is also called Western Mountain.

This sacred mountain lies some 120 km east of Xi'an, in Huanyin County. The five main peaks are shaped like a flower and that it has got its name. The highest peak is the South Peak (2,160m), followed by the East Peak (2,090m), the West Peak (2,086m), the Middle Peak (2,042m) and finally the North Peak (1,615m). Each peak has its own story, but many stories have been told, so it is hard to tell which one is correct. Let's give it a try anyway...

The South Peak, or the Landing Wild Goose Peak, is the highest and the steepest of all. Thanks to Laozi this is a sacred Taoist mountain and on your way to the main Peak, you will see some Taoist temples.

Since the sun rises in the east, it is not surprising that the East Peak is also called the Facing Sun Peak. This place is the best place to enjoy the sunrise. There is no particular story about this place, but the view makes up for that. It is quite a long walk to reach the East Peak though.

The West Peak is also called the Lotus Flower Peak. One of China's biggest tales took place here: the Lotus Lantern. The goddess Sanshengmu falls in love with the mortal scholar Liu. When they married, she took a powerful lotus lantern to protect her against all kinds of evil on earth. Sanshengmu's brother Er Lang didn't like her being married with a mortal and locked her up under Hua Mountain. As her young son Chen Xiang tried to rescue her, he used his axe to split the mountain to save her.
On the West Peak there is a big rock that looks like it had been cut with an axe.
Points of interest on the West Peak are: the Green Cloud Temple, the Cuiyun Palace, the Lotus Flower Cave and the Axe Cutting Rock.

The Middle Peak is related to a romantic story about Nong Yu and Xiao Shi. Nong Yu was the daughter of Duke Mu. When she fell in love with a poor bamboo flute player named Xiao Shi, she left all her wealth behind and moved with her loved one to Hua Mountain, where they lived happily ever after. To remember these two lovebirds, people built the Jade Maiden Shrine.

The North Peak is also called the Clouds Stand because it looks like a plateau in the clouds. This is the starting point for your climb if you have taken the cable car.

There are two ways to climb this mountain: on foot or taking a cable car to the North Peak. You can reach the cable car by taking a bus at the bus station in front of the main gate of Hua Mountain. After a 5 minutes joy ride in the cable car you reach the North Peak. Climbing all five peaks in one day is manageable if you start before midday and take the calbe car.

If you would like to climb the mountain all the way up, you can take the path right behind the Jade Fountain Palace. This 12 km long walk is pretty comfortable in the beginning, but the closer you get to the peak, the steeper the steps become. It will take more than one day to climb all five peaks if you start at the very beginning. It is specially recommended for the die hard mountaineers.

(D.De Hon)