Mount Qingcheng

Zhang Ling founded his Taoist tradition here in the Eastern Han, and a ginkgo said to be planted by the Celestial Master himself still towers after some two thousand years.

Founded in the Jin dynasty at about sixteen hundred metres on the summit, this temple hosted the painter Zhang Daqian for several years amid towering old trees and Taoist calm.

First built in 730 at the foot of Zhangren Peak, this temple of lush trees and soaring eaves serves as the first Taoist gateway on the front slopes of Mount Qingcheng.

Celebrated in the saying that Qingcheng is the most secluded mountain under heaven, this path of bamboo, mossy stone steps and trickling springs suits Taoist reclusion.

Part of Mount Qingcheng's history: Dujiangyan Irrigation System. Qin governor of Shu who cut through the Lidui spur and divided the Min River into two channels across the Chengdu plain, the works later known as Dujiangyan

Part of Mount Qingcheng's history: Dujiangyan Irrigation System. King of Qin for fifty-six years whose general Bai Qi crushed Zhao at Changping and whose armies ended the Western Zhou principality

Dujiangyan Irrigation System

Harnessing the Min River without dams, transforming Sichuan into the Land of Abundance for millennia.

Later World Heritage Listings

In 1994 the Ancient Building Complex in the Wudang Mountains was inscribed on the World Heritage List; the Classical Gardens of Suzhou, the Yungang Grottoes, Quanzhou and others followed, and in 2023 the Jingmai Mountain old tea forest landscape was inscribed.

In 2000, Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Irrigation System were inscribed for their Taoist heritage, hydraulic engineering, and continuing historical function.

Qingcheng tradition holds that Zhang Daoling practiced and taught there in the Eastern Han, contributing to the mountain's status as an important Daoist origin center.