Hengshan & Nanyue 南岳衡山旅游区
Hengshan & Nanyue 南岳衡山旅游区.We hadn’t seen anything like these people before in China: dressed in loose black clothes covered by red aprons, and carrying little wooden blocks decorated with dragon heads, these old men and women circumambulated and filed into every temple they passed. They were followed all the time by three young boys bearing colourful banners and carrying boxes full of religious regalia. When I asked them: “您们是什么民族?” (What minority are you?), they cheerfully replied: “汉族” (Hanzu), in other words, ordinary Chinese, from Hunan, the province where we found ourselves in. “您们为什么穿这秧的衣服” (And the clothes, why are you dressed like this?), I asked. “我们是道教人”(We are Taoists), an elderly man answered. I smiled, slightly embarrassed at my ignorance.
Hengshan is one of China’s most sacred mountains and receives hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year. The scenery, however, doesn’t match that of other famous scenic or holy mountains we’ve visited. The paved road continually cuts across the stone path and the drone of traffic is never too far away, reducing the feeling of spiritual isolation that the pilgrim trails of other holy mountains such as Emei Shan, Kongdong Shan or Jiuhuashan can still provide.
Nevertheless, a day hike up and down is still a great way to experience the mountain. Foreign tourists are conspicuous by there absence, and the spiritual atmosphere at the temples along the way is extremely reverent and more serious than at some other religious sights. Experiencing the pilgrims devotedly burning incense and kowtowing to the beat of a gong and the chants of the monks more than compensates for the strenuous climb. One of the most striking aspects of Hengshan are these large groups of pilgrims and devotees following a master monk in and out of every temple, like the Taoists described above. We trailed this particular group of friendly Taoists on their decent of Hengshan, and for a while almost became part of the group.
The stone temple on the summit is a striking construction. Its simplicity and austerity is in stark contrast to the other, more elaborate temples on the mountain. However, it oozes ambience and the scene of hundreds of pilgrims tossing massive joss sticks into the fire is a sight difficult to forget.
The assault on Hengshan begins and ends on a golf buggy; the only transport to the ticket office (5 Yuan a person). The 80 Yuan ticket price doesn’t include the bus that whisks pilgrims half-way up the mountain, stopping on the way at a few important temples and sights.
We decide to fork out the extra 13 Yuan and take that bus, for even at 7.00 am in August the weather on Hengshan is already scorching. The bus stops just short of the Xuandu Temple, from where a nearby cable car can spirit you up to the summit or, as we did, you can begin walking the pilgrims’ path. The path is steep in parts, but the sweeping views over the Hunan plains below are superb. A few slightly overpriced stalls along the way sell drinks and offer shade from the heat.
