Mount Song

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Songshan
Looking down to the mountain's base from the Tiantai Nunnery.
Songshan Location in China
Elevation	1500 m
Location	Henan, China
Coordinates	34°29′05″N 112°57′37″E / 34.48472°N 112.96028°E / 34.48472; 112.96028Coordinates: 34°29′05″N 112°57′37″E / 34.48472°N 112.96028°E / 34.48472; 112.96028
Easiest route	Cable Car

Mount Song, known in Chinese as Song Shan (Simplified Chinese: 嵩山; Pinyin: Sōng Shān), is one of the Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism and is located in Henan province on the south bank of the Yellow River in China. Its summit is 1,500 meters above sea level.

Contents 1 Geography 2 Religious Structures 3 Songshan Stratigraphic Structure National Geopark 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References

[edit] Geography

Songshan is made up of several mountains that rise to 1500 m in the Dengfeng district of Henan province.^[1]

[edit] Religious Structures

The mountain is one of the sacred Daoist mountains of China, however the mountain also features a significant Buddhist presence.^[2] It is home to the Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism, and even today the temple's collection of stupas is the largest in China. The Zhongyue Temple is also located here, one of the earliest Taoist temples in the country. The Songyang Academy nearby was one of the four great academies of ancient China. The mountain and its vicinity are populated with Taoist and especially Buddhist monasteries. The 6th century Songyue Pagoda is also located here, as well as Tang Dynasty (618–907) pagodas within the Fawang Temple.

[edit] Songshan Stratigraphic Structure National Geopark

The Shaolin Monastery is located within the geopark. Three major orogenies formed the area: the Songyang Orogeny of 2.5 billion years ago, the Zhongyue Orogeny of 1.85 billion years ago, and the Shaolin Orogeny of 570 million years ago. They were named after local attractions in the area. The Songshan Geopark is also called “the textbook of geological history”.

[edit] See also

• International Network of Geoparks
• List of Geoparks

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Goossaert, Vincent. "Songshan." in Fabrizio Pregadio, ed., The Encyclopedia of Taoism (London: Routledge, 2008), 917-918.

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