Mountain Mianshan （绵山）also known as Mt Jie-shan （介山）, was named after Jie-Zhitui ( ? - 636 BC), a royal defender of Duke from Jin Dynasty (697-628). When the State of Jin was in turmoil and Prince Chong'er was exiled, Jie-Zhitui （介之推） faithfully followed him and protected him. Jie was reputed to have made soup with his own thigh fresh for the duke when he was starving. The Duke was at last restored to the throne as Emperor of Jin and Jie,receiving no rewards, decided to live in seclusion with his mother in Mianshan. The Duke later wanted to reward and honor him but Jie refused to come out and see him. In order to force him out from the mountain, The Emperor ordered to set the mountain on fire. Tragically, Jie and his mother was found burnt dead under a willow tree on the mountain. When the Emperor and his ministers came to pay the last respect to Jie on the next day, the willow tree incredibly revived. The Emperor renamed the willow tree as Qingming Tree which means pure and bright, as he remembered Jie has once advised him to be honest and upright as a head of The State. To convey his grief and to commemorate Jie-Zhitui, The Emperor ordered his people to make no fire and eat cold food on that day, the 106th day after Winter Solstice. Since then (636BC)the customs and associated with it had spread. Until today, this national intangible cultural heritage QingMing and Hanshi Festival (清明寒食节） are still being widely practiced by most Chinese people. It has become a custom for most Mainland and Overseas Chinese, to sweep and clean up the grave yard of their past relatives or ancestors and commemorate them at the cemetery during the festival.
Mianshan is a national scenic spot that boasts enchanting natural scenery and cultural significance. With a history dating back to about 2500 years ago, it has 14 tourist sites with 400 attractions. The first scenic site is its Dragon Head area which covers nearly twenty attractions, including South Heaven Gate （南天门）, Stone Dragon Head Arch （龙门石碑楼）, Hundred Dragon Wall（百龙图）, Temple Guandi-Miao （关帝庙）, Temples for Town God （城隍庙）, Mountain God （山神庙）and Thunder God （雷神殿）, Salvation Temple （普救殿）, Royal Poem Pavilion and of course Dragon Head Temple （龙头寺）.
Dragon Head Temple （龙头寺） is the first attraction while riding up Mianshan in its green bus. Its exquisite architecture is the landmark of the mountain. It was originally known as Pagoda of Cliff, named after the ancient old pagoda complex of Empty King Buddha （空王塔寺）situated below the rock. The name was changed to the present one in year 633 by Emperor Li-Taizong (李太宗） of Tang Dynasty. It was said that Emperor Li visited Mianshan every year to pray for peace and good harvest weather as his promise to Reverend Tian-Shangyou （高僧田尚有） who used his power to successfully revoke for rain and solved the problem of long drought within the capital city for him. During his first pilgrimage visit to Mianshan, The Emperor encountered with transformation of two giant dragons at the site and he thus named the place as Dragon Head Temple.
Distance view of Dragon Head Temple with its water falls.
Dragon Head Temple is the best spot on Mianshan to watch sunrise as well as sunset.
The 108 Dragons wall was carved during the reign of Li-Shi-Ming （李世民- 唐太宗） during Tang Dynasty in appreciation to the 108 Demi-Gods who transformed into soldiers and assisted him to defeat General Song-Jinkang （宋金刚） from his enemy Liu-Wuzhou （刘武周） and gained the Kingdom. The other spot dotted the history is the Taizong Poem Pavilion where some of the ancient calligraphy are still preserved.
Temple Guandi-Miao （关帝庙）in memory of Guan-Yu, a legendary general from Three Kingdom Period was another religious relics at the site of Dragon Head.
Ciyun-Dong （慈云洞隧道）is a short tunnel where every one has to pass through to proceed for other further destinations.
In front of Holy Milk Fountain （圣乳泉） which is also known as Mother's Nipple as there is a rock in a shape of woman's breast with spring water dripping into the pond below. The water is clear and cool.
The incredibly scenery of Holy Milk Fountain which is situated within layers of odd shaped rock formation and at a point where the two mountains are closely facing each other. The small temple around has some Stele relics indicating the related history of the site.
A distance panorama view of Palace Daluo-Gong （大罗宫）.
The 30,000 sq. meter site of Daluo-Gong Palace （大罗宫） is another great attraction of Mianshan.
Daluo-Gong Palace, standing against the back of Mt Lion, was the largest scheme Taoist Temple Complex in China. It was built in Tang Dynasty with supreme spirit of Taoism and other folk Gods and has the largest Taoist Sutra depository over the nation. There are more than 15 halls enshrined almost all deities and gods of Taoism over its 10,000 sq.meter building area.
During war time, the original Daluo-Gong Temple built and restored in Tang Dynasty (618-907) was destroyed. The present 13-storey ancient styled structure with height of more than 110 meter, was later basing on its remains and re-constructed.
Most of its structures look attractive in green color with golden roofing.
The main shrine hall enshrined with supreme God of Taoism and are adorned with dragon pillars at the corridor.
Storks are sign of longevity and are highly favored by most Taoists. Line of multiple giant size ornamental brass storks in various postures are displayed at this corner where one can have a great view of the mountains and valley over the opposite side of the buildings.
Some walls are decorated with colorful stone carvings of auspicious animals and some with unique ancient hexagon vintage viewing point and this wall written in Chinese ancient calligraphy with Taoism most famous slogan phrase " 大道无形，生育天地，大道无情，运行日月" which roughly means A great pathway without form and shape it breeds the earth, A great pathway without emotion and feeling, it turns the sun and moon 。
Among the temples hanging at the steep cliff, is a nunnery named Baiyun （白云庵）. It is in fame for its stone carved Diamond Sutra （金刚经）， one of the rare and precious relics from Tang Dynasty.
Mianshian was privatized under the control of Shanxi Sanjia Coal Group President Yuan-Jiying in year 1995 and for the past 10 years, this natural scenic mountains has gone through heavy development with construction of hotels and restaurants.
Almost all attractions at Mianshan were built to lean against mountain walls or cliff. Lots of energy and stamina are definitely required in order to climb up its hundreds and hundreds of stone steps.
A large illustration of 10,000 Chinese calligraphy for a single word 寿 （shou)which means longevity is erected among some of the attractions along the road.
Sky Bridge （一线天） built between steep cliffs is an unique and exquisite site.
The Sky Bridge is 300 meters long with a width of less than one meter, suspended about 300 meters from the bottom of a valley and over 200 meters from the mountain top.
The 300 meters passage way hanging half way in the sky appear from far as if a coiling dragon winding up the mountain.
There are quite a number of temples at the site of Sky Bridge including its main shrine hall that enshrined with the images of one of the three Taoist main God, Sheng-Bao-zhun （神保君-三洞教主之一） and other deities. Status of several transformation of Taoist Supreme God Tai-Shang-Lao-Jun （太上老君） and the four great ancient Inventors of China are housed inside a long cave under the bridge.
It was an incredible experience to walking on the sky bridge especially during a cloudy weather as sometimes clouds are floating under your feet while crossing the bridge making you as if on the heavenly sky.
It was said that when Jie-Zhitui and his mother visited the temple at the site, he found out that this was the place where Taoism Supreme God Tai-Qing (太清） made the elixir pills for immortality and was the place where the three Supreme Gods of Taoism （太清，玉清和上清） discussed and exchanged ways of their spiritual cultivation. They were protected by a Jade dragon coiling round the mountain, and that was how the present sky bridge came from.
Zhujia-ao (朱家凹)initially was only a location for a Taoist Temple Dongxuan-Gong （洞玄宫）that enshrines a 5-meter high image of one of the Supreme God of Taoism, Shangqing Lingpao （上清灵宝天尊）. But many believed that the site was a thriving spot for Ming Dynasty. According to legend, Zhu-Wusi （朱五四）， father of the first emperor of Ming Dynasty， Zhuyuan-Zhang （朱元璋）, had been doing retreat and self-cultivation at the temple. He made prayers to the Supreme God day and night for his son and as a result his son became an emperor. Zhuyuan-Zhang believed that it was the power of Supreme God that helped him to gain the kingdom. After enthroned, he visited Mianshan and prayed in Temple Dongxuan-Gong. He later further sent his 17th son to renovate and expand the temple. Years after years, followed by regular visits of zhu's off-springs to pray in the temple, the place finally became The Ancestral temple of Zhu Family. The unique topography of Zhujia-ao looks like a huge throne complete with steep flight of stairs at the center, pointing towards Dongxuan-Gong Temple. By its right are winding coiling stairs directly leading to Duxiu Peak （独秀峰） and over the opposite side stand the greenery Penholder Peak. Basing on Chinese Feng-sui Theory, this wonderful natural scenic hollow place was a piece of royal treasure land.
The winding road towards Temple Yunfeng-si （云峰寺）
Temple Yunfeng-si （云峰寺） was originally called Baofu-si （抱腹寺） named after Baofu-yan （抱腹岩）, the site where it was built. The Temple complex was first established during Three Kingdom Period, 1700 years ago.
The 4-stars Yunfeng Resort Hotel was at the left hand side of Temple Yunfeng-si. Since it was built, Yunfeng area has become a destination not only for pilgrimage, sight seeing and tour but also a resort for holidays.
Yunfeng-si and Yunfeng Resort Hotel are closely connected to each other.
It is rather not too easy to reach up to Temple Yunfeng-si as if you are not staying in Yunfeng Resort Hotel and channel from the passage way over to Temple site, you would have to either climb the hundreds of steep stone stairs or pay a high price to hire a sedan chair.
Rock Baofu-yan （抱腹岩）, sitting at the east side of Mianshan, has a height of 60 meter by 50 meters deep and with length 180 meters. The huge rock is divided into two layers. It comprises more than 200 halls and temples within it and contains a culture of more than 1700 years of history. The kind of building structure is one and the only one in the world.
There are more than 40 religious attractions within the site of Baofu-yan including Buddhist Temples like Pilu Hall （毗卢殿） and Kongwang Hall （空王殿） and Taoist Temples like Heavenly God Pavilion （玉皇阁） and Five Dragon King Hall （五龙殿）. There are also many caves housed status of Chinese historical folk Gods and Tang Steles.
The image of Jiezhi-tui was housed in one of these temples for worship.
Red banners with individual wishes are tied through out the whole length of Iron Rope Walkway （铁索岭） like a red line drawing across the temple roofs.
A frightening scene! Looking at those bells hanging at the top surface of Baofu-yan, we wonder, how was it done!
The astonishing beauty of mountains and valley from the natural window of the rock.
We are inside the rock!
Temples of different belief sharing the same era of history are nested inside the huge rock of Baofu-yan. A great combination of harmony!
The temples preserved quite a numbers of Stele carvings, sculptures from Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasty, which are of high cultural and research value.
Dragon Pond is a little water pond at the corner of Rock Baofu-yan. It was said that through out the year, the pond water was never dried up as it was the resting place for 5 dragons that were pacified by Buddha Kongwang （空王佛）. They were the Protector of Mianshan and its surroundings. When there were people revoke for rain due to drought, the dragons would follow the order of Kongwang and immediately worked for rain. At the site there are a few Stone Steles dating from year 1171, 1283 and 1582 inscribing with the related incidents and appreciation sacrificed message addressed to the five dragons. In olden days these responsive five mountain protectors were highly worshiped by the people.
Until today, people are still throwing coins and notes into the Dragon Pond, making requests from the five dragon protectors of Mianshan, asking for blessing and quelling disasters
The main shrine hall of Kongwang-dian enshrined an image of Buddha Kongwang in his corporeal body covered with gold foil. Kongwang Zhichao （空王志超） whom locals believe was the first Chinese that achieved Buddha-hood.
Mausoleum of royal family.
Most royal tombs are at the highest peak point of Mianshan.
A glimpse of Relic Stupa （舍利塔琳） while on the way to Shuitao Valley （水涛沟）.
Some of the man-made beauty in Shuitao Valley.
A huge brass status of Ji-zhitui standing in front of the new entrance gate of Mianshan.
This is the place where visitor obtains their ticket and board its green bus up to the scenic sites on Mianshan.
Saying goodbye to Mianshan, a place that is noted for its natural scenery, its cultural and religious relics.
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