Mount Taibai

Coordinates: 33°57′24″N 107°45′54″E / 33.95667°N 107.765°E / 33.95667; 107.765

Mount Taibai (Chinese: 太白山; pinyin: Tàibái Shān) is a mountain located on the border between Mei, Taibai and Zhouzhi counties in the south west of Shaanxi Province, China. The mount's highest point, Baxian Tower (Chinese: 拔仙台), rises to a height of 3767.2 meters and is the tallest in the Qinling Range, as well as the watershed between the Han River and Wei River. Mount Taibai is also the highest mountain in Eastern China.

Birds-eye panorama, taken from the Bodhisattva Temple at 2300m.

History

The Shui Jing Zhu records: "During the time of Emperor Wu of Han, a Daoist temple already existed on Mount Taibai that was dedicated to Gu Chun, a man recorded in the Lie Xian Zhuan (Chinese: 列仙传)." The Tang Dynasty work Lu Yi Ji (Chinese: 錄異記) says: "The Essence of the Golden Star fell upon the west of Zhongnan's main peak, and thus it was titled Taibai Mountain." (Taibai, meaning "Great White", is an ancient Chinese name for the planet Venus.) The great poet Li Bai wrote in his gufeng poem: "How vast is great Taibai / The Stars across its slopes arrayed / From Heaven it stands three hundred li / From Mortal Earth so far away."

Nature reserve

In 1965 Mount Taibai became the center of a new Nature Preserve covering the surrounding 56,325 hectares, with the purpose of protecting its warm temperate zone ecosystem. Mount Taibai has warm temperate, temperate, cool temperate, and alpine. The flora and fauna of Taibai are quite diverse, with species from both northern and southern Chinese environments uniquely coexisting in the region.

The base of the mountain is composed of stone covered by yellow loess soil, while the middle elevations of the mountain are covered with hardy trees and spectacular rocky outcrops. The higher elevations of the mountain contain glacial remnants, cirque, peaks, aulacogen, and moraine, all of which have proven of great use toward geological research.

A panorama in the heart of Taibai (with small hut in the center), taken from Doumu Palace, elev. 2900m.

Environment

Flora from both the sub-tropical and warm temperate climates inhabit areas of Taibai. Due to the mountain's rapid rises in elevation, plants from the middle temperate climate and alpine climates are also found in the same areas. Within the Nature Preserve's borders more than 1,700 different types of seed-bearing plants are found, comprising approximately 60% of the flora in the Qinling Range. Among the flora are found many second- and third-tier protected Chinese species, such as Chuan-Guo Vine, Eucommia, Kingdonia, Dipteronia sinensis, Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Euptelea pleiospermum, Acer miaotaiense, Trochodendraceae, Sinowilsonia, Taibai Rainbow (Larix chinensis), Qinling Crow's Head (Aconitum liouii), Chinese Hemlock, Populus purdomii, Circaeasteraceae, and Purple-Speckled Peony (Paeonia rockii), and others. About 40 types of animals inhabit the area, as well as 230 species of birds and several species of amphibians.

Mount Taibai National Forest Park is located within the borders of Tanggu in Mei County, Shaanxi.

References

External links