Mount Taishan

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On July 23rd, we trekked up the Taishan mountain- the crown of the five most famous mountains in China. The day before, we learned a whole lot about the historical and natural beauty of Taishan, such as the 2200 stone cravings and how they were craved by the great emperors. This made the climb an enjoyable learning experience.

As our bus brought us pass the First Gate to Heaven and into the Second Gate to Heaven, I knew this was one of the greenest places I’ve seen in China. When we labeled ourselves “fast” and “unhurried”, I went with “fast” and went with Mr.Liu. I was quite proud of myself…until we climbed to a sign that said “The climb starts here.” The “unhurried” group was quickly in front of us, because we couldn’t resist shutting down our cameras. I and two others were soon separated. We started to pant and sit after every gap, and I was slowly falling behind, at last I told them to go in front. At that point I was in a different state of mind, all of a sudden everything seemed clear, and I also thought if you do this every month, weight loss would not be a problem.
I waited until the “unhurried” group caught up, one of the little girls-Lily was in the same situation as me, and so we went up together counting “one, two, three, four…”As we were stepped up, every face gave us a warm smile, I guess this was the spirit of the climb.

We finally got through “Eighteen Levels of Endurance” and the Gate of the Heaven. Some of us continued up to the very top- the Peak of the Emperor. Up there, you know the moment that you walked into the clouds that life is amazing! The temples all seem to have a godly feeling to it; they say after a certain height, the wishes you put in have a good chance of becoming true. When we hiked down, I was quite content; I learned and found a new inner soul with in myself from this mountain.

By Yu Yao Wang

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