Appreciating Qilu Culture at the Supreme Mount Tai, Praising the Heroic Spirit of Yan and Zhao Amidst the Grand Landscapes – An Eight-Day National Day Self-Driving Tour through Shandong, Hebei, and Jiangsu

Appreciating Qilu Culture at the Supreme Mount Tai, Praising the Heroic Spirit of Yan and Zhao Amidst the Grand Landscapes

— An Eight-Day National Day Self-Driving Tour through Shandong, Hebei, and Jiangsu

Shandong and Hebei have been, since ancient times, lands of culture where thought thrived, education flourished, and etiquette prospered. They are also heroic grounds where faith and integrity, chivalry, and valor abounded, producing countless heroes.

From the great synthesizers of Confucian thought—Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi—to Mozi, the founder of Mohism; from the Legalist representative Shang Yang to the great Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu of the early Western Han; from outstanding statesmen like King Wuling of Zhao, Lian Po, Lin Xiangru, and Lord Pingyuan; to the first female image of the Willow-Branch Guanyin—the highly skilled and compassionate Princess Nanyang of the Sui Dynasty who healed the afflicted—and the Warring States period divine physician Bianque; from Jing Ke, the assassin who sang “The wind blows bleak, the Yi River cold; the brave man leaves, never to return,” to the loyal retainers of the Zhao family, Gongsun Chujiu and Cheng Ying, who sacrificed their lives to protect the orphan of Zhao, moving the world with their loyalty; from the famed Yan general Yue Yi, who captured 72 cities of Qi in a row, to the Zhao generals Zhao She and Li Mu; from the Three Kingdoms heroes Zhao Zilong of Changshan, Zhang Fei, and Liu Bei; to the Hebei generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou; from the founders of great empires—Ying Zheng (the First Emperor of Qin), Li Yuan, Zhao Kuangyin, Chai Rong (Emperor Shizong of Zhou); to one of the Eight Great Prose Masters of Tang and Song, Han Yu; the poet Jia Dao; the literary giant Cao Xueqin, author of *Dream of the Red Chamber*; Li Chun, designer and builder of the Zhaozhou Bridge in the Sui Dynasty; the martial arts masters Huo Yuanjia, Big Blade Wang Wu, and Yanzi Li San; Yang Luchan, founder of Yang-style Tai Chi; and the many brilliant historical allusions of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, such as “Mao Sui Recommending Himself,” “Learning the Handan Walk,” “The General and Prime Minister Reconcile,” and “Wearing Hu Dress and Shooting on Horseback”—all these shine brilliantly, testifying to the abundant talents and heroes born from this magical and splendid land, full of dazzling radiance.

To understand the cultural genes and inner spirit of the Chinese people, Qilu and Yan Zhao are undoubtedly typical representative provinces. So this October, we selected the vast and humanistic land of Qilu and Yan Zhao, brimming with chivalry, as the travel destination for “accompanying the prince in his studies.”

Ever since the Dragon Prince began studying the Confucian classic *The Analects* a year ago, our attention to traditional culture has been growing day by day. Over the years, we have taken our child to many places across the country, allowing him to experience the vastly different local customs, to witness the magnificent and colorful humanistic history of our motherland, broadening his horizons and dimensions of thought, and establishing a grand perspective.

During the 2018 National Day holiday, we took the Dragon Prince on a self-driving trip to Xuzhou and other places, letting him explore and understand the birthplace of the Han civilization, and see the three wonders of the highly developed Western Han—the Xuzhou Han tombs, the Han terracotta warriors, and the Han stone reliefs. We delved into the origins of Chinese painting art, from ancient pottery, bronze ware, cliff paintings, and stone carvings, to the evolution of Han stone sculptures, paintings, and terracotta figurines, understanding the intricate and intimate connection between art and life.

By visiting the Horse-Washing Platform, the Tomb of the King of Chu, the Hometown of Xiang Yu, and the Gaozu Square, we helped our child better understand the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period over 2,000 years ago. Ever since Qin Shi Huang wiped out the six states and unified China, the country of China began. The door to China’s national history swung open.

During the chaos at the end of the Qin dynasty, heroes contended for supremacy of the land, with heroes from all sides stepping onto the stage vying for the Nine Tripods. The origins of historical allusions such as Zhao Gao’s “calling a stag a horse,” the “Chu–Han Contention” between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, “ambushes on all sides,” “the tragic parting of the Conqueror and his beauty,” “Xiao He chasing Han Xin under the moonlight,” “Han Xin being appointed general,” and Liu Bang’s *Ode to the Great Wind*—all these allowed the Dragon Prince to learn many historical stories through personal experience during the trip, broadening his knowledge and cultural awareness, and cultivating his national identity and pride.

When the Dragon Prince was just over four years old, his mother bought him various children’s history books, including *Records of the Grand Historian*, *Five Thousand Years of Chinese History*, *The Thirty-Six Stratagems*, *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, *Water Margin*, *Chinese History*, as well as the complete set of *Great China Treasure Hunt* series introducing the humanities and history of various places. This ignited his interest in China’s 5,000-year culture and long humanistic history.

During subsequent travels, the Dragon Prince’s interest and attention to history, humanities, and geography were further consolidated and strengthened. We are very glad that this guiding and inspiring education has awakened the child’s interests and kindled his strong passion for history, culture, and even the humanities.

On National Day 2019, we took our child to Anhui and Jiangsu, traveling through some of the famous mountains and rivers there, letting the Dragon Prince step into nature, into the pastoral landscapes, touching nature, savoring the mountains and rivers, and cultivating his personal temperament.

“Only what is national is what is global.” Over five thousand years of Chinese culture, the treasure house of accumulated cultural knowledge shines like stars. It requires our child to use his own eyes and feet to observe, to measure, to think, and to discern.

As the child grew older, during the summer vacation of July 2020, I took him on a self-driving tour around the Greater Northwest to further expand his horizons and thinking space. Starting from Chang’an (Xi’an), the capital during the most prosperous period of Chinese civilization, we experienced the grandeur of the Qin Terracotta Warriors and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, felt the heroic spirit of Emperor Wu of Han’s Maoling tomb “trampling the Xiongnu underfoot,” savored the profound historical connotations of the Huaqing Palace, the Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, Qianling, the Famen Temple, and other sites of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and delved into the vast and profound Buddhist doctrines depicted in the Northern Wei’s Maijishan Grottoes.

Along the way, we drove tirelessly, wandering amidst the incense smoke lingering around the ancient Mausoleum of the Yellow Emperor in Shaanxi, strolling along the roaring Yellow River at Hukou Waterfall, sitting in the temples of Mount Wutai where the sound of Buddhist chanting fills the air and peace reigns everywhere, gazing upon the vast and artifact-rich Yin Ruins in the heart of the Shang dynasty capital, immersing ourselves in the magnificent and splendid cultural relics of the Luoyang Museum, walking through the rain before the thousand-year-old Buddhist niches at the Longmen Grottoes, quietly listening to the historical clarion call of the Chinese nation’s unyielding self-renewal, and sensing the evolutionary trajectory of ancient Chinese civilization. This trip to the Greater Northwest brought about many spiritual transformations in the Dragon Prince; his insight underwent a phoenix-like nirvana and began to soar. This is the best practice of “reading ten thousand books and traveling ten thousand miles.”

This double-festival National Day holiday, we departed from Shanghai, headed westward and then northward, traversed the entire province of Jiangsu, arrived in Shandong and Hebei, and reached as far north as the Chengde Mountain Resort, north of Beijing. It took eight days, covering a total round trip of 3,415.4 kilometers, averaging 436.93 kilometers per day.

Years of travel have deeply endeared the Dragon Prince to self-driving tours. His mind, full of novelty and exploration, makes every trip to a new and unfamiliar place poetic and full of anticipation.

Unraveling the unknown mysteries and discovering a distant and unfamiliar place has become the joy of our travels. Always looking forward to the future with dreams and aspirations—that is the source of our happiness in traveling.

**Day 01 (October 1st) – National Day, the first day** – spent entirely on the road. We set off from home at 1:50 AM and were stuck on the Wuzhou Avenue elevated road for two hours, encountering the first road accident of the trip. There were collisions everywhere; at one point we saw more than twenty cars rear-ending each other, though luckily no serious damage occurred. The entire day took over 17 hours, driving 826 kilometers, and we finally arrived smoothly at the entrance at the foot of Mount Tai—the Red Gate. Without any delay, we set up camp in the courtyard of a restaurant, set up the computer, and the Dragon Prince began his online lessons with classmates abroad. Every day thereafter, no matter where we were, the Dragon Prince would unwaveringly open his computer on time and begin his online classes, immersing himself in the ocean of knowledge.

**Day 02 (October 2nd)** – We drove to the Tianwaicun Visitor Center, took the scenic bus along the winding mountain road for about 40 minutes, and arrived at the Mid-Heaven Gate cable car station. From there we took the cable car climbing over the Eighteen Bends; 18 minutes later we arrived at the South Heaven Gate cable car station. We strolled along the Heavenly Street and the Sun-Gazing Peak, ascended to the supreme summit of Mount Tai—the utmost of the Five Great Mountains—savoring the majestic grandeur of Mount Tai that seems to touch the sky. Looking back at the historical relics where Qin Shihuang and Emperor Wu of Han performed the Fengshan ceremony, we felt the kingly spirit of Mount Tai, “Overlooking the world, all other mountains appear small.”

Strolling through the ancient town of Guangfu, the Hongji Bridge, the Ganlu Temple, the Wu Family Mansion, and the Former Residence of Yang Luchan, we experienced the exquisite craftsmanship of the ancient city, ancient bridge, and ancient buildings, appreciated the splendor of Willow-Branch Guanyin Buddhist culture, and the heroic feat of “Yang-style Tai Chi” spreading its fame across the country. Ascending the ancient city wall of Guangfu, we overlooked the ancient land of Handan, experiencing the passionate surge of the heroic spirit of Yan and Zhao.

Under the starry night sky we drove hastily to Baishishan World Geopark in Laiyuan County, Baoding. We spent a whole day hiking the 7.2-kilometer loop around Baishishan, taking a complete circle, to witness the majestic and exquisite clusters of Baishishan peaks, the rare world wonder of a marble peak forest, and the spectacular beauty of the vast red birch forest, a rare species in the world.

Under a clear starry sky, we set out early in the morning for the Eastern Qing Tombs in Zunhua, Hebei, to see the world’s largest, most complete, and most well-laid-out imperial mausoleum complex of the Qing Dynasty. We admired the pure natural ecology with its clear winds, bright skies, blue waters, and clean environment, and felt the Qing Dynasty’s era of “orders coming from the emperor alone,” free from foreign relatives monopolizing power, without fatuous rulers, without eunuch dictatorship, and without lazy, corrupt governance. In the history of Chinese feudal autocracy, the Qing Dynasty’s official governance can be considered exemplary.

Passing through the expressway belt around the capital, we headed straight to the Chengde Mountain Resort in Hebei, experiencing the world’s largest imperial garden with its vast area, beautiful landscapes, and the scattered “Thirty-Six Scenes of Kangxi” and “Thirty-Six Scenes of Qianlong,” with sparkling waters, pavilions, and terraces.

Chinese culture is profound and extensive. A great mountain, a temple, an ancient city, a kind person, a mausoleum, a garden, a landscape—all can bring you the Zen of culture and the sentiments of history, allowing you to breathe in the pure and tranquil landscapes, bathe in the fragrance of culture and humanity, understand the comfort and harmony of life, and see clearly the bustling, colorful world before you.

Our entire itinerary for this trip to Hebei and Shandong was:

**D01 (01/10):** Shanghai to Tai’an, stayed at Mount Tai Shanxing Inn.

**D02 (02/10):** Ascend the summit of Mount Tai, savor its supremacy; stay at Feicheng Xintai Business Hotel.

**D03 (03/10):** Visit Guangfu Ancient Town (Hongji Bridge, Ganlu Temple, Ancient City Tower, Wu Family Mansion, Former Residence of Yang Luchan); stay at Jinlong Villa within Baishishan Scenic Area in Laiyuan County.

**D04 (04/10):** Visit Baishishan World Geopark; take the large loop from east gate to east gate, walking a full circle around the mountain; stay at Jinlong Villa within Baishishan Scenic Area.

**D05 (05/10):** Visit the Eastern Qing Tombs; stay at Chengde Aolin Swimming Pool Hotel.

**D06 (06/10):** Visit the Chengde Mountain Resort; stay at Chengde Aolin Swimming Pool Hotel.

**D07 (07/10):** Continue to visit two of the Eight Outer Temples of the Mountain Resort: Putuo Zongcheng Temple and Xumi Fushou Temple (i.e., the Lesser Potala Palace). Drive to Zhenjiang in the afternoon, covering 1,175 kilometers non-stop; arrive at 4:24 AM on the 8th and check into GreenTree Inn Zhenjiang Central Street RT-Mart Express Hotel.

**D08 (08/10):** Visit Jiaoshan Scenic Area in Zhenjiang, tour the 1,800-year-old ancient Dinghui Temple, visit the Jiaoshan Stele Forest (the second largest in China after Xi’an’s Stele Forest), and ascend the Ten Thousand Buddhas Pavilion to feel the poet’s sentiment of “The great river flows eastward, its waves washing away all heroes.” Drive back to Shanghai in the afternoon, arriving home safely.

Travel is a way to measure mountains and rivers with our feet; writing is a means to preserve memories of on-site visits. I hope this travelogue can record the experience of the Dragon Prince’s Hebei-Shandong trip, so that in the future the child can read it himself and recall the joy and gains from those travel moments.

Now, let us follow the lens, guided by the Dragon Prince’s narration, to glimpse the towering, magnificent, and spectacular mountains, waters, and vast forests of the Hebei-Shandong region over these eight National Day days, and the brilliant and magnificent human history and cultural scrolls.