A Blessed Retreat on Earth, a Celestial Palace in Heaven — Revisiting Wudang Mountain

📍 Gold Coast · 👁 8207 reads · ❤️ 43 likes

A few years ago, I visited Wudang Mountain with my family. Walking slowly with a group doesn't always mean going far—we only climbed to the Golden Summit and returned, which left me quite unsatisfied.

Several years later, things around me had changed completely. Taking advantage of the free admission, I set out alone to revisit Wudang Mountain, in search of those unfinished dreams.

Day 1: Wudang Mountain Gate — Prince Slope — Purple Sky Palace — South Cliff — Jade Terrace Mid-Section

Day 2: Jade Terrace — Cable Car Up — Golden Summit — Cable Car Down — Jade Void Palace

Taking the bus to Wudang Mountain Coach Station, a five-minute walk brings you to the mountain gate. Passing through the gate and crossing Wudang Golden Street (Yiwu Small Commodities Street), you reach the Visitor Center. After verifying the pre-booked tickets and buying a transportation ticket (105 yuan, including 5 yuan insurance), you can queue for the shuttle.

After a drizzly spell, today the sky is as blue as my mood.

The mountain roads wind around, and about twenty minutes later, the bus stops at Prince Slope. Also known as Fuzhen Temple, Prince Slope is the legendary study place of the True Martial Emperor, the main deity of Wudang Mountain. The True Martial Emperor was originally the son of King Jingle of the Pure Bliss Kingdom and Queen Shansheng—why would he give up being a prince to pursue Daoist immortality? How could anyone be so "foolish"?

I think the name "Fuzhen" (Returning to Truth) probably reflects the state of mind of the Pure Bliss Prince back then.

Prince Slope is a transfer station for the shuttle buses. Visitors change buses here: the east line goes to Jade Terrace (cable car station direction), and the west line goes to Crow Ridge Parking Lot (direction of Purple Sky Palace and South Cliff). I remember that on my previous rushed trip, the Purple Sky Palace flashed by outside the window, but I couldn't forget it for a long time—so I headed toward the west line.

If life were only as beautiful as when we first met, would the Purple Sky Palace be the same?

After saying goodbye to the pigeons at Purple Sky Palace, I took a bus to the next stop, South Cliff. Getting off at Crow Ridge, the road splits in two: the left leads to the Golden Summit, the path we took last time, taking about three hours; the right leads to South Cliff Palace, which beckons me from the cliff ahead.

Without hesitation, I chose the road not taken.

Returning from South Cliff, it was already getting late. Walking to the Golden Summit now was definitely not an option; taking a bus to Jade Terrace and then the cable car might just let me catch the sunset. So I changed my mind, took the bus back to Prince Slope, transferred to the east line bus, and headed for the terminal at Jade Terrace Mid-Section.

People have changed, but I wonder if the things are still the same.

The thick clouds and mist dashed my hopes of making it to the Golden Summit. I lingered around Jade Terrace Mid-Section for a while, found a random inn to stay at, and slowly digested the dreams in my heart.

The night at Wudang Mountain was as gentle as I remembered.

Before my alarm even woke up, I was already awake. Without delay, I quickly packed and headed straight to the cable car station, bought an up-ticket, and flew into the depths of the white clouds.

The fog at Wudang Mountain was as cruel as I remembered.

The bronze hall from the Yuan Dynasty in the Transshipment Hall, the green glazed tiles in Taihe Palace, the ever-burning lamp in the Golden Hall, a piece of gold brick left in a corner outside the hall, the trilobite fossils in the railings... Though I couldn't see far into the distance, the seven-hundred-year legacy of Wudang's Golden Summit was still worth savoring repeatedly. I shivered in the cold wind for a long time, but instead of clearing, it started to rain. With no other choice, I bid farewell to the Golden Summit and took the cable car down the mountain.

Perhaps every encounter leaves some regret.

Down the mountain, I took bus No. 203 from the Wudang Mountain bus stop, and a few minutes later arrived at the Jade Void Palace Pedestrian Street stop. Walking through the street and past the "Xuantian Jade Void Palace" gateway, I reached the Jade Void Palace. Despite repeated natural and man-made disasters, the Jade Void Palace has been rebuilt many times and remains one of the most worth-seeing palaces at the foot of Wudang Mountain.

The mottled red walls and collapsed city walls seem to tell a poignant story.

Although it is said to "restore the old as it was," I always feel that this magnificent palace doesn't need to maintain such a dilapidated appearance. When it was first built, wasn't it also resplendent? Take the newly restored Forbidden City—who says it lacks antiquity? If even the Jade Void Palace is like this, other smaller palaces are even more ruined, which is truly lamentable.

A mountain need not be tall to be famous for its immortals. Perhaps that is also the pride of Wudang Mountain.

I have visited Mount Sanqing with its peculiar pines and strange rocks, toured Longhu Mountain with its clear waters and red cliffs, climbed Mount Qingcheng, the most serene under heaven—all famous Daoist mountains with their own distinctive landscapes, perhaps even superior in some aspects; but when it comes to cultural heritage and architectural aesthetics, none can match the unparalleled Wudang Mountain, the celestial mountain.

Times have changed, and the world has undergone earth-shaking transformations. Wudang Mountain is no longer what it used to be. Visitors flock here, no longer seeking immortality; just by looking at the red walls and green tiles, the celestial palaces in the sky, they are having a dialogue across time with the ancients.

Wudang Mountain is a book, a book that grows ever new with time.

Travel Notes Directory

1. Origin

2. Route

3. Day 1

4. Day 2

5. Jade Void Palace

6. Conclusion

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