and Longevity, while along the north shore is the Long Corridor, so named because it’s, well, long. There’s over 700m (2300ft) of corridor, filled with mythical paintings and scenes. If some of the paintings have a newish patina, that’s because many of the murals were painted over during the Cultural Revolution.

Tai Shan
Address Tai’an Phone tel: (0538) 827 2114 (info) Transport bus: to/from Jinan, Kaifeng, Qufu, Qingdao, Yantai, Weihai & Beijing
rail: to/from Beijing, Jinan, Yanzhou, Shanghai & Qingdao Keyword views, religious/spiritual, mountain, physically challenging Southern Chinese claim ‘myriad mountains, rivers and geniuses’ while Shandong citizens smugly contest they have ‘one mountain, one river and one saint’, implying they have the last word on each: Tai Shan (the most revered of China’s five sacred Taoist peaks, and the most climbed mountain on earth), Huang He (the Yellow River) and Confucius .

Tai Shan is a unique experience – its supernatural allure attracts the Chinese in droves. Bixia, the Princess of the Azure Clouds, a Taoist deity whose presence permeates the temples dotted along the route, is a powerful cult figure for the rural women of Shandong and beyond. Tribes of wiry grandmothers – it’s said that if you climb Tai Shan you’ll live to 100 – trot up the steps with surprising ease, their target the cluster of temples at the summit where they burn money and incense, praying for their progeny. Sun worshippers muster wide-eyed on the peak, straining for the first flickers of dawn.In ancient Chinese tradition, it was believed that the sun began its westward journey from Tai Shan.

From its heights Confucius uttered the dictum ‘The world is small’; Mao lumbered up and declared ‘The east is red’. You too can climb up and say ‘I’m knackered’.

Avoid coinciding your climb with the public holiday periods held in the first weeks of May and October, otherwise you will share the mountain with what the Chinese call ‘re’n shan re’n havi’ – literally a ‘mountain of people and a sea of persons.’

Yungang Caves
Address Northern Shanxi Transport bus: 3 Hours 08:30 – 18:00
winter: 08:30 – 17:00 Keyword monument, religious/spiritual, cave These caves, cut into the southern cliffs of Wuzhou Shan, contain over 50,000 Buddhist statues including the earliest Buddhist carvings in China. Images surrounding the main statues include the omnipresent ‘1000 Buddha’ motif, flying apsaras (angels draped in flowing silk), pagodas in bas-relief and Chinese symbols such as dragons and phoenixes.

On top of the mountain ridge are the remains of a huge, mud-brick 17th-century Qing dynasty fortress. As you approach the caves you’ll see the truncated pyramids, which were once the watchtowers. Sadly, many of the caves suffer damage from coal and other pollution, largely a result of the neighbouring coal mine. At the time of writing, most of the coal trucks were being diverted to a back road, making the trip more pleasant. East of the caves you can walk to a remnant of the Great Wall.

The incredible artwork shows influences of the many foreign craftsmen, from India and Central Asia, who worked on the grottoes. There are no guides at the caves, but there are decent English descriptions and explanations for many points within.

China: Money & Costs
For most travellers plastic should do the job, with ATM locations growing surely but steadily in the more sizeable cities. Credit cards are also gaining ground in China, with Visa, MasterCard, American Express (branches in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen), JCB and Diners Club the most common. Cards can be used in most mid to top-range