Driving southwestward from Zhengzhou for an hour and a half will bring you to Mount Songshan. Its peak, towering 1,550 meters above sea level, is the highest of the twenty-two peaks of the Funiu Range.
Songshan rises from the Central China Plain; being the middle-most of the five sacred mountains of China, it is sometimes also called Central Mountain. It contains many scenic spots and places of historical interest, of which Shaolin Monastery, the Songyang School of Classical Learning, the Han Imperial Palaces, Star Observatory Terrace (Guanxingtai), and Stone Streams‘ Confluence (Shizonghuiyin) are the best known. |
