Mount Tai (Chinese: 泰山; pinyin: Tài Shān) is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an.

Mount Tai has been a place of worship for at least 3,000 years and served as one of the most important ceremonial centers of China[3] during large portions of this period.

[7][8] Mount Tai is located in western Shandong, just north of the city of Tai'an and to the south of the provincial capital Jinan.

The orogeny made the rock layers on the subsidence zone folded and uplifted into ancient land, forming a huge mountain system, which has experienced 2 billion years of weathering and denudation, and the terrain has gradually become flat.

After more than 100 million years, the entire area rose to land again, and the ancient Mount Tai uplifted into a relatively low barren hill.

In the mid-Cenozoic period about 30 million years ago, the outline of Mount Tai was basically formed today.

During the Xia dynasty (c. 2070–1600 BC) the mountain was known as Mount Dai (Chinese: 岱山; pinyin: Dài Shān) and lay within the borders of Qingzhou, one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China.

[12] Religious worship of Mount Tai has a tradition dating back 3,000 years, from the time of the Shang (c. 1600–1046 BC) to the Qing dynasty (1644–1912).

In 219 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, held a ceremony on the summit and proclaimed the unity of his empire in a well-known inscription.

[16] Japan, India, the Persian court in exile, Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, the Turks, Khotan, the Khmer, and the Umayyad Caliphate all had representatives attending the Feng and Shan sacrifices held by Emperor Gaozong of Tang in 666 at Mount Tai.

Widely known for its special ceremonies and sacrifices, Mount Tai has seen visits by many poets and literary scholars who have traveled there to gain inspiration.

[11] Mount Tai rises abruptly from the vast plain of central Shandong, and is naturally endowed with many scenic sites.

Geologically, it is a tilted fault-block mountain, higher to the south than north, and is the oldest and most important example of the paleo-metamorphic system representative of the Cambrian Period in eastern China.

Referred to as the Taishan Complex, it comprises magnetized, metamorphic, sedimentary rock and an intrusive mass of various origins that were formed in the Archean Era 1700-2000 million years ago.

Medicinal plants total 462 species and include multiflower knotweed, Cannabis, Taishan ginseng, Chinese gromwell and sealwort, which are renowned throughout the country.

Large-scaled fish Varicorhinus macrolepis is found in running water at 300–800 m. Mount Tai is of key importance in Chinese religion, being the eastern one of the five Sacred Mountains of China.

According to historical records, Mount Tai became a sacred place visited by emperors to offer sacrifices and meditate in the Zhou dynasty before 1000 BC.

The Dongyue Emperor (Chinese: 東嶽大帝; pinyin: Dōngyuè Dàdì) is the supreme god of Mount Tai.

Yanguang Niangniang (Chinese: 眼光奶奶; pinyin: Yǎnguāng Nǎinǎi) is venerated as goddess of eyesight and often portrayed as an attendant to Bixia Yuanjun.

The centerpiece is the Palace of Heavenly Blessings (Tian Kuang), built in 1008, during the reign of the last Northern Song emperor, Huizong.

The hall houses the mural painting "The God of Mount Tai Making a Journey", dated to the year 1009.

[24] The Shrine of the Blue Dawn (Chinese: 碧霞祠; pinyin: Bìxiá Cí), near the top of the mountain is another grand building complex, a special combination of metal components, wood, and bricks and stone structures.

It was written by a member of the Aisin Gioro clan (Chinese: 爱新觉罗玉构; pinyin: Àixīn Juéluō Yùgòu) in 1907 and is featured on the reverse side of the five yuan bill of the 5th series renminbi banknotes and page 26 of PRC biometric passport.

Another inscription marks the "Lu-Viewing Platform" (Chinese: 瞻鲁台; pinyin: Zhānlǔ tái) from which Confucius took in the view over his home state of Lu and then pronounced "The world is small".

The Wordless Stele (Chinese: 无字碑; pinyin: Wúzì Bēi) stands in front of the Jade Emperor Temple.

[23]: 143 Visitors can reach the peak of Mount Tai via a bus which terminates at the Midway Gate to Heaven, from there a cable car connects to the summit.

The supplies for the many vendors along the road to the summit are carried up by porters either from the Midway Gate to Heaven or all the way up from the foot of the mountain.

On the way up the 7,200 stone steps, the climber first passes the Ten Thousand Immortals Tower (Wanxianlou), Arhat Cliff (Luohanya), and Palace to Goddess Dou Mu (Doumugong).