Baodugu Mountain 抱犊崮

About Baodugu Mountain

Baodugu Mountain (抱犊崮) is a flat-topped, cliff-walled peak of 584 m in the southeast of Shanting District (山亭区), Zaozhuang (枣庄), Shandong, about 23 km from the seat of Zaozhuang city. The Shanting District government calls it the first of the seventy-two gu (崮) mountains of southern Shandong.

A gu is a mountain with steep sides and a fairly level top, and the Cihai dictionary (辞海) cites Baodugu as one of its examples of the word. The Shandong Department of Civil Affairs describes the summit block as 90 m high and its top as dozens of mu of level, soil-covered ground under pines and cypresses. The mountain belongs to the Yimeng hill country (沂蒙山区), and its rock layers record the Cambrian history of north China. In 1992 the Ministry of Forestry approved a national forest park of 665.5 ha here; the department puts forest cover above 98 percent, mainly natural mixed woodland and pine and cypress shelter planting.

The name has changed several times: Loushan (楼山) in the Han dynasty, Xiantaishan (仙台山) under the Wei and Jin, Baodushan (抱犊山) in the Tang and Song, and Junshan (君山) in the Ming and Qing. The Yi County Gazetteer (峄县志) explains the present name with an old man surnamed Wang who carried a calf (犊) up the cliffs to farm the top and later became an immortal. In 1920 Sun Meiyao (孙美瑶) and his relatives set up a fortified camp here, and in May 1923 his force carried out the Lincheng train robbery (临城劫车案); the hostages were taken to Baodugu.

The main route climbs past the Daoist Chaoyun Temple (巢云观) and the remains of Qinghua Temple (清华寺), then through gorges and caves to the summit. Near the top, the Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八罗汉洞) holds Buddhist figures carved into the rock, dated by inscription to the Shangyuan era (674). The old way to the top, the Sky Ladder (天梯), is a line of toeholds cut up a cleft more than 40 m high. On the summit are two small rock pools, the only water supply of Sun Meiyao's men before the 1923 robbery, and Sea-Viewing Rock (望海石), from which the Yellow Sea, 150 km east, can be seen on clear mornings after rain.

What to look for

• Chaoyun Temple (巢云观) and Chaoyun Cave (巢云洞), a karst cave that breathes out cloud on summer mornings
• A ginkgo over 1,600 years old and 24 m tall
• Water Curtain Cave (水帘洞), a cave beside a hanging stalactite nearly 20 m high
• Yixiantian (一线天), also called Sword-Testing Gorge (试剑峡), a cleft about 30 m high and one person wide
• Eighteen Arhats Cave (十八罗汉洞), with rock-cut Buddhist images dated 674
• The Sky Ladder (天梯), toeholds cut up a cleft of more than 40 m, once the only way to the summit
• The summit pools (天池) and Sea-Viewing Rock (望海石)
• The Shandong Nation-Building Self-Government Army stele (山东建国自治军碑), erected in 1997 to record the 1923 train robbery

Location & getting there

Getting to Baodugu Mountain

• Search for 抱犊崮 with 枣庄市 and 山亭区.