Daze Mountain 大泽山

About Daze Mountain

Daze Mountain (大泽山), also called Jiuqing Shan (九青山), is a range in the middle of the Jiaodong Peninsula (胶东半岛) on the border of Pingdu (平度) and Laizhou (莱州), Shandong. Its main summit, Beifengding (北峰顶), rises to 737 m on the Pingdu side, in the city of Qingdao (青岛).

The range covers 324 km², and an old gazetteer explains the name by the springs that rise among the ringed hills and gather into a great marsh (大泽). Springs are still a feature of the climb: Milk Spring (乳泉), Sweet Dew Spring (甘露泉), Pearl Spring (珍珠泉) and the Octagonal Glazed Well (八角琉璃井), an octagonal well of granite blocks, also called the Dragon Pool, which never runs dry. Shandong lists the Dazeshan Scenic Area both as a scenic area and as a forest park at provincial level.

Recluses have lived here since the Qin and Han. Zhizang Temple (智藏寺), founded in the Tang, drew the most pilgrims in the Ming and Qing until Japanese artillery destroyed it in 1943; its ruins and a pagoda forest remain. The northern summit was once walled with stone and is also called the Red Eyebrows Fort (赤眉寨): the Red Eyebrows rebels rose in Ju County (莒县) around AD 18 and later held the mountain. Three of its monuments are protected at national level. One is the set of cliff inscriptions of Tianzhu Mountain (天柱山摩崖刻石), whose Zheng Wengong Stele (郑文公碑) is credited to the Northern Wei calligrapher and prefect Zheng Daozhao (郑道昭). The others are the Yueshi Culture site (岳石文化遗址), which the Dazeshan town government traces back more than 4,000 years to the dawn of bronze, and the temple's pagoda forest, listed together with the Dazeshan stone carvings. During the war against Japan the West Sea Military Subdistrict (西海军分区) of the Jiaodong Military Region had its headquarters here, and militia from Gaojia village (高家村) fought with home-made stone mines; the village was the model for the film Landmine Warfare (地雷战).

Grapes have been grown here since the Han dynasty. Since 1987 Dazeshan town has held a grape festival each year, and the fruit, sold as Dazeshan grapes, gained national geographical-indication protection in 2008. The Pingdu government dates the first grapes of the season to about 20 August. Below Wulongbu (五龙埠) a 3,000 m grape arbour shows more than seventy varieties.

What to look for

• Ruins of Zhizang Temple (智藏寺) with the pagoda forest to their east
• Rizhao Nunnery (日照庵), a shrine to female deities including Bixia Yuanjun, with the natural Lotus Cave (莲花洞) beside it
• The Dazeshan stele forest (大泽山碑林), more than a hundred inscribed stones west of Rizhao Nunnery
• Ruiyun Peak (瑞云峰), its name carved in Ming-dynasty characters 3 m across
• Beifengding (北峰顶), the 737 m summit reached through Tongtian Cave (通天洞)
• Tianzhu Mountain cliff inscriptions (天柱山摩崖刻石), with the Northern Wei Zheng Wengong Stele
• Dazeshan Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall (大泽山抗日战争纪念馆) at the foot of the scenic area, a provincial protected site since 1977
• The 3,000 m grape arbour below Wulongbu (五龙埠)

Location & getting there

Getting to Daze Mountain

• Search for 大泽山 with 青岛市 and 平度市.