Mount Lao 崂山

About Mount Lao

The Taiqing sector is a useful introduction: a coastal boardwalk leads toward Taiqing Palace, whose courtyards contain halls dedicated to different divine figures. Higher routes reach Shangqing Palace and Longtan Waterfall. These are distinct levels of the mountain visit, so a temple-and-coast outing can stand on its own without attempting a summit or crossing between distant scenic sectors.

Formerly written Laoshan (劳山) or Laoshan (牢山), Mount Lao is regarded as one of the birthplaces of Taoism and as the place where the Complete Perfection School (全真教) of Taoism developed. In 412 CE the Buddhist pilgrim Faxian landed near the mountain on his way back from India.

Mount Lao consists of granite, its landforms shaped by glacial action during the Quaternary and by erosion from meltwater released by the ice sheet that covered much of Shandong in the late Pleistocene. Its main peak, Jufeng (巨峰), also known as Laoding (崂顶), rises 1132.7 meters and is the third-highest peak in Shandong province.

Mount Lao was named one of China's scenic areas by the State Council in 1982. Taiqing Palace (太清宫), the mountain's largest temple complex, was first built in the Northern Song dynasty, with its present structures dating to the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty; also known as the Lower Temple (下宫), it was recognized as a National Key Taoist Temple (道教全国重点宫观) in 1983. The mountain hosts both Buddhist and Taoist traditions, with Taoism predominant.

What to look for

• Granite mountain slopes rising directly above the Yellow Sea coast.
• Taiqing Palace’s Sanguan, Sanqing and Sanhuang halls within the Taoist temple complex.

The surrounding area

Coastal city base; Badaguan and the wider Laoshan area are separate outings.

Location & getting there

Getting to Mount Lao

For the Taiqing sector, take Metro Line 4 to Dahedong and continue to the adjacent Laoshan Dahedong Visitor Centre. Transfer there to a Taiqing scenic bus and use Taiqing Square for the coastal boardwalk approach to the palace.