World Cultural Landscape Heritage: Mount Wutai

Date of Inscription: 2009

Mount Wutai is located to the northeast of the Wutai County, which is situated at Xinzhou in Shanxi Province. It is one of the four famous Buddhist Mountains in China and said to be the Taoist rites of Manjusri.

Mount Wutai stands on the roof of northern China and covers a total area of 2,837 square kilometers. Its highest elevation is 3,058 meters. Mount Wutai is surrounded by five peaks, namely the Wanghai Peak in the east, Jinxiu Peak in the south, Cuiyan Peak in the middle, Guayue Peak in the west and Yedou Peak in the north. There are no trees on the top of these five peaks and the peaks are flat and wide, thus receiving their name "Wutai." There are 47 temples in Mount Wutai, including 39 temples on the mountains and eight outside the mountains. The famous temples include the Xiantong Temple, Tayuan Temple, Pusading Temple, Nanshan Temple, Dailuoding Temple, Guangji Temple, and the Wanfo Pavilion.

In 1992, Mount Wutai was approved as a national forest park by the Ministry of Forestry and was also approved to be in the first batch of national AAAA tourism scenic spots by the National Tourism Administration in January 2001. In September 2005, Mount Wutai passed the assessment of the fourth batch of national geological parks and became a national geological park. In August 2007, Mount Wutai was approved to be in the first batch of national AAAAA tourism scenic spots by the National Tourism Administration, and on June 26, 2009, it was formally included in the World Heritage List at the 33rd World Heritage Convention held in Sevilla, Spain.