Mount Emei
Mount Emei | |
---|---|
Emei Shan | |
Highest point | |
Elevation | 3,099 m (10,167 ft)[1] |
Prominence | 1,069 m (3,507 ft) |
Listing | Mountains of China |
Coordinates | 29°31′11″N 103°19′57″E / 29.51972°N 103.33250°E |
Geography | |
Country | China |
Province | Sichuan |
Municipality | Emeishan City |
Asia-Pacific |
Mount Emei | ||
---|---|---|
Hanyu Pinyin Éméi shān | | |
Gwoyeu Romatzyh | Ermei shan | |
Wade–Giles | O2-mei2 shan1 | |
IPA | [ɤ̌.měɪ ʂán] | |
Wu | ||
Romanization | Ngu去 mi去 sae平 | |
Yue: Cantonese | ||
Yale Romanization | Ngòh-mèih sāan | |
Jyutping | Ngo4-mei4 saan1 | |
IPA | [ŋɔː˩ mei˩ saːn˥] | |
Southern Min | ||
Hokkien POJ | Ngô-ba̍k-soaⁿ |
Part of a series on |
Chinese martial arts (Wushu) |
---|
Mount Emei (
Administratively, Mount Emei is located near the county-level city of the same name (Emeishan City), which is in turn part of the prefecture-level city of Leshan. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.[5]
Name
Emei means "moth-browed".[6]
Relevance to Buddhism
Chinese people offer burning sandalwood near the mountain to send their "prayers to heaven".[7]
As a sacred mountain
Mount Emei is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China, and is traditionally regarded as the bodhimaṇḍa, or place of enlightenment, of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra. Samantabhadra is known in Mandarin as Pǔxián Púsà (普賢菩薩).
Sources of the 16th and 17th centuries allude to the practice of martial arts in the monasteries of Mount Emei,[8] which made the earliest extant reference to the Shaolin Monastery as the place of origin of Chinese martial arts.[9]
Chinese Buddhist pilgrims regularly travel to the mountain.[7]
Buddhist architecture on Emei
This is the location of the first Buddhist temple built in China in the 1st century CE.[5] The site has seventy-six Buddhist monasteries of the
Cable cars ease the ascent to the two temples at Jinding (3,077 m), an hour's hike from the mountain's peak.[3][11]
Climate
The summit of Mount Emei has an alpine subarctic climate (Köppen Dwc), with long, cold (but not severely so) winters, and short, cool summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −5.7 °C (21.7 °F) in January to 11.6 °C (52.9 °F) in July, and the annual mean is 3.07 °C (37.5 °F). Precipitation is common year-round (occurring on more than 250 days), but due to the influence of the monsoon, rainfall is especially heavy in summer, and more than 70% of the annual total occurs from June to September.
Climate data for Mount Emei (elevation 3,070 m (10,070 ft), 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2000) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 16.7 (62.1) |
18.5 (65.3) |
20.5 (68.9) |
22.7 (72.9) |
21.7 (71.1) |
22.5 (72.5) |
22.1 (71.8) |
21.5 (70.7) |
19.8 (67.6) |
19.3 (66.7) |
19.5 (67.1) |
16.3 (61.3) |
22.7 (72.9) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −0.2 (31.6) |
1.8 (35.2) |
4.6 (40.3) |
8.4 (47.1) |
11.1 (52.0) |
13.5 (56.3) |
15.7 (60.3) |
15.1 (59.2) |
12.2 (54.0) |
7.5 (45.5) |
5.0 (41.0) |
1.1 (34.0) |
8.0 (46.4) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −5.5 (22.1) |
−3.6 (25.5) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
3.7 (38.7) |
6.9 (44.4) |
9.9 (49.8) |
12.1 (53.8) |
11.5 (52.7) |
8.6 (47.5) |
4.0 (39.2) |
0.5 (32.9) |
−3.7 (25.3) |
3.7 (38.6) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −8.8 (16.2) |
−6.9 (19.6) |
−3.7 (25.3) |
0.7 (33.3) |
4.1 (39.4) |
7.4 (45.3) |
9.8 (49.6) |
9.3 (48.7) |
6.4 (43.5) |
1.9 (35.4) |
−2.3 (27.9) |
−6.8 (19.8) |
0.9 (33.7) |
Record low °C (°F) | −19.2 (−2.6) |
−19.1 (−2.4) |
−17.2 (1.0) |
−9.8 (14.4) |
−7.4 (18.7) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
2.1 (35.8) |
2.8 (37.0) |
−3.5 (25.7) |
−11.1 (12.0) |
−14.7 (5.5) |
−19.7 (−3.5) |
−19.7 (−3.5) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 13.3 (0.52) |
21.5 (0.85) |
57.7 (2.27) |
118.4 (4.66) |
169.2 (6.66) |
214.8 (8.46) |
348.2 (13.71) |
385.2 (15.17) |
192.7 (7.59) |
90.7 (3.57) |
35.5 (1.40) |
14.0 (0.55) |
1,661.2 (65.41) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 14.9 | 15.9 | 20.7 | 21.1 | 21.7 | 23.2 | 22.2 | 21.9 | 22.6 | 24.6 | 16.9 | 13.9 | 239.6 |
Average snowy days | 15.3 | 13.1 | 14.0 | 7.6 | 2.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 4.4 | 8.2 | 10.8 | 76 |
Average relative humidity (%)
|
79 | 80 | 85 | 86 | 85 | 87 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 93 | 86 | 80 | 86 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 147.2 | 138.2 | 142.8 | 132.5 | 113.2 | 91.1 | 110.9 | 113.4 | 89.0 | 77.4 | 131.0 | 143.3 | 1,430 |
Percent possible sunshine | 45 | 44 | 38 | 34 | 27 | 22 | 26 | 28 | 24 | 22 | 41 | 45 | 33 |
Source 1: China Meteorological Administration[12][13] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: Weather China[14] |
Indigenous animals
There are nearly 400 total species of animals, invertebrates and plants native to the mountain. There are at least six snake species native to the region, including the Chinese slug snake,
Visitors to Mount Emei will likely see dozens of Tibetan macaques, which can often be viewed taking food from tourists. A famously well-fed, one-armed, elderly female macaque named Xing Xing has millions of views on YouTube, seemingly showing the macaques’ complete disdain for the hordes of tourists who are often offering them food directly in their faces. It seems that only one elderly woman who lives on the mountain, and her son, are able to be close to Xing Xing, to feed and pet her. Xing Xing appears to consider the woman her best friend, while shunning the offers of food from strangers. If tourists persist in holding food in the monkeys’ faces, they will aggressively grab at the person’s clothing and stare at them, and not let go. If the person continues to irritate the macaque, they are very easily angered and prone to bite. Still, local merchants sell nuts and other foods for the tourists to attempt to feed the monkeys.
Other local animals include lizards, such as the
Flora
Mount Emei is known for its high level of endemism and approximately 200 plant species in various plant families have been described from this mountain.
A rare species of Fir tree is endemic to this mountain it is Abies Fabri.
Gallery
-
Wanfoding
-
A temple at the Golden Summit
-
Massive statue of Samantabhadra at the summit of Mount Emei
-
Baoguo Temple, a Buddhist temple
-
Buddhist temple at Mount Emei
-
Wooden bridgewalk over the Crystal Stream, western slopes
-
Macaque indigenous to the region
-
Sunrise over Mount Emei
-
Sunrise over a sea of clouds at Mount Emei
-
Guangfu pavilion, with summit visible in background
-
Elephant statues on the steps leading to the statue of Samantabhadra
-
Monkeys of Mount Emei
-
Mount Emei and Exiu Lake
-
Mount Emei and Exiu Lake
See also
- Baoguo Temple
- Fuhu Temple
- Jinding, main peak of Mount Emei
- Shengji Bronze Bell
- Wannian Temple
- Xixiang Chi, also known as Tianhua Chanyuan
- Zuo Ci
- Emei School, fictional martial arts school
References
- ^ "Topographic map of Emei". opentopomap.org. Retrieved 2023-05-11.
- ^ a b In the name "Emei", the character méi 眉 is sometimes written 嵋.
- ^ a b Hayes, Holly (2009) Emei Shan, Sacred Destinations. Updated 24 July 2009.
- ISBN 978-7-5031-4772-2; map of Sichuan on pp. 142–143
- ^ a b "Mount Emei Scenic Area, including Leshan Giant Buddha Scenic Area". UNESCO. Retrieved 2007-09-06.
- ISBN 9783829010771.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-00-215321-8.
- ^ Zhāng Kǒngzhāo 張孔昭 (c. 1784). Boxing Classic: Essential Boxing Methods 拳經拳法備要 Quánjīng Quánfǎ Bèiyào (in Chinese).
- ISSN 1069-5834..
- ISBN 0-300-09559-7.
- ^ Gluckman, Ron (2002). Getting to the Top, Silk Road, December 2002. Hong Kong; Dragon Airlines.
- ^ 中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
- ^ 中国气象数据网 (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
- ^ "峨眉山城市介绍". Weather China. 2023-04-20. Archived from the original on 2023-04-20.