Qingcheng Mountain · Sichuan
Plan a private Qingcheng Mountain tour in Sichuan: the birthplace of Daoism, the front-mountain temples and back-mountain waterfalls, one hour from Chengdu.
The short version
The place itself
Qingcheng Mountain is not the highest or the grandest of Sichuan's mountains, but it may be the most quietly important. It was here, in AD 143, that the Daoist master Zhang Daoling founded the Way of the Celestial Masters — the first organised Daoist school — which is why Qingcheng is honoured as a cradle of Daoism and ranked, in Daoist cosmology, as the 'Fifth Grotto-Heaven'. Its name means 'Green City', and the old explanation is that the 36 peaks ring it so closely, wrapped in green, that the whole massif looks like a walled town.
The mountain is really two mountains. The front mountain is the Daoist route: temples and halls strung along a wooded climb — Jianfu Palace at the foot, the Tianshi Cave where Zhang Daoling taught, the Shangqing Palace with its carved Laozi, and the Laojun Pavilion on the summit ridge, reached by cable car across the Yuecheng Lake. It is history, incense and steep stone steps, and it is best done riding up and walking down.
The back mountain is the opposite temperament: a wetter, wilder valley of streams, gorges and waterfalls, with the old town of Tai'an at its base and the Wulong ravine, the Baiyun caves and the multi-tier San Tan falls to be walked. Locals tend to prefer it, and it is where Chengdu families spend a slow weekend eating farmhouse food and breathing the famously humid, green air.
Whichever half you choose, the climate does the work. Qingcheng sits on the wet western rim of the Sichuan basin, mild and damp all year, with old trees, moss and running water everywhere. People come for the 'quiet' of the name, 'Green City under heaven's calm' — and in the temples, in the mist between the peaks, that quiet is still there.
Pins are plotted from real latitude and longitude on a 5° graticule. This is a schematic orientation diagram, not a political map — no boundaries are drawn.
The cave-shrine of the Zhang Tianshi, at the heart of the front mountain and the reason the mountain matters: Zhang Daoling is said to have taught here, and the halls behind the main Sanqing Hall hold the Huangdi shrine and the cave itself. The painter Xu Beihong worked here in the 1940s and produced his illustrations for Qu Yuan.
Shangqing Palace, built in the Qing dynasty, enshrines Laozi with a statue and a woodblock of the 5,000-character Dao De Jing, plus the Magu Pool and other old traces. Above it, the Laojun Pavilion stands on the summit ridge with the best view over the whole mountain.
Jianfu Palace sits at the foot of the Zhangren peak, first built in AD 730, with its celebrated 394-character couplet. Further up, the Natural Picture Pavilion is a ten-sided double-eaved kiosk from the Qing dynasty perched where two peaks close in — the spot that gives the mountain its 'see it and you are in a painting' reputation.
A small green lake set between the Zhangren and Qinglong peaks, crossed by a ¥5 ferry, from where the front-mountain cable car climbs towards Shangqing Palace. The lake is quiet and often misty, and it is the most photographed single view on the front mountain.
The back mountain is a valley of water — the 8 km Wulong ravine, the multi-level San Tan cascades, the Baiyun caves high in the rock, and the Crystal Cave of the Three Dragons. It is wetter, greener and wilder than the front, and the trails run past farmhouses and teahouses all the way.
The old town at the foot of the back mountain, once a staging post on the road from the Chengdu plain to the Jinchuan country, now the place to stay, eat farmhouse cooking and start the back-mountain walk. A Buddhist temple of the same name anchors its far end.
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From US$2,580/per person
View tourFrom Chengdu, the intercity train from Chengdu North or Chengdu West runs to Qingchengshan station in about an hour for ¥15, and the station is served by local buses up to the front gate. Buses also run from Xinnanmen station direct to the front mountain (about ¥21), and bus 101 links Dujiangyan's passenger centre with Qingcheng Mountain in about 30 minutes. From the airport, take the rail link into Chengdu and then the intercity train out. Dujiangyan station and Qingchengshan station are themselves ¥5 and a few minutes apart on the same line.
Once at the mountain, the front gate leads to the Jianfu Palace and the temple route, with a cable car and the Yuecheng Lake ferry to take the steepness out of the climb; the back mountain is reached from Tai'an old town and walked on foot between its cable cars, with minibuses from the Qingchengshan rail station. The comfortable plan is the front mountain in the morning and Dujiangyan or the back mountain's low trails in the afternoon.
| Month | Weather | Crowds | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 12°C / 4°C · cool, damp | Quiet | Good |
| February | 14°C / 6°C · cool, damp | Very busy | Good |
| March | 18°C / 10°C · clear and mild | Moderate | Best |
| April | 24°C / 16°C · clear and mild | Moderate | Best |
| May | 28°C / 21°C · cool, damp | Busy | OK |
| June | 32°C / 25°C · very hot, humid | Moderate | OK |
| July | 35°C / 28°C · cool, damp | Busy | Avoid |
| August | 34°C / 27°C · cool, damp | Busy | Avoid |
| September | 29°C / 23°C · very hot, humid | Moderate | OK |
| October | 24°C / 17°C · clear and mild | Very busy | Best |
| November | 18°C / 11°C · clear and mild | Quiet | Best |
| December | 13°C / 6°C · cool, damp | Quiet | Good |
One day covers one half of the mountain well. The front mountain takes most of a day: Jianfu Palace, the climb past the Natural Picture Pavilion, the cable car and Yuecheng Lake, Tianshi Cave, Shangqing Palace and the Laojun Pavilion. The back mountain also takes a day, walking the Wulong ravine and the falls out of Tai'an. If you have two days, do the front mountain one day and the back the next, then add Dujiangyan, 10 km away, for a third. Trying the front and back on the same day means one long slog and a lot of missed turns.
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It depends what you want. The front mountain is the Daoist route — the temples, Tianshi Cave, Shangqing Palace and the summit — the reason Qingcheng matters, with more crowds and more stone steps. The back mountain is the wilder, wetter valley of gorges and waterfalls, quieter and more of a hike, and the one Chengdu locals choose for a slow weekend. If you only have one day, first-timers usually do the front; hikers often prefer the back.
The intercity train is easiest, from Chengdu North or Chengdu West to Qingchengshan station in about an hour for ¥15, with local buses on to the front gate. Buses also run from Chengdu Xinnanmen station direct to the front mountain for about ¥21. If you are already at Dujiangyan, bus 101 takes about 30 minutes, and a ¥5 hop on the intercity line links the two.
April to October. July and August are the classic months, when the mountain is cool and green while Chengdu bakes, which is why locals treat it as their summer escape. March to May brings the mountain-climbing festival, and September the Daoist Culture Festival. Winter is misty, cheap and quiet — the moss and the temples look their best, but many trails are slippery.
On the front mountain it saves a lot of steep, crowded climbing — the cable car is ¥35 one way or ¥60 return and crosses via Yuecheng Lake, and the local tip is to ride up and walk down, since the descent has the better views. The back mountain has two cable cars of its own, the Jinli (¥30 / ¥55) and the Baiyun (¥35 one way). The front mountain's Laojun Pavilion and the back mountain's falls both involve real climbing beyond the cable cars.
Yes, especially if you combine it with Dujiangyan — a combined ticket is ¥180 and the two are 10 km apart, so they make the best two-day trip out of Chengdu. Qingcheng is the birthplace of Daoism rather than a grand scenic mountain, so come for temples, forest, mist and the famous 'quiet', not for dramatic peaks. If you want a hikers' mountain, do the back; if you want the history, do the front.
Farmhouse cooking is the draw, and the back mountain's farmhouses do it best — ginkgo-and-chicken soup (a Qingcheng speciality), cured pork, wild vegetables and fresh river fish. In the town, try the 'four treasures of Qingcheng' (Daoist rice wine, tribute tea, pickles and the ginkgo-and-chicken soup) and the local chicken restaurants. It is simple, rural Sichuan cooking, and it is part of why people come.
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