Maoshan is one of considered one of the most holy places in China when it comes to Taoism. It's home to the Shanqing School, which dates back thousands of years to the Western Jin Dynasity. This would be long before Qin Shihuang united a disparate bunch of kingdoms and fiefdoms into a unified Chinese empire. This school within the religion tends to focus on meditation via breathing and visualization.
In the present day, it is the site of Taoist pilgrimages, but it's also a major tourist attraction shared by Changzhou and Jurong -- both of which are in Jiangsu, south of the Yangtze. One side of the mountain is in CZ's Jintan district, and an the other side is in Jurong, as is the temple itself atop the peak. While there are many things to write about this location, this post is basically only going to cover the cable car going up. This is mostly because there is no public transportation out this way, and from where I live in Changzhou (Tianning district), the drive out this way is like an hour to an hour and a half, and I am a notoriously late sleeper. I didn't take into account operating hours. Therefore, on this trip, I unfortunately didn't have the time to actually go into the temple itself. The cable car closes at 4pm, so I only had a chance to ride up and come back.
The above shot is from the parking lot. All the signage is bilingual as well. Basically, one has to go up these stairs and through what looks like -- and is -- a temple. During China's time of Zero Covid, you would have to show a green QR code to get in, but China's recently scrapped all of that (topic for another time).
This shot is looking down from the car that I was in. I have been in some sketchy cable cars before China, and these were pretty stable. Each of the support towers has a speaker, and safety precautions were routinely announced, on a pre-recorded loop, in both English and Chinese. But, really, should be people have to be told not to jump out of the car? Seems like a no brainer.
Here is the top, one level up from the cable car terminal. As stated earlier, I had arrived late, and couldn't go into the temple complex itself. I have since been back several times, though. But then again, a simple question should be asked of me. Why write about going to a temple, not go in, and simply talk about riding a cable car?
A vista atop a mountain or a large hill is nice enough to just take in its own right.
