Mount Laoshan

Mount Laoshan, around which countless legends have been woven, lies 30km/19mi northeast of Qingdao and falls steeply away towards the coast. Its tallest peak, Laoding, reaches a height of 1133m/3720ft. The mountain, rich in mineral water springs, displays bizarre rock formations, waterfalls and caves.

Many years ago it was revered as the ''Home of Eternal Life'', where grew magic herbs which could cure all known diseases and make man immortal. It was in order to search for these wondrous plants that the Qin Emperor Shi Huangdi (259-210 BC) and the Han Emperor Wudi (156-87 BC) climbed this mountain. In the 8th C the Tang Emperor Xuanzong sent two high officials to find and collect the magical herbs and to prepare for him the Elixir of Life. After the 10th C more and more Taoist monasteries sprung up here, but most of them were destroyed in later years.