page_title: Mount Song
section_title: Religious structures
hierarchical_section_title: Mount Song / Religious structures
caption_attribution_description: 河南登封中岳庙
context_page_description: Mount Song is a mountain in central China's Henan Province, along the southern bank of the Yellow River, that is known as the central mountain of the Five Great Mountains of China. Its summit is 1,500 metres above sea level.
context_section_description: The mountain is one of the sacred Taoist mountains of China, and contains important Taoist temples such as the Zhongyue Temple; however the mountain also features a significant Buddhist presence. It is home to the Shaolin Temple, traditionally considered the birthplace of Zen Buddhism, and the temple's pagoda forest is the largest collection of pagodas in China.
  The mountain and its vicinity are populated with Taoist and especially Buddhist monasteries. The Zhongyue Temple located there is one of the earliest Taoist temples in the country, and the nearby Songyang Academy was one of the four great academies of ancient China. Eight locations at the foot of the mountain in Dengfeng have been a World Heritage Site since 2010. The 6th century Songyue Pagoda is also located on the mountain, as well as Tang Dynasty (618–907) pagodas within the Fawang Temple. Empress Wu performed the Feng Shan ritual at Mt. Song in 695 CE.
caption: The Zhongyue Temple
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