Mount Wutaialso known as Wutai Mountain or Qingliang, located in Shanxi, China, is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains. The  mountain is home to many of China’s most importantmonasteries and temples, Mount Wutai’s cultural heritage consist of 53 sacred monasteries, and they were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2009.

The Four Scared Buddhist Mountains are Mount  Emei, Mount Wutai, Mount Jiuhua and Mount Putuo, Each of the four mountains are viewed as the abode or place of practice of one of the four great.

Wutai is the home of the Bodhisattva of  wisdom, Manjusri or Wensshu文殊in Chinese. Mount Wutai also has an enduring relationship  with Tibetan Buddhism.

It takes its name from its unusual topography, consisting ofpeaks (North, South, East, West, Central), of which the North peakcalled Beitai Ding or Yedou Feng, is the highestand indeed the highest point in northern  China.

Wutai was the first of the four mountains to be identified and is often referred to as “first among the four great mountains.” It was identified onof a passage in the A`vatamsaka Sutra (Ch: Huajing;华严经)which describes the abodes of many, In thisManjusri is said to reside on a “clear cold mountain” in the northeast. This served asfor the mountain’s identity and its alternate name “Clear Cool Mountain” (Ch: Qingliangshan;清凉山

Theis believed tomanifest himself on the mountain, taking the form of ordinary pilgrims, monks, or most often unusual five-colored clouds.

Mount Wutai is home to some of the oldestwooden buildings in China that have survivedthe era of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). They include the main hall ofMonastery and East Hall of Fuguang Monastery, built in 782 and 857. They were discovered  in 1937 and 1938 by a team of architecturalthe prominent historian Liang Sicheng of the early 20th century. The architectural designs of these buildings have since been studied by leadingand experts in traditional Chinese architecture, such as Nancy Steinhardt. Steinhardt classified  theseto the hall types featured in the Yingzao Fashi Chinese building manual written in the 12th century.

In 2008, there were complaints from local residents  that in preparation for Mount Wutai’s bid to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site, they were forced from their homes and relocated away from their livelihoods.