Travel China: Climbing Mount Hua and Chasing Legends

Travel China: Climbing Mount Hua and Chasing Legends

The legend

Once upon a time in China when humans could fly, walk on water and kill just by blowing out their internal energy, five great masters of the wulin (martial art’s community) from five different regions of China, hence their nicknames Eastern Heretic, Western Venom, Southern Emperor, Northern Beggar and Central Divine, descended on Mount Hua. These Five Greats came to fight for the Nine Jin Manual, a book which caused chaos in the martial art world. People killed each other to get their hands on the book which contained knowledge about powers, health, martial art techniques and philosophy and could enable one’s martial art skills and power multi-fold.

Enough bullshit, it’s time for the truth. What you just read was not part of any Chinese history nor mythology, it was the imagination of Jin Jong, Chinese wuxia novelist, whose novels and films made from them mesmerized many Vietnamese of my generation, the generation before and after.

The name

Huashan, meaning Flower Mountain because of its flower shape, is crucial in China’ mythology, history, and religion. Huashan is one of China’s Five Great Mountains arranged according to the five directions: Eastern Taishan (Shandong province), Western Huashan (Shaanxi province), Southern Hengshan (Hunan province), Northern Hengshan (Shanxi province) and Central Songshan (Henan province). Legend has that when Pan Gu, the first living Chinese and the creator of all in China, died his eyes became the moon and the sun; his tears became the Huang Ha and Yangtze rivers; his body fell into five different places and formed these mountains. Huashan became a place where laymen came seeking immortality from the many herbs and powerful drugs growing here. It was also a refuge for hermits and spiritual people, among whom was the legendary Laozi and the Taoist Chen Tuan.

But not less important, I wanted to look for an unknown man of no important neither in Chinese history nor today society.

To climb or not to climb

I didn’t want to climb this mountain at first. I cringed at any mention of “hiking,” “walking” and “mountain.” I hate to be on the move all the time. I just wanted sit still in my comfy chair at Han Tang Inn, Xian and sip tea. After all, I had perfect excuses: my bad knees and acrophobia. Guide books and internet resources even said that the trails on Mount Hua were dangerous for hikers with steep stairs which at some parts were vertical. Every picture of Huashan posted on the internet showed just vertical cliff making me wonder how people made these trails all the way up there. But as fate had it, I happened to arrive in Xian during not one but two China’s busy holidays, the mid-autumn moon festival on September 30th and China’s national day on October 1st. Train and bus tickets to popular cities China were sold out, so I was forced to stay in Xian longer than I planned. To make the story short, I made a last-minute decision at 10 p.m. the night before and went out to grab snacks for the trip. I tried to memorize different routes (easy, medium, hard) to reach the peak, the distance between  various peaks, weather conditions, and comments from other travelers who climbed the mountain.

The ways to the top

There are various routes to the North Peak, the lowest of the five peaks: East, West, South, North, and Central. (Did you notice the repletion of these five directions?)

1. The easiest method is to take the cable car, and you’ll reach the top in 10 minutes, forsaking sweat and fear of height.
2. The most popular walking route is to follow the 6-km trail starting from Huashan village. You walked the 4-km on an elevated, big and shadowy path and climbed the stairs during the remaining 2-km where some sections are fairly steep. This route is probably the most scenic among the four routes. I chose this route.
3. The second walking route, not mentioned in my guidebook nor internet research which I accidentally learned during my descent, starts from the cable car station and leads up to just stairs. This route is made recently since the cement was relatively new.
4. The most challenging and dangerous course is the Soldier Path’s Trail, running under the cable cars. You don’t walk but climb on vertical steps cut into rocks while holding on to iron chains. I saw this trail on the way down. It looked very steep. You can not rest because there were people below you. I don’t think you can enjoy the scenery on your way up because you will be busy and dead tired to look at anything except your steps.

Every step I made and every short of breath I took, I felt so glad I came. The scene and the surrounding refreshed my energy after many days in busy cities. Every short while, I saw warning sights: “Watch out for falling rocks.” I looked up expecting to see small rocks, but instead, I saw huge stones and wondered if I should watch out for these giant rocks. In that case, I would drop dead anyway so I ignore these signs.

I met a few people on their way down, walking in a funny way. Some stopped to brace their knees. Some walked side-way. Some started to walk backward. Some leaned on another. Some limped. Some needed two persons to help them down. These people gave me an idea of what lied ahead of me. At the same time, almost all of them, mostly local Chinese, appeared to take this trip as a pleasure walk. They didn’t even properly dress for the hike let alone for climbing a 2000-meter high mountain. They wore tight jeans, working shirts, and casual city shoes. I met a girl who wore a skirt and ballet shoes. Maybe walking this mountain wasn’t difficult after all.

The Chinese laborers

Being China, what is the one thing that can’t be missing? Food. There was no lack of food from the very entrance all the way to the top. I walk no more than 30 minutes before running into another food stall. These shops sold water, soft drinks, snacks, sausages, instant noodles, cold noodles, and fruits. You don’t need to worry about be hungry, but expect to pay at least four times the regular prices.

Men were carrying construction materials or food supplies for restaurants and shops. Some carried light loads of empty bottles and papers down the mountain to discard them. Some carried huge loads on their back, at least 30 kg. One man had three 15-litter bottles of cooking oil. Another had stacks of heavy 2-meter long iron bars dangling on their shoulders. It was hard enough to walk with nothing on your back, let alone walking with that much weight on your shoulders.

I wondered why the government didn’t build a separate cable system to transport goods which deliver a lot more and not relying on human labors. I guess Chinese human labor was very cheap. It costs nothing to employ these people, and more important it gives everybody a “job.”

I looked carefully at all these laborers, hoping to find one in particular. I read about him online and hoped I would run into him. I couldn’t find anyone similar. Perhaps they looked the same. He might have changed his haircut, clothes and got lost in the stream of many people. He might even change his job. After looking at more than a dozen men, I gave up.

I reached the intersection between the North Peak and others at 7 p.m. Completely relieved but wanted to reduce the walk around the peaks tomorrow, I followed two other people up to the Wufu Peak via the Ear-Touching Cliff, Up-to-Heaven ladder, and Green Dragon Ridge, looking down to vertical cliffs on both side. By now, it was almost dark. Below and behind me was a trail of purple-white light leading to the North Peak.

Photo credit: 1st -iaspep.com.cn. 3rd – atlasobscura.com.