嵩山

Why this place

Mount Song is the central sacred mountain, and it is unusually dense with firsts: the Shaolin Temple, where Chinese Zen and martial arts are said to originate; the Songyang Academy, one of the four great Confucian academies; and the Dengfeng observatory, the oldest surviving astronomical observatory in China. All of it is a UNESCO site.

What to see

• The Shaolin Temple and its pagoda forest, with martial arts demonstrations
• The Dengfeng Observatory, built in 1276 to measure the length of the year
• The Songyang Academy and the Song Mountain's Confucian tradition
• The Zhongyue Temple, and the mountain's Taoist heritage
• The Sanhuang Zhai ridge, for the mountain scenery itself

What to eat

• Henan's lamb noodles and the local 'dengfeng' sesame cakes
• Shaolin vegetarian temple food, which is a real tradition

How to plan

One or two days from Zhengzhou: Shaolin one half-day, the observatory and academy the other.

Best time

April–May and September–October