Emeishan, Sichuan, China
峨眉山 · Éméi Shān
One of the four sacred mountains of Chinese Buddhism, Emei rises from the Sichuan plain to a cliff-edged summit over 3,000 metres high, where a golden statue of the bodhisattva Samantabhadra rides four elephants above a sea of clouds. Pilgrims once took days to climb it on stone steps, past temples, monkeys and forests of fir; today buses and a cable car do most of the climb.
Photo: Yumeto, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Emei is the mountain of Samantabhadra, Puxian in Chinese, the bodhisattva of practice, who is shown riding a white elephant with six tusks. Buddhist monks were building temples on its slopes by the Jin dynasty, about 1,600 years ago, and at its height the mountain had over a hundred monasteries. Its name means "moth eyebrows": seen from the plain, two of its ridges were said to curve like the brows of a beautiful woman.
The mountain rises from about 500 metres at Baoguo Temple to 3,099 metres at Wanfo Ding, with the Golden Summit, the pilgrims' goal, just below at 3,079 metres. On the way the climate changes from the warm, wet forest of the foothills, full of monkeys, to fir woods and winter snow at the top. In 1996 Emei and the Giant Buddha of Leshan were listed together as a World Heritage Site, for both their temples and their plants.
The mountain ticket is 160 yuan in the main season and 110 yuan in winter; since 1 January 2026 the temples charge nothing extra. Buses and cable cars are paid separately.
| Part | Ticket |
|---|---|
| Mountain ticket (summit area limited to 8,000 a day) | 160 yuan (winter 110) |
| Sightseeing bus, all routes, return | 90 yuan, valid two days |
| Golden Summit cable car | Up 65, down 55 yuan (winter 30/20) |
| Wannian cable car | Up 65, down 45 yuan (winter 30/20) |
| Temples | Free since 2026 |
At the top stands the Ten-Directional Samantabhadra, a gilded statue 48 metres high finished in 2006: ten heads facing every direction, seated on four elephants. Behind it, the Golden Hall gleams with gilded walls. The summit ends in a sheer cliff over a thousand metres high.
On good mornings you look down on a sea of clouds and, far to the west, the snow peaks of the Gongga range. On rare afternoons, with the sun behind you and cloud below, a rainbow ring appears round your own shadow on the clouds: the "Buddha's light" pilgrims came to see.
"The monkeys are tame." They are wild Tibetan macaques used to people, and they snatch food and bags. Do not feed them, hide plastic bags, and keep your distance.
"Emei is a day trip." Going up by bus and cable car takes a long day; walking takes two or three. Many people sleep on the mountain to see the sunrise.
We searched Chinese sources first for this list, then English and German ones.
The classic route goes by bus to Leidongping, on foot to Jieyin Hall, and by cable car to the summit; coming down, stop at Wannian Temple and walk to Qingyin Pavilion.
At the foot of the mountain, the largest temple and the traditional start of the climb, rebuilt in the 17th century.
A temple hidden in deep forest just above Baoguo; its name, "Subduing the Tiger", comes from a story of a monk who calmed the tigers that once lived here.
Two streams, one dark and one clear, meet under two little bridges; the sound of the water gives the place its name, "Pure Sound". The path from here to the monkey area is the shady heart of the lower mountain.
Its brick hall, built in 1601 without a single wooden beam, shelters a bronze Samantabhadra on a white elephant, cast in 980 and over seven metres high. It is the oldest great bronze on the mountain.
Halfway up the high mountain, a temple by a small hexagonal pool where, the story goes, Samantabhadra's elephant bathed. Monkeys gather here too.
The Huazang Temple, the Golden Hall, the great statue and the cliff edge. Come at dawn for the sunrise, and stay into the afternoon for a chance of the Buddha's light.
The bronze Samantabhadra of Wannian Temple was cast in 980, the year Avicenna, the great Persian doctor, was born near Bukhara.
| Year | Here | Elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| 980 | The bronze Samantabhadra of Wannian Temple is cast | Avicenna is born near Bukhara |
| 1177 | Fan Chengda climbs to the summit and sees the Buddha's light | Saladin is defeated at Montgisard in the Holy Land |
| 1601 | The beamless brick hall of Wannian Temple is built | Shakespeare's "Hamlet" is first staged around this time |
| 1996 | Emei and the Leshan Giant Buddha become a World Heritage Site | Dolly the sheep is cloned in Scotland |
| 2006 | The Ten-Directional Samantabhadra is finished on the summit | Pluto is reclassified as a dwarf planet |
One line to remember: a mountain of stone stairs and monkeys, with a golden bodhisattva on four elephants above the clouds.
These are stories people tell about this place. They are legends, not history, and each one says where it comes from.
A herb-gatherer named Pu Gong followed a deer with hoofprints like lotus flowers up to the summit, where he saw Samantabhadra in the clouds; he built the first shrine on the mountain.
Source: Told in the mountain's temple histories, set in the Han dynasty
Later, people who live here will be able to add the stories they grew up with, and say which of these they have heard.
Last checked 2026-11-12. Ticket, bus and cable car prices and the summit quota from 2026 Sina travel guides citing the scenic area's notices (May and July 2026); free temples from 1 January 2026.
Checked 2026-11-12
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