Red Gate Palace

Red Gate Palace

The founding date of Red Gate Palace is unknown. In front of the palace stand three stone memorial archways: “One-Day Gate,” “Where Confucius Ascended,” and “Heavenly Stairs.” Inside, the palace is divided into east and west courtyards. The main hall in the east courtyard, originally a Taoist temple, later enshrined the Maitreya Buddha and is commonly known as the Maitreya Buddha Hall. It also includes a rest pavilion and a changing room, each with three bays. The main hall in the west courtyard, consisting of three bays, was a place for worshipping the Goddess of Mount Tai, Bixia Yuanjun. To the south of the hall stands the Heyun Pavilion, and to its right is the Qiezi Pavilion. A high pavilion connecting the two courtyards is called the “Flying Cloud Pavilion,” beneath which is an arched gateway through which the hiking trail passes.

The entire palace is lush with evergreen holly and vibrant peonies, with red and green hues complementing each other, exuding a strong sense of antiquity. Looking up from here, the panoramic view of Tai’an unfolds before your eyes. Every morning, the sunrise illuminates the mountainside, creating an exceptionally magnificent scene known as the “Red Gate Dawn” spectacle.

Red Gate Palace is located north of Dai Zong Archway and at the northern end of Hongmen Road, bordering Zhongxi Stream to the east and Dazang Ridge to the west. The palace derives its name from the red cliffs resembling a gate on the southern mountain. Its construction date is uncertain, but it was renovated during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The temple complex is divided into east and west courtyards, with the east being the Maitreya Courtyard and the west being Red Gate Palace, connected by the Flying Cloud Pavilion. The main hall in the east courtyard originally housed a wooden statue of Maitreya Buddha, which was destroyed in 1966. To the east is a pass-through changing room, historically used by emperors and officials to change clothes before ascending the mountain, now converted into a teahouse. To the south is a pass-through hallway. The west courtyard is the Yuanyun Temple. Its main hall originally enshrined Yuanyun and other goddesses such as the Birth-Giving Lady and the Eye-Blessing Grandma, but now houses a bronze statue of the Nine-Lotus Bodhisattva. To the west is the Qiezi Pavilion, now an exhibition room for Mount Tai landscape photography. To the south is a pass-through teahouse. Behind the main hall are meditation rooms and side chambers. The Flying Cloud Pavilion originally enshrined Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, but now serves as a viewing platform.

The three stone archways in front of the palace are shaped like steps. The first is the One-Day Gate Archway, built in the Ming dynasty, with its plaque inscribed by the censor Long Guang. It was rebuilt in the 56th year of the Kangxi reign (1717) by Governor Li Shude. On both sides are large steles inscribed with Ming-era calligraphy reading “A Wonder Under Heaven” and “Starting Point of the Mountain Path.” In the middle is the Where Confucius Ascended Archway, erected in the 39th year of the Jiajing reign (1560) by Governor Zhu Heng of the Shandong Censorate, among others. The Jiajing-era top scholar Luo Hongxian inscribed its plaque and couplet: “The First Emperor’s solitary footsteps are immortalized through the ages; the Sacred Ruler’s distant visit brings eternal celebration.” This couplet was chiseled away in 1967. To the west of the archway stands a stele from the early Jiaqing reign of the Qing dynasty, inscribed by Jin, the Prefect of Tai’an, titled “Record of Planting Cypresses on Mount Tai.” The last is the Heavenly Stairs Archway, built during the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, with a couplet by Gao Yingfang, the imperial inspector of Shandong: “A unique sacred site unparalleled in the human realm; the most towering mountain under heaven.”

In front of the One-Day Gate Archway, to the west of the road, is the Guan Yu Temple. Its founding date is unknown, and it was originally dedicated to Guan Yu, the famous general of the Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, salt merchants from Shanxi often gathered here for worship, honoring him as the God of Fortune, hence it was also called the Shanxi Guild Hall. It was rebuilt in 1983 and now serves as the Tai’an Training Center of the National Cultural Heritage Administration. In the east courtyard of the temple is an ancient cypress tree, with a stele outside the wall inscribed “The Finest Han Cypress.”

To the south, across the stream east of the palace, lies the site of the White Mule Tomb. Legend has it that when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ascended Mount Tai, he rode a white mule. Upon completing the ceremony and descending, the mule died of exhaustion. The emperor posthumously honored it as “General White Mule” and ordered a coffin and stone tomb to be built. Today, the tomb no longer exists, leaving only a stele believed to be the White Mule Tomb Stele. During the Republican era, Zhao Zhengyin, based on remnants of characters such as “Chui Gong First Year” on the stele’s edge, identified it as Emperor Gaozong of Tang’s “Xiaozi Dengfeng Jihao Wen Stele.” It was re-erected in its original location in 1988, but the stele with partial inscriptions has since become a blank stele.

To the west of the palace is Dazang Ridge, named for the stone house on its peak that can store items.

Behind the palace stands a massive rock inscribed with “Little Mount Tai.” Legend says it is the incarnation of Bixia Yuanjun. Originally, there was a small temple dedicated to her, where pilgrims would burn incense and pray. The temple was destroyed after the founding of the People’s Republic of China but was rebuilt in 1985. Slightly to the north along the road on the west side are 26 stone steles from the Qing and Republican eras, known as the “Little Stele Forest,” recording the grandeur of past pilgrimage activities.

Red Gate Palace serves as the gateway to the central stream of Mount Tai, forming a semi-enclosed concave space. Coupled with the three white stone archways and steles in front of the palace, they create a group of ancient buildings of varying heights, vivid colors, and a shape resembling a celestial ladder. Looking north through the Flying Cloud Pavilion, tree-lined paths and continuous stone steps come into view. Since ancient times, this has been known as the “Red Gate Dawn” scene. The Qing poet Zhao Guolin left a poem: “At dawn I climb Red Gate, the sky clears as the sun rises. Gazing down, smoke rises from myriad homes, and the fields are fresh with new green.”

Transportation

Accessible on foot

Admission

Free

Location

Northwest of Wangmu Pool, southern foothills of Mount Tai, Tai’an City, Shandong Province