Mount Wutai ("Mt. Five Platforms" in Chinese) is located in the northeastern part of Wutai County of Shanxi Province covering an area of 2837 square kilometers.

It's regarded as one of the four famous Buddhist mountains in China, the other three being Mt. Emei in Sichuan Province, Mt. Putuo in Zhejiang Province, Mt. Jiuhua in Anhui Province. 

Legend says that a Manjusri (bodhisattva of Wisdom) visited this mountain and decided to stay. Being the most famous of the four mountains in China that are sacred to Buddhists, Mount Wutai draws pilgrims from China and other Asian countries to come and pay homage. The first monasteries and shrines built on the mountain date back to the first century A.D. During the Tang Dynasty, when Buddhism enjoyed its zenith, there were more than 360 monasteries and shrines housing over two thousand monks and nuns. There are now forty-seven operating monasteries with over a hundred monks and nuns. On entering the town of Taihuai, one is struck by its Buddhist rituals: the burning of incense, the tolling of bells in the morning, and the beating of drums in the evening. Besides the morning and evening Buddhist scriptures singing lessons, lectures and discussions on Buddhism are the main activities in Mount Wutai. The lecturer usually belongs to a famous monk.

On this mountain there the many peaks, such as the Watching See Peak in the east, Hanging Moon Peak in the west, Splendid Peak in the south, to name only a few. Tier upon tiers of mountains are covered with green trees, springs and rivulets spread everywhere, deep ditches, basins crisscross with hills. The highest one is at 3,058 meters above sea level, is called the "roof of North China." The weather here is cold and the peaks are snowcapped all year round. The slopes are thickly forested.

The Nanchan Temple, Foguang Temple, Yanqing Temple, Guangji Temple, Pusading Temple, and Zunsheng Temple and many others represented the ancient wood structure works. They were regards as the "Treasures of Thousand" by architects from home and aboard. These wood structures setup examples for the later generation to study on. Take Nanchan Temple as example, built in 782AD, the Buddhist statures in the temple are almost identical as those in Dunhuang Mogao Grottos and have very high artistic value. Foguang Temple, built in Northern Wei Dynasty (471-499A.D.), destroyed during wartime, and later reconstructed in 857AD. Xiantong Temple was largest in the mountain covers an area of 120 acres and has more than 400 halls. Its prototype, Lingjiu Temple later renamed to The Grand Huayan Temple in Tang Dynasty, is the first temple in the mountain continuously enlarged and became the most famous temple in Mount Wutai.