Putuo Mountain, Changshou

Putuo Mountain rises 598 metres above the ground west of Changshou town, covering about 15 square kilometres with a core area of some five. The Changshou county gazetteer says the hill took its name because the Chan patriarch Bodhidharma preached there. At the top stands Putuo Temple, first built in the Northern Song and repeatedly destroyed, rebuilt in October 2014 in timber on a site of more than sixty mu. A stair of 1,789 steps, the Wanshou stair, runs from the mountain gate to the hall of the ancient forefather.