Hengshan (南岳衡山) is the southernmost of China's Five Sacred Mountains, a granite fault-block range that rises out of the Xiang River plain about 45 kilometres north of Hengyang city. Its name is read as the weighing mountain, the peak that balances heaven and earth, and from the earliest records it was a place where emperors made sacrifices and where both Daoism and Chinese Buddhism took root. The main scenic area lies within Nanyue District, a small Hengyang district whose government runs the mountain and lives chiefly from tourism. Pilgrims still climb its paths in large numbers, coming from across East and Southeast Asia as well as Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan to burn incense. The range's highest point is Zhurong Peak, at just over 1,300 metres, crowned by a Ming-dynasty shrine to the fire god.
Hengshan rises from the Xiang River plain north of Hengyang, its granite flanks covered in temples and walked for centuries. The paths climb to Zhurong Peak, where a Ming shrine to the fire god crowns the summit, and pilgrims still come to burn incense.