Since childhood we have heard that when Confucius climbed up Taishan Mountain, he exclaimed: "How small the world is!"

Some thought Confucius made the comment because the mountain, at an elevation of 1,545 metres above sea level, towered above the vast plain in East China's Shandong Province where there are no other mountain ranges in sight.

And to our surprise, it was the mountain range around Taishan Mountain, which we had never heard of before, that impressed us most during our trip last month with some photographer friends to shoot the famous Taishan sunrise.

On arriving at Tai'an City at the foot of Taishan Mountain, a local photographer led us to Baifo (White Buddha) Mountain, which is three hours' drive to the east of the city.

Curving up the mountain was a narrow path paved by stone slabs. The slabs had become smooth after centuries underfoot, so much so that they were mirror-like. The path was built after a donation by Buddhism followers, who had pilgrimaged there since the Sui Dynasty (AD 581-618).

Shading the path were cypress trees on both sides. Bushes embellished with dates poked through the trees. Though small, the dates were fresh and extremely delicious with a sweet, slightly sour taste.

Halfway up the mountain was a deserted ancient temple, where a man in his 70s met us with a kind smile. Surnamed Wang, he takes care of the temple for the local cultural heritage administration. He was spreading some herbs with a strong scent on the ground when we arrived.

Wang told us that local farmers collect a dozen different kinds of medical herbs from the mountain and dry them before soaking them in the bathtub which they use everyday. "People here have long lives," he said.

He led us further into the mountain where there were no steps but slippery rocks after rainfall. Forty minutes later we were in front of an ancient wall stacked with rocks, about eight metres tall.

The wall was built on a relatively plain area below a cliff. Circling around it we saw a small entrance. Heading in we were greeted by a very large, dark grotto, where our voices resonated.

Wang lit up a candle, illuminating some sculptures. With the old man's permission we turned on a torch and were shocked to see a giant sculpture of Buddha, about 7 metres tall, smiling at us.

Sculpted delicately during the Sui Dynasty, the Buddha was the most ancient in Shandong Province, according to experts from the Institute of Religion at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

We saw about 10 rows of smaller grottoes on both sides of the Buddha, each with sculptures of several figures. Beside each grotto was carved a written paragraph, which was easily recognizable.

They resembled something between the regular script and the lishu script, which was the official writing style during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220). Wang said the sculptures in each grotto told a story about the Buddha and the text served as instructions to followers.

A grotto to the right of the grand sculpture told about the Buddha's nirvana. Lying on his back, his ribs are clearly seen. His 10 students are around him, two hugging his body, three crying while looking up to the sky and the others with their heads lowered, mourning silently.

There are altogether four grottoes like this in the mountain, with a total of 138 Buddhism sculptures. They were built from the Sui to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), said Wang.

The next day, we saw about 500 sculptures on a great rock at the top of Sili Hill, which was two hours' drive to the south of Taishan.

The sculptures, located in six different areas on the hill, were actually built in six stages from the Northern Dynasties (386-581) to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Amazingly at the centre of the rock, Buddha, Confucius and Lao Zi, the founder of Taoism, are seated together harmoniously, shoulder-to-shoulder.

There was a narrow path at the back of the rock. Following it we were on the edge of a small cliff about three metres high.

Following the local villager who served as our guide, we summed up the courage to jump off, landing on another narrow path curving around the mountain.

After walking for about an hour, we saw the most spectacular scenery of the trip.

Below our feet was a straight cliff about 20 metres high. As we looked down, we could see a calligraphy work of several hundred giant characters carved from below our feet to the bottom of the cliff.

In the silent hill with only 10 visitors, we tried hard to look down without falling off to read the great rock carving composed of about 100 ancient characters.

It seemed to be a paragraph from a Buddhism classic about nirvana, as the words "Life is death and death is life" were able to be seen.

Wu Zhendong from the local cultural heritage administration said the rock carvings were probably done at the end of the Northern Dynasties.

Unfortunately, heavy rain pelted down as we were reading about life and death, making the tricky walk off the hill even more precarious. Still, we were told the path on the hill was much easier to navigate than the almost impassable valley below, where it was much easier to read the carvings.

The rain hung around for the next few days when we climbed Taishan Mountain. Holding umbrellas, we were among the only visitors to this tourist attraction, giving us plenty of time to read the tablets, which had been set up by 15 emperors during different dynasties on their trips to the mountain to pay sacrifices to heaven.

Passing us were porters, who walked hard in the rain with heavy loads on their backs. They walked with poles while shouldering food, necessities and luggage for tourists to the top of the mountain.

We arrived at the peak around sunset. In the pink mist created by the rain and the dwindling sun, we wondered how many other surprises were still hidden in the prodigious mountain.

(China Daily September 30, 2003)