T163, Mount Hengshan《恒山》

Stamp Title: Mount Hengshan
Serial number: T163
Values in set: 4
(4-1), Ancient Xuankong Pagoda, 20 fen, 54*40 mm
(4-2), Thunderclap in Mount Heng, 20 fen, 54*40 mm
(4-3), Beiyue Hengzong, 55 fen, 54*40 mm
(4-4), Beauty Scene in the Cloud, 80 fen, 54*40 mm
Denomination: 175 fen
Date of issue: July 20, 1991
Designer: Yang Wenqing, Li Defu
Size of stamps: 54*40 mm
Perforation: 11
Sheet composition: 28 (4*7)
Printing process: Photogravure and Engraving
Printing House: Beijing Postage Stamp Printing Works

Hengshan Mountain is located in Hunyuan County of Shanxi Province in northern China. It is the Northern Mountain of the Five Sacred Mountains. Boasting 108 peaks and spanning 150 kilometers, it has an average elevation of 2,017 meters. The Tianfeng Peak, the highest peak, is 2,190 meters above sea level, the highest among the Five Sacred Mountains.
Legend has it that 4,000 years ago when King Shun visited the mountain and saw the lofty peaks, he named it the “Northern Sacred Mountain”. During the Qin Dynasty (221-206BC), Emperor Shihuang named 12 famous mountains, and Hengshan Mountain was regarded as the “Second Mountain in the World”. In ancient times, many emperors and celebrities visited Hengshan Mountain and left quite a lot of stone inscriptions of poems.
Hengshan Mountain is famous for steepy ridges, splendid peaks, exotic-shaped temples, and gushing fountains, together with oddly-shaped stones and forests of ancient trees, which constitute a beautiful landscape.
It is called “The First Mountain Guarding the North Borders”, depicting its magnitude and wonder. The mountain links with the Taihang Mountain Range in the east, and to the north it faces the vast expanse of a plateau, thus forming a natural screen for Shanxi Province. The Great Wall winds up the mountain, forming many ancient strategic passes; thus, passes, ancient castles and beacon towers constitute a unique landscape differing from that of the other four mountains.
Hengshan Mountain is a very good summer resort. It has a semi-arid continental climate, with cold winter, dry and windy spring, humid summer and sunny but short autumn. It has an annual temperature of 6.1oC — the hottest month, July, averaging 21.6oC and the coldest month, January, 12oC.
Hengshan Mountain’s main peak, Tianfeng (Heavenly Peak) Ridge, rises 2,190 meters above sea level. Its steep northern slope is covered with pine trees, and located on its southern slope are temples and monasteries built by ancient kings and emperors to worship their ancestors. Hengshan Mountain was once famous for its “Eighteen Sites of Interest, and there still remain a dozen sites such as the Xuankong (Suspending or Mid-air) Temple, Zhaodian Hall, Jiutian (Nine Heavens) Palace, Huixian (Celestial-Meeting) Mansion and Flying Stone Cave, etc.
Hengshan Mountain boasts many cultural relics like temples, sites of academy, steles and engravings, some of which occupy important positions in the development of China’s ancient architecture, such as the Xuankong Temple, Yuanjue Brick Pagoda and Yongan Temple. The Xuankong Temple, built 1,400 years ago, hosts worship for the Taoists, Confucians and Buddhists. The temple is hung in the middle of the cliff and is still in perfect conditions after so many years.
Besides the Xuankong Temple, many other temples are constructed on the cliffs or caved just like castles in the air, adding to steepness and grandiosity. Standing high in the mountain, with the clouds floating under your feet and the wind in the pine trees resounding above your head, the mountain peaks occasionally appearing and disappearing in the clouds, one will be reluctant to leave. On the sides of some cliffs there are full of stone inscriptions eulogizing the beauty of Hengshan Mountain by celebrities in history.

T163 恒山
（1）20分 悬空古寺 2048.15万枚
（2）20分 恒山雪霁 1989.8万枚
（3）55分 北岳恒宗 2180.75万枚
（4）80分 云中胜迹 1086万枚
发行日期：1991.7.20。影雕套印。P11。54mm×40mm。28（4×7）。杨文清、李德福。印刷：北京邮票厂。

恒山位于山西浑源县城南。广义上的恒山，是指恒山山脉，位于山西省东北部。西起雁门关，东接太行山，长200余公里，主峰开峰岭，海拨2017米。恒山自古以来便是山西高原与华北平原之间的重要通道和兵家必争之地。恒山历史上的名称为太恒山、元岳、紫岳、常山、恒宗等。它也是一座著名的神山，西汉初年，始修庙宇，现存较大寺庙10余处，是我国44处重点风景名胜区之一。

“恒山”特种邮票全套4枚，以中国山水画的技法分别描绘了恒山的四处奇观。

4-1为“悬空古寺”。悬空寺建于北魏后期，建筑群有大小楼阁40余间，楼阁之间有栈道相通。建筑者在高约200米的近乎垂直的崖壁上，利用风化造成的不足10米宽，40-50米长的凹槽，倚岩作基，就崖起屋，构思之奇，布局之险，造型之巧，为建筑史上所罕见。然而1000多年来，这上载危岩、下临深谷的古寺，历经风雨而安然无恙。
4-2为“恒山雪霁”。图案表现的是恒山雪后初晴的嵯峨奇幻之景。
4-3为“北岳恒宗”。图案着重表现大京岭的磅礴气势和“恒宗”二字。这是明代人刻在峭壁上的遗笔，字迹遒劲。字高13米，面积30平方米。
4-4为“云中胜迹”位于恒山主峰对面山崖的飞石窟。窟前有“云中胜迹”碑，是恒山十八景之一。

全套邮票力透雄浑、险峻之风格。