Yaowang Mountain
药王山
Where Sun Simiao, the “King of Medicine,” lived in seclusion and practised medicine in his later years. The mountain has a Yaowang Shrine, the Taixuan Cave, and cliff carvings and stele forests from the Northern Dynasties through the Sui and Tang.
Yaowang Mountain lies on the east side of Yaozhou urban area. The Tang physician Sun Simiao was a native of Yaozhou. In his later years he lived in seclusion on this mountain and wrote the Qianjin Fang (Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold). Later generations revered him as the “King of Medicine” and built a shrine in his honour. The mountain has two parts. The Southern Hermitage contains the Yaowang Hall, the Taixuan Cave, the Medicine-Washing Pool, and the Sun Simiao Memorial Hall. The Northern Caves preserve Buddhist and Daoist stone statue steles and cliff inscriptions from the Northern Wei through the Sui and Tang. The Yaowang Mountain stone carvings are a major national cultural heritage unit, and the Qianjin Baoyao Stele is especially precious. Every year on the second day of the second lunar month, the Yaowang Mountain temple fair takes place, with medicinal cuisine and shehuo folk performances. Admission is charged, and prices follow official announcements. A taxi from Tongchuan New District or Yaozhou urban area takes about 10–15 minutes. Seeing everything takes about 2–3 hours, and there are many steps.
Opening hours
About 08:00–17:30
Nearby sights
- Shende Temple Pagoda
- Yaozhou Kiln Museum
- Chenlu Ancient Town
- Wangshiao Coal Mine Heritage Park
- Xiangshan Mountain (Daxiangshan Temple)
- Zhaojin Danxia Landform (Xuejiazhai)
- Zhaojin Revolutionary Base Memorial
- Yuhua Palace Ski Resort