The Taiyue Mountains (simplified: 太岳山, traditional: 太岳山, pinyin: Tàiyuè Shān, jyutping: taai3 ngok6 saan1), also called Huo Shan (霍山) or Huotai Shan (霍太山), are a mountain range in central Shanxi. In Mandarin Duck Blades they give their name to the Four Xias of Taiyue (太岳四侠 — Tàiyuè Sìxiá).
In Mandarin Duck Blades
The novella never says where the Four Xias of Taiyue come from, and the mountains themselves never appear. What they do points north of the Yellow River. They ambush the Armed Escort carrying the Mandarin Duck Blades on the road from Xi’an to Beijing, and they are on their way to Xiao Banhe’s birthday at Jinyang (晋阳, modern Taiyuan) when Xiao Zhonghui, newly run away from home there, crosses their path. A name taken from the range south of Jinyang fits that ground better than one from Anhui.
Geography
The range lies between the Taiyuan and Linfen basins, with the Taihang Mountains to the east and the Lüliang Mountains to the west. It spans southern Jinzhong, eastern Linfen and western Changzhi. The main peak, also called Huo Shan, stands at about 2,348 metres; the highest point, Niujiao’an (牛角鞍) in Lingshi County, reaches about 2,567 metres.
Behind the scenes
The Yu Gong chapter of the Book of Documents names Huotai Shan as the guardian mountain of Ji Province, one of the nine ancient provinces, and the name later settled as Taiyue. In the system of sacred peaks it was ranked the Central Garrison Mountain (中镇), and under the Tang its god was enfeoffed as the God of Mount Huo.
Mount Tianzhu in Anhui shares part of this history of names. It too was called Huo Shan, and it is listed with Taiyue among its ancient names, which is why some sources place the Four Xias there.
See also
- Four Xias of Taiyue — The four sworn brothers who take their name from these mountains
- Mandarin Duck Blades locations
External links
- 太岳山 (Chinese) on Chinese Wikipedia
- Mount Tianzhu on Wikipedia