A Historical Investigation Of China Traditional Mountaineering Activities:Social Function And Cultural Character

To research the origin and history of Chinese ancient mountain-climbing,this thesis uses the method of literature survey to analyze the ancient documents,including literary works and historical material.And some points of this research can be summarized as follows: the chapter one aims to do the research review and to introduce hypothesizes,meanings,methods and procedure of this thesis.In the second chapter to fourth chapter,the mountaineering history from prehistoric period to Qing dynasty is analyzed,which includes several forms: sacred and health-care oriented mountain-climbing,tourism and recreation oriented climbing,and its populating,secularizing process.Based on what have been researched above,this paper suggests that mountain climbing in the history of ancient China experienced 3stages: formative period,raising period and maturating—popularizing period.In this historic process,religious mountain climbing ultimately developed into a new form that has a combination of religion,amusement and cultural continuity,which reflects the social changes.