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Baitou (Paektu) Mountain is a mountain on the border between China and North Korea. It is commonly called Changbai-shan (長白山/长白山) in Chinese and the Manchu name Golmin Šanggiyan Alin corresponds to it.

1 Geography

The name Baitoushan means "White-Headed Mountain," and the mountain is the highest peak of the Changbai Mountains, standing at 2,744 m. It is also the highest mountain on Manchuria and the Korean peninsula. A lake called Tianchi (天池 "Heavenly Lake") in Chinese and Cheonji (천지) in Korean lies on the top of the mountain. The crater lake was probably created in 1597, when a recorded erruption took place. The lake itself has a circumference of 12 to 14 kilometres and it is sometimes said that it looks like a sea. The average depth of the crater lake is 213 metres, its maximum 384 metres. From mid-October to mid-June the lake is covered with ice. The mountain is the source of the SonghuaThe Songhua River ( song4 hua1 jiang1) is the largest tributary of the Amur River, flowing about 1,800 km from Changbai Mountains. It flows through Harbin. The river was called sunggari ula (Sungari River) in Manchu. See also: Geography of China Chinese r, Tumen (Tuman)The Tumen (Tuman) River is a river in northeast Asia, on the border between China and North Korea in its upper reaches, and between North Korea and Russia in its lower stretches. The name of the river comes from the Jurchen tumen which means "ten thousand and Yalu (Amnok)The Yalu (Amnok) River is a river on the border between China and North Korea. Geography Rising 2,500 m above sea level on Baitou Mountain in the Changbai (Changbaek) mountain range, on the Chinese-North Korean border, the river flows south to Hyesan befo rivers.

2 Climate

The weather on the mountain is very changeable. The annual average temperature is about -8.3 centigrades. During summer, temperatures of about 18 centigrades can be reached, and during winter temperatures can drop to -48 centigrades.

3 History

The Baitou Mountain has been worshipped by surrounding people.

The Jurchen Jin EmpireThe (second) Jin Dynasty ( jin1 1115- 1234; Anchu in Jurchen) or Jurchen dynasty was founded by Wanyan ( wan2 yan2) clan of the Jurchen who also established the Qing Dynasty some 500 years later. The first dynasty seated at Beijing, it was annihilated by bestowed the title "the King Who Makes the Nation Prosperous and Answers with Miracles" (興國靈應王 Xingguo Lingying King) on the mountain god in 1172 and it was promoted to "the Emperor Who Cleared the Sky with Tremendous Sagehood" (開天宏聖帝 Kaitian Hongsheng Emperor) in 1193. During the ManchuThe Manchu manju in Manchu; ( pinyin: mnzu) in Chinese, often shortened to ( pinyin: mn)) are an ethnic group who originated in northeastern Manchuria. They conquered the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China unt Qing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty ( Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: ; pinyin: qing chao; Wade-Giles: ch'ing ch'ao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrou, the Kangxi Emperor designated the Baitou Mountain as the legendary birthplace of the imperial family Aisin Gioro followed a survey although it is no longer supported. He set a forbidden zone around the mountain. As with the Jin Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty held annual rites for the mountain.

Getting irritated by Korean illegal entry, the Kangxi Emperor decided to clarify the Manchu-Korean border. In 1712 Manchu and Korean officials built a monument of boundary at a watershed. The interpretation of the inscription caused a territorial dispute from the late 19th century to the early 20th century.

Some Dangun cults associated the mountain with the Dangun myth in the 20th century and helped to make it a symbol of Korean nationalism. Dense forest around the mountain provided snug bases for communist guerrillas. North Korea claimed that Kim Il-Sung organized his resistance against the Japanese forces there and that Kim Jong-Il was born there although these claims are considered highly doubtful outside North Korea.