The Zhongnan Mountains, which form the northern boundary of Shangluo Prefecture, have been the preferred retreat of Chinese religious hermits for over two thousand years. The mountains' proximity to the ancient capital Chang'an — close enough to withdraw from the world, far enough to be genuinely remote — made them the ideal location for Taoist and Buddhist renunciants throughout the imperial era. The Complete Perfection sect of Taoism was founded here in the Song Dynasty by Wang Chongyang.
The southern slopes of the Zhongnan range, accessible from the Shangluo side, are less visited than the Xi'an-side northern approach and considerably wilder. Small temples and hermit dwellings on marked paths can be found by those willing to walk half a day from the nearest road. The experience is one of China's most unusual: a genuine living tradition of religious withdrawal that has continued across political upheavals, Cultural Revolution, and the transformation of modern China, simply by being sufficiently hard to reach.