Penglai Pavilion

Song Dynasty Pavilion On The Shandong Coast, Legendary Home Of The Eight Immortals And Famed For Mirages · Yantai, Shandong

A cluster of temple halls and pavilions on a cliff above the Bohai Sea in northern Shandong, built in 1061 and carrying two thousand years of legend about immortality and illusion. Penglai was named for the mythical island of the immortals that Qin and Han emperors sent expeditions to find, and it is from this headland that the Eight Immortals of Chinese folklore are said to have crossed the sea, each using their own strange device - the origin of a proverb about everyone showing their particular talents. The pavilion complex mixes Taoist and Buddhist halls, a Sea God temple, a lighthouse and stretches of Ming coastal wall, all perched where the cliffs drop to the water. Penglai is also famous for something real: the Bohai strait here produces genuine mirages, sometimes lasting hours, in which distant islands, buildings and even whole coastlines appear floating above the horizon, most often in late spring and early summer. Below the headland lie the old naval harbour, from which Ming fleets guarded against pirates, and a beach where visitors watch for the sea to play its trick.

Penglai Pavilion, Penglai District, Yantai, Yantai, Shandong, China

Daily, about 7:30-18:30 with last entry around 17:30; shorter hours in winter (check).

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