Mount Lu contains important sites and temples for
Daoism, (
Mahayana)
Buddhism,
Confucianism, and even
Christianity. Between AD 386 and 402 during the
Jin dynasty,
Huiyuan founded
Pure Land Buddhism and
Donglin Temple on the slopes of Mount Lu. In later years,
Kuling in Mount Lu became a summer resort for Western missionaries in China.
Absalom Sydenstricker, the father of
Pearl Buck, was one of the first five missionaries to acquire a property in the Kuling Estate on the mountain. The development of Kuling was instigated by the Reverend Edward Little and Dr. Edgerton H. Hart. The four principal founders of China's Nurses Association and its first president, Caroline Maddock Hart, met in Kuling to form this association. During the
Long March, in early 1935, a battle took place in the area between the
Chinese Red Army and
nationalist forces, in which
Hu Yaobang, later
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, was seriously injured. Mount Lu was once dubbed the (, "summer capital") of the
Republic of China.
Chiang Kai-shek, China's leader at the time, would frequently spend his summers in the area. In June 1937,
Zhou Enlai, then a major leader in the
Chinese Communist Party, met with Chiang on the mountain to discuss a
united front against the Japanese invasion. In July 1937, Chiang Kai-shek announced his intention for a full mobilization for
war against Japan from Mount Lu. In 1946, following the war, the U.S. special diplomatic mission led by General
George C. Marshall met with Chiang Kai-Shek to discuss the role of post-World War II China.
Mao Zedong convened three large conferences of senior party officials at Mount Lu, in 1959, 1961, and 1970. The 1959 conference became known as the
Lushan Conference. The meeting saw the purge of decorated
Chinese Civil War and
Korean War general
Peng Dehuai, who was critical of Mao's
Great Leap Forward policies. The 1970 Lushan Conference took place during the
Cultural Revolution, and marked the increasing antagonism between those loyal to Mao and those loyal to his chosen successor
Lin Biao. In 1980 the famous movie
Romance on Lushan Mountain, which was entirely shot on Mount Lu, was released to the public and won considerable positive reception. It was considered as the most progressive film since the founding of
communist China, because there was a kissing scene in the movie, which was seen as public taboo in the pre-
reform and opening up China. It still holds the
Guinness World Record for "the longest first run of a film in one cinema" for having been shown continuously since 1980 until today. Mount Lu has long been associated with religious institutions and literary culture; it appears in Chinese literary and artistic traditions as a site of retreat and contemplation. ==Attractions and features==