One of the things I found most troubling at Huashan was, despite the fact that we were hiking up through this gorgeous granite mountain, it rarely felt like we were “in nature.” We were constantly surrounded by thousands of other climbers. Along the way, there were stalls where old folks were selling trinkets.

Most annoying was the need of locals to constantly yell at the mountain every chance they got. Along the steepest part of the climb, hardly a minute went by without someone shouting as loud as they could from some high point. It bothered me because, when hiking, I, like many Americans, enjoy the opportunity to commune with nature. I like to take the opportunity to sit back, be silent and listen to a world that came before human civilization.

The Chinese look at nature differently. They see nature as something that is waiting to be filled with human activity, something that is waiting for civilization. Shouting allows them to pour human activity into those parts of nature that are still untouched. This view of nature is not really all that different from the pre-Romantic view of nature, pre-nineteenth century. If you look at early texts from American Literature, nature is a place of darkness waiting to have its trees chopped down, waiting for the light to be brought into it. The only difference is that Americans and other Westerners have let go of this perspective while the Chinese are still holding on to it.

Don’t miss a single video from our adventure. Click the red Youtube button below to subscribe!