The Sinicization of Buddhism began in the 8th century and lasted until the 12th century. Chinese Buddhism originated in the holy land of India and established the famous Buddhist mountains in China where Bodhisattvas were incarnated, so that Buddhists did not have to go all the way to India for pilgrimage. The formation of the belief in sacred mountains was the best way to localize Buddhism, and Wenshu on Mount Wutai, Guanyin on Mount Putuo, Puxian on Mount Emei, and Dizang on Mount Jiuhua have become famous all over the world, fueled by the legend of spiritual deeds. Among them, Mount Emei, which is located in Xishu (Western Sichuan), became famous overseas in the 1930s through the English translation of the Omei Illus-Trated Guide Book by Draden Linsley Phelps, who was then teaching at West China Union University. It is worth noting that, according to the preface, Phelps’ motivation for translating the book was not only due to his fascination with China’s famous mountains, but also due to the fact that he read a book entitled “Mount Emei Illustrated Guide” by Tan Zhongyue, the literatus in the late Qing Dynest. He saw the book’s blend of historical materials and magical ancient legends, accompanied by pictures and poems, describing Mount Omei in both illustration and text, so he was determined to translate the book. This article is concerned with the book “Mount Emei Illustrated Guide” by Tan Zhongyue (date of birth and death unknown). The book is based on the fact that in the 11th year of the Guangxu Emperor’s reign in Qing Dynasty (1885), Ding Baozhen, the Governor of Sichuan, had submitted a petition to conduct “spring and autumn rituals to offer sacrifices to gods” on Mount Emei and obtained the approval of the imperial court, so he ordered Huang Shoufu (date of birth and death unknown), the Daotai (fourth-ranking official) of Sichuan, to raise funds to build a temple and appointed Tan Zhongyue, a literatus from Hunan who was good at both poetry and painting, to draw a map of the mountain and submit it to the court. In the 13th year of Guangxu Emperor’s reign in Qing Dynasty (1887), Tan drew a general map of Mount Emei, 53 scattered maps, 10 scenic views, and 46 poems, after a field trip and a search of historical materials. The book uses pictures and text to complement each other, and its nature is somewhere between a local journal and a travelogue, specifically outlining the actual scenery of Mount Emei, the place of the Bodhisattva Puxian in the Qing Dynasty, and its research value should not be missed. At present, there are not many studies on this book, and there is no more in-depth analysis. The author believes that as an illustrated book that will be reported to the court, Tan’s graphic strategy of arranging and drawing Mount Emei is worth exploring.
