The Purple Heaven Palace under Flattering Flag Cliff shrouded in the mists of heaven. Most of more than 600 buildings built 618 to 1279 were destroyed during the Qing (1644-1911). The red walls of the temples and palaces that endure are made of cornhusks, pig’s hair and wormwood. Vast restoration projects have also been undertaken.

A Daoshi master swordsman performs for tourists and will disappoint or dazzle in proportion to meagre or generous offerings. After a long life of diligent and austere practice this 79 years old can throw the sword 15 feet into the air, spin around and catch it, and he can balance on one foot with the other foot stretched above his nose and his sword over his head.

Westerners practice Wudang style Wu Shu (martial arts) forms in the courtyard of the Zixiao Palace (also known as Purple Heaven Palace). The Zixiao Palace is located at the foot of Zhanqi Peak -- the highest peak in the Wudang Mountain Range, Hubei Province. First built in the eleventh year (1413) of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Zixiao Palace is one of the well-preserved ancient palace complexes of Wudang Shan.

In the "period of great prosperity" (Qing & Ming dynasties) more than 10,000 Daoshi lived at Wudang Shan. Pilgrims from all over China traveled the wilderness on foot to consult and worship the immortal Daoshi in Wudang’s verdant mountains blessed with thousands of medicinal plant species. The Daoshi practiced martial arts to protect themselves from wild beasts, bandits and rogue warriors, and the physical exertion was also essential to overcoming and surviving harsh weather.

Three young Taoist monks meditating on their smart phones at Prince Slope Palace.

Macaque monkeys are influenced by tourists on the footpath in Macaque Valley on the long walk to the summit through Wudang Shan's Ramble Valley. Some monkeys have been captured and are chained in an area near the boardwalk; others come down from the forest drawn by tourists with food sold for feeding them or to commiserate with the macaques that are captive there.

Master Chen Shi Yu leads a class in the courtyard of one of Wudang's many Taoist martial arts schools.

The monasteries in the Purple Gold City once housed thousands of Taoist monks and nuns. The living quarters of the monks and nuns are today off limits to outsiders.

The bronze ornamentation and statuary at the temple high atop Heaven’s Pillar Peak is deeply symbolic in the Taoist tradition, worshipped by pilgrims who trek to the top. The story goes that grandmaster Zhang Sanfeng was seeking a deeper wisdom and understanding of movement and silence in martial arts forms, when one day he witnessed a battle between a crane and a snake, and in the subtlety and deftness of their movements he found the secrets to the flow, grace and power of Wudang Shan style Wu Shu (Taijiquan, Qi Gong, Tai Chi and other martial arts forms).

A Taoist priest studies ancient texts while pilgrims bow before him in the Golden Palace temple at the top of Heaven's Pillar Peak.

Pilgrims on the peak of Supreme Harmony prostrate and pray in the Taoist tradition, making the rounds to each of the significant prayer sites, honoring and revering the ancient Taoist relics and deep history.

The sun dries the simple garb of Taoist priests and nuns who live on the mountain.

Pilgrims carrying gifts and prayers to placate the Gods and procure the blessing of immortality make the difficult trek up the thousands of stone stairs, and they must stand in queues (here and there) that get longer and longer as the national holidays approach.

A misanthropic hermit lives in squalor on a ledge of Purple Cloud cliff. He does not speak, only gestures, grunts and smiles, and the cave-ledge where he sleeps and eats and hordes refuse drops sharply off into the void with nothing to keep him safe from falling.

A tourist from Beijing checks her cell phone at a KODAK photo booth on the path to the Golden Summit.

The corn harvest dries in the sun at a peasant's courtyard in the little village in the shadow of Returning Dragon Temple -- an unrestored temple destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

The peasant farmer who provides the food for the monastery at Purple Heaven Palace lives in extreme poverty in a cement hovel overlooking the terraced fields he keeps behind Purple Heaven Palace.

The "bee master", perhaps the oldest of Wudang's Daoshi , who lives on Fluttering Flag Cliff, where he studies the Tao in seclusion. This Daoshi is increasingly interrupted by more and more tourists wanting to see how he lives and his hive of bees kept in a dilapidated cupboard at his cave-shrine. The "bee master" is Xian: immortal, a shaman, a saint, a modern day Lao Tzu. His given name is Zha. “Everything is void.” Daoshi Zha gestures to everything around him. “In reality, everything, all of this, is not there. And that means, when the time comes, wisdom is there. Once your eyes are opened, you see nothing but the void.”

The Prince Slope Temple complex was constructed in 1412, in Ming Dynasty, and this is where the prince of JingLe County first came to practice alchemy. The sacred title "Zhen Wu" was bestowed on him and Mt. Wudang is also named after him. The entire temple complex was constructed according to local mountain slope patterns and zigzag walls flow along the mountain's surface.

The martial arts students at Master Chen Shi Yu's school practice Wu Shu, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Taiji Quan, sitting meditation, calligraphy, music -- seeking Kung Fu (mastery of a skill through harmony, balance and perfection) in all things.

A young student works out alone, during his free time, outside his dormitory room at Master Chen Shi Yu's school in one of Wudang's lower mountain villages.

Sunset over the Southern Grotto Palace bespeaks the profound natural beauty of Wudang Shan.

Two young monks hold discussion in the public space of the Purple Gold Palace. Taoist precepts and philosophy are amongst the many topics engaged by the ascetics living in relative seclusion at Wudang Shan.

Tourists find plenty of fresh colorful subjects high atop the Mountain of Supreme Harmony. The weather can be very uncooperative: many days the clouds or fog envelope the high peak.