The ancient Chinese often deemed some high mountains they saw or imagined as roads to Heaven. When Emperor Yongle constructed buildings in the Wudang Mountains, he planned the path to the mountaintop into three parts: Earth, the Celestial Mountain and Heaven, with the Golden Palace at the centre, based on stories about Zhenwu Emperor in Taoist scriptures.

Taoism believes that “the ways of men are conditioned by those of Earth. The ways of Earth, by those of Heaven. The ways of Heaven, by those of Tao, and the ways of Tao, by the Self-so”. Making each building part of the harmonious whole of Man, Earth and Heaven is one of the ideas the “Sacred Paths” of the Wudang Mountains suggest.