CHINA'S FIVE CARDINAL MOUNTAINS.

The Five Great Mountains (Wu Yue) are arranged according to the five cardinal directions, which includes the center as a direction.
The grouping of the five mountains appeared during the Warring States period (475BC-221BC), and the term 'Wu Yue' (Five Summits) was made famous during the reign of Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty 140-87BC.
In Chinese traditional religion they have cosmological and theological significance as they represent on the physical plane of earth the natural order emanating from the primordial force of Creation, Tian-Shangdi. Tian is one of the oldest terms for heaven and a key concept in mythology, philosophy, and religion. Shanddi is the term for "Supreme Deity" or "Highest Deity" in the theology of classical texts.
The Wu'Fang Shangdi (Wu'Di), "Five Forms of the Highest Deity" are the five main deities proceeding from the universal God. They have cosmological significance as they describe space as an "altar"(Tan).
They have a celestial, and a terrestrial and a chthonic form. The method of understanding their language  in an attempt to gain insight into a question or situation was done by an standardized process that involved markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rock, or sand.
The Han Dynasty identified themselves as the descendants of the Red and Yellow deities. The legend says that the deities or forces were enemies who fought each other in the physical realm. In the Battle of Ban'Quan, the Yan Emperor (Flame) and the  Huang'Di (Yellow Thearch) fought the first battle in Chinese history on a nearby plains, and is credited for the formation of the Huaxia tribe (basis of the Han civilization).
The first legendary sovereigns of China went on excursions or formed processions to the summits of the Five Great Mountains. Every visit took place at the same time of the year. Then the First Emperor of Qin (18 February, 259BC-10 September, 210BC), in a unified China, formalized these expeditions and incorporated them into a state ritual. With every new dynasty, the new emperor hurried to the Five Great Mountains in order to lay claim to his new acquired domains. This imperial custom was preserved until the end of the last dynasty (Qing) in 1911.
Qin also followed the school of the Five Elements -Earth, Wood, Metal, Fire, and Water. The element of his date of birth was Water, connected with the color Black. It was believed that the royal house of the previous dynasty Zhou (followed the Shang and lasted longer than any other in China history) had ruled by the power of Fire, which was the color Red. The cycle established that the next royal house must be ruled by the next element on the list. Black became the color for garments, flags, pennants. Other associations include North as the cardinal direction, Winter season, and the number 6. While the previous Warring States era was one of constant warfare, it was also a golden age of free thought. Qin eliminated the Hundred School of Thoughts and all other schools of thought were banned. Legalism became the endorsed ideology, which was basically a system that required people to follow the laws or be punished accordingly. To avoid scholars' comparisons of his reign with the past, Qin ordered most existing books to be burned with the exception of those on astrology, agriculture, medicine, divination, and the history of his own State. This was done with the purpose of furthering the ongoing reformation of the writing system by removing examples of ancient  and for him obsolete scripts. Owning the Book of Songs or the Classic of History was to be punished severely. Qi had some 460 scholars buried alive for owning the forbidden books. His oldest son criticized him for that action. Later in his life, Qin feared death and desperately sought the fabled elixir of life. he was obsessed with it and fell prey to many who offered him supposed elixirs. Reportedly, he died from elixir poisoning due to ingesting mercury pills, made by his own alchemists and court physicians in an attempt to preserve his life.
Now the Five Great Mountains are the places where formal sacrifices have been resumed in Confucian and Taoist styles. They have become places of pilgrimage where hundreds of pilgrims gather in temples and caves.There are also various Buddhists temples and Confucian academies built on these mountains.