About a 10-hour bus ride from Wuhan is the Wudangshan mountain range. The first Daoist temple there, the "Five Dragon Temple," was built 1,300 years ago during the Tang Dynasty. In the 15th century, the Ming emperor sent 300,000 soldiers and workers there to build 160 monasteries, temples, pavilions, and other structures. It took them more than 10 years to complete the construction. The area then became a major center of Daoism. Although many of the old structures decayed in the following centuries, there are still many well-preserved temples.

Tai chi originated in Wudangshan as a martial art; it has been transformed over the centuries into a sort of meditative dance.