Five Great Mountains are considered sacred. In addition, Taoists consider mountains as a means of communication between heaven and earth and as the place where immortality can be found. The sanctity of the Five Great Mountains is the reason why even today these mountains still host an exceptional diversity of plants, trees and animal species. East Great Mountain: Tài Shān "Tranquil Mountain" () Shāndōng Province, West Great Mountain: Huà Shān "Splendid Mountain" () Shaanxi Province (Shănxī), South Great Mountain: Héng Shān (Hunan) "Balancing Mountain" (), Húnán Province, North Great Mountain: Héng Shān (Shanxi) "Permanent Mountain" (), Shānxī Province, In the course of history, there had been more than one location with the designation for Mount Heng, the North Great Mountain. The Great Northern Mountain was designated on the original Mount Heng with the main peak known as Mount Damao () today, located at the intersection of present-day Fuping County, Laiyuan County and Tang County in Hebei province. Mount Heng was renamed Mount Chang () to avoid the taboo of sharing the same personal name as Emperor Wen of Han. The appellations Heng and Chang were used extensively in the past to name various districts in the region, such as Changshan Prefecture (), Hengshan Prefecture (), and Hengzhou (). While it was customary of the ethnic Han emperors to order rites to be performed regularly to honour the Five Great Mountains, the location of the original Mount Heng meant that for much of the eras of fragmentation, the region was either under non-Han rulers or a contested area. The shrines built to perform the rites were neglected and damaged from time and natural disasters. The decline was especially acute after the overthrow of the Yuan Dynasty when the local population fell sharply after the wars. This created opportunities for Ming Dynasty officials who were natives of Shanxi to spread rumours that the spirit of Mount Heng had abandoned the original location and settled on Xuanwu Mountain in Hunyuan County in Shanxi. Between the reigns of Emperor Hongzhi and Emperor Wanli, they kept petitioning the emperors to declare the change and decree for the rites for the Northern Great Mountain to be shifted there. In 1586, Emperor Wanli opted a compromise by re-designating the Xuanwu Mountain as Mount Heng, but ordered the relevant rites to continue to be performed in the historic Beiyue Temple. The movement for the change persisted after the