[Opinion] Mt. Tai

“No matter how high Mt. Tai is, it is still a mountain under the sky. If you try very hard to climb it, you will surely make it to the summit. However, people just gave up before even trying.” This is a verse from the old famous poem written by a writer of early Joseon Dynasty named Yang Sa-eon (1517~1584). The verse “A Mountain under the Sky” makes many wonder how high the mountain actually is. It is 1,545m tall, lower than Korea’s Mt. Taebaek (1,566m). Nevertheless, Mt. Tai is regarded as the best of the five major mountains in China.

Recently in China, Shandong Province Governor has stirred up controversy by proposing in the National People’s Congress that Mt. Tai be designated as a national mountain. It is assumed that he proposed this because the mountain is in his district. However, his proposal is not that far-fetched given the historic fact that starting from Emperor Qin Shi Huang, Chinese emperors began observing consecration ceremonies at the mountain, and that Confucius famously said, “I stand on the summit of Mt. Tai, and everything down on earth seems very small.” It takes an hour to the mountain from Confucius’ birthplace of Qufu.

It may sound funny, but it is said that the mountain is passed for a sacred mountain among Korea’s politicians, who are eager to become president. They seem to believe that climbing the mountain serves as a consecration ceremony, which may boost their possibility of becoming president. President Roh Tae-woo, who established Korea’s diplomatic relations with China, climbed the mountain, but the one who actually made climbing Mt. Tai popular among presidential hopefuls was President Kim Dae-Jung (DJ). Reportedly, it started to rain in late June 1996 when DJ was going up the mountain in a cable car. A Chinese tourist guide whispered to him, “It is raining and that is an auspicious sign that tells you are going to win the election.” Obviously, rain in China has nothing to do with winning presidential elections in Korea. Since then, however, Korean president candidates, who climb the mountain, pay a lot of attention to weather forecasts.

Former chairman of the Millennium Democratic Party Kim Jung-gwon walked up the mountain back in 2001. He must have hoped for a rainy day, but not a single drop of rain fell from the sky. Former Gyeonggi Province governor Sohn Hak-gyu trekked the mountain last year and heard that he would win the election. He said that he did not climb the mountain to get its energy. However, Sohn did carry out a ritual, hoping for good luck in the race. He said it drizzled like his current popularity in the race.

Kim Chang-hyeok, Editorial Writer, chang@donga.com