Mount Emei is a mountain in Sichuan province of Western China. Mt. Emei is one of the Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains of China. The patron bodhisattva of Emei is Samantabhadra, known in Chinese as Puxian. 16th and 17th century sources allude to the practice of martial arts in the monasteries of Mount Emei made the earliest extant reference to the Shaolin Monastery as Chinese boxing's place of origin. A large surrounding area of countryside is geologically known as the Permian Emeishan Large Igneous Province, a large igneous province that erupted during the Permian Period. Mt. Emei was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.
