Wulaofeng mountaineering festival is an event combining sightseeing and fitness activities. It is themed as a “national fitness project” so as to encourage people to walk outdoors and embrace nature. It gradually develops an atmosphere in which people grow fond of sports and keep fit and healthy across the city, province even the region. In May 2000, a mountaineering contest, organized by Yongji Sports Committee and Wulaofeng Company, was held in the Wulaofeng Mountain. More than 2000 civil servants in Yongji took part in this event, which was the beginning of the mountaineering festival. In April 2001, the first Wulaofeng Mountaineering Festival, organized by Yuncheng Municipal Party Committee Publicity Department, Yuncheng Sports Committee, Yongji Sports Committee Publicity Department, Yongji Sports Committee, took place and welcomed over 200 athletes from 13 counties, cities and districts of Yuncheng.
On April 25, 2002, the second Wulaofeng Mountaineering Festival opened. It was jointly sponsored by the Publicity Department of Yuncheng Municipal Party Committee, Yuncheng Municipal Sports Bureau, Yuncheng Municipal Tourism Bureau and Yongji Municipal People's Government. Nearly 500 participants in 42 teams signed up. They are from 13 counties (urban districts) of Yuncheng, and also Weinan (in Shaanxi), Sanmenxia (in Henan) and the national senior teams. The running competition starts from Zhongyukou to Wulao Temple. The whole course is 7.3km, forming a standard track. This event went beyond mere mountaineering, it also included mountaineering challenge, mountaineering treasure hunt, mountaineering exploration, art performance, mountain parade, and so on.
In 2003, despite the impact of SARS, the Organizing Committee of the third Wulaofeng Mountaineering Festival took flexible measures by decentralizing and dividing participants into batches to carry on the activities. In 2004, Wulaofeng Mountaineering festival was issued as “Shanxi Venue of National Mass Fitness Mountaineering Conference” by National Sports Administration. In the same year, nearly 800 participants of 62 delegations joined the event organized by Shanxi Sports Bureau and Shanxi Tourism Bureau.
In 2005, the fifth Wulaofeng Mountaineering Festival expanded its original scope by including more competition items such as mass long-distance running around the city, and Chinese chess. Therefore, it was awarded the “National Pioneer Unit of Mass Mountaineering Activities”in the same year.
In April 2010, the National Mountaineering and Fitness Convention (Shanxi venue) and the 10th Wulaofeng Mountaineering Festival were held in the theme of “Advocating National Fitness, Displaying Yellow River Culture, Building Sports Brands and Uplifting City Level”. Substantiate support were provided by a number of authoritative institutions, such as the mountaineering management center of the State Administration of Sports, the Provincial Sports Bureau, the Provincial Mountaineering Outdoor Sports Associations and governments at all levels. On April 25, Shanxi TV held a grand opening ceremony performance. Meanwhile, more than a thousand mountaineering enthusiasts from Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Tibet as well as foreign friends gathered together for the challenge of mountaineering.
