Once over one hundred temples were operating simultaneously. Buddhist and Taoist monks lived in harmonious practicing meditation, healing arts Daoyin (Yoga) herbalism and the various modalities of their spiritual practices. Even today there is left behind in the museums a great wealth of poetry, literature, painting and medicinal knowledge as well as martial arts that developed on Mount Emei.
Martial art methods came collectively to be called the Emei Wushu. Many of the arts blend the training methods, sparring techniques, hand forms, and weapon forms of both Buddhist and Taoist styles into one. Traditional Emei Wushu is both Buddhist and Taoist in nature as well as mixture of internal and external martial arts. At the same time, the Emei Wushu has extracted the essence of Shaolin, Wudang and other sects of Northern China.
Many famous body guard families and military men have also visited the Mountain to learn martial arts and later developed their own styles from the eclectic methods that flourished on Emei. In this way hundreds of "hidden" styles, many of which were taught only to member of a family or clan were created, thrived and later disappeared.