In the northernmost town in Guangdong, there is the magical Jinji Ridge and a beautiful legend

Northern Guangdong, Pingshi Town.

Pingshi Town is the northernmost town in Guangdong, located in Lechang City, Shaoguan. It is the junction of Guangdong and Hunan. It has been the first stop south to Guangdong since ancient times.

When we arrived in Pingshi that day, it was already late and we checked into the Yuebei Hotel in the town. After breakfast the next day, we drove to Jinjiling in Pingshi Town.

Pingshi Town is the hub of north-south transportation. It is known as the "First Town in Lingnan" and once had a prosperous history. But after passing Pingshi Ancient Street, I couldn't see any bustling atmosphere. The buildings with gray stone exteriors along the street; the old man setting up a stall on the street to buy peanut candies; and the little dog wagging its tail next to the snack shop are very similar to scenes from the 1980s and 1990s.

It takes more than ten minutes to drive from the hotel to Jinjiling. Jinjiling is a 3A scenic spot with a ticket price of 40 yuan.

Jinjiling is one of the eight famous mountains in Guangdong Province. It was named because there is a red boulder in the mountain that looks like a golden rooster. Jinji Stone is also the most representative attraction and landmark in Pingshi Town.

1 The peculiar Yizi Peak

Buy a ticket from the gate and go up the mountain along the stone steps. Follow the route instructions, go left to reach Yizi Peak, and go to the right to reach Jinji Ridge.

Let’s climb Yizi Peak first. After twenty minutes of walking on the mountain road, we climbed to the coordinates of the highest peak of 338 meters. After passing the pavilion on the top of the mountain, we walked on a stone road and arrived at the dangerous peak of the cliff. The stone cliff in front becomes narrower and narrower. When we walk to the front, the narrowest point is only about two or three meters. Looking around, I saw the cliffs on both sides were like tofu cubes cut with a knife, vertical and isolated. Many people did not dare to get close to look at it, so they could only carefully protect the iron railings on both sides and walk step by step to the sudden cliff.

Standing on the Yizifeng cliff, looking across is the famous Pai Gang. A whole row of Danxia cliffs lies in front of you like a row of huge city walls. , looks like the Gobi desert, majestic and desolate, spectacular.

The beautiful scenery should be taken aerially. I started the drone and turned on the selfie mode. Under the camera, we were waving our hands and singing "The Ordinary Road" to record this wonderful scene.

The drone flew higher and higher, and our figures became smaller and smaller. Under the sky, there were clusters of green peaks, overlapping peaks like screens, and the red cliffs stood like a majestic city wall among the green mountains. between ridges.

The Yizi Peak we are on is like a knife sticking out of the jungle, and we are standing on the blade! In front of the majestic mountains and rivers, we are as small as the wild grass and wild flowers on the roadside.

In many people’s minds, Guangdong is a province dominated by hills and plains. Why does this sudden Danxia wonder appear?

"The yellow crane cannot fly, and the ape is trying to survive its sorrow." If the poet Li Bai climbed to the Yizi Peak, he might have expressed this emotion again.

2 The legendary Golden Rooster

After visiting Yizifeng, we turned back and turned right to reach the Golden Rooster.

When I first saw the golden chicken stone, I couldn't help but marvel at the magic of nature. Standing in the precipitous cliff is a huge red sandstone rock. It is made up of three naturally stacked rocks. It looks like a golden rooster looking north with its head raised and its neck eager to hoof. It is about 8 meters high from the comb to the chicken's feet. The length from beak to tail is about 20 meters, and the body is about 4 meters wide. The image is lifelike. The shape and direction of this golden chicken stone are very similar to the geographical map of China. This masterpiece of nature is really fascinating.

In the nearby valley, on a huge cliff, there are stone carvings of three major myths in my country: "Pangu opened the sky and split the earth", "Nuwa mended the sky", and "Houyi shot the sun". Each stone sculpture is 14 meters high and 20 meters wide. It is the largest cliff stone sculpture in Guangdong Province. The stone sculptors left exquisite artistic crystallization on the magnificent rock wall, which can be called a stroke of genius.

Jinjiling has a dangerous terrain and has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. It is said that during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Hong Xiuquan’s sister Hong Xuanjiao once stationed troops here for training.

Many relics about Hong Xuanjiao are still preserved on the mountain. There is a statue of Hong Xuanjiao in the military training ground, and next to it is a cave for collecting weapons. Weapon Rock is also known as the Bie Cave. Later generations added a set of stone carvings in the cave to record the history of Hong Xuanjiao's stationed in Jinjiling to fight against the Qing Dynasty.

Due to the dangerous terrain of Jinjiling, it has been a strategic location in history. In addition to Hong Xuanjiao of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom stationing troops here, opposite Jinji Ridge is the 7011 Project that Lin Biao presided over the construction of.

Looking from Jinji Ling, you can see the winding Wujiang River in front of you, flowing from Hunan into Guangdong. The houses in Pangshi Town are built around Jinji Ling. When you climb up and look far, you can have an unobstructed view of the town.

3 Beautiful Legends

However, laying the golden eggs in Jinjiling, Guangdong did not bring much prosperity to Pingshi.

Although Guangdong is the largest economic province in the country, currently only the Pearl River Delta is rich and developed, while the vast eastern Guangdong, western Guangdong and northern Guangdong regions are still very poor. Because Pingshi is far away from the economic center of Guangdong and is farther from Lechang City than to Yizhang County in Hunan Province, it is difficult to receive industrial radiation from the Pearl River Delta.

The Danxia landform in Jinjiling is very spectacular, but due to lack of financial investment, many facilities in the scenic area look messy and aging, and the tourism experience is not perfect.

Thinking of that beautiful legend, I really hope that the golden chicken stone can also lay a golden egg for Pingshi Town and bring prosperity to the local area and even the entire northern Guangdong.