Looking for Li Bai’s footsteps in Xuancheng

Traveling in Xuancheng following the footsteps of Li Bai

Written and photographed by Weng Xin

This article was published in The Paper "Private Geography"

Recently Some netizens took a photo of a pile of wine bottles in front of Li Bai's tomb. Once shared on Weibo, it attracted countless emotions. If the photo hadn't later become a hot search, few people would have known that Li Bai's tomb is located at the foot of the Qingshan Mountains in Dangtu County, Anhui Province. In ancient times, Dangtu County was under the jurisdiction of Xuancheng. Li Bai was inextricably linked with Xuancheng, so much so that he spent most of his later years in Xuancheng. Next, let us follow Li Bai's footsteps and visit this "Xuancheng Poet's Place from Ancient Times".

Xuancheng, known as Xuanzhou in ancient times, is located in the southeast of Anhui Province and is the famous hometown of the Four Treasures of the Study. Xuancheng has a long history and a rich collection of people, especially Li Bai who left a lot of footprints and famous poems here in his later years. From the age of 53 to 62, Li Bai visited Xuancheng seven times in the last ten years of his life. It can be seen that he had special feelings for Xuancheng, and all of this was mainly related to one person, that is, Xie Tiao, a poet of the Southern Dynasties.

"I will bow my head in gratitude to Xuancheng all my life", this poem is about Li Bai. Li Bai was proud of his talents throughout his life, but he only admired Xie Zao, a landscape poet of the Southern Qi Dynasty. Xie Tao once served as the prefect of Xuancheng, so he was called "Xie Xuancheng". After Li Bai came to Xuancheng, wherever Xie Zhen visited during his lifetime, Li Bai would definitely leave his footprints again and again.

There is "Xie Tiao Tower" in the urban area of ??Xuancheng City. It was originally Xie Tiao's study when he was the prefect of Xuanzhou. It was later rebuilt into a storey and named after the person. Li Bai visited Xie Tiao many times and wrote poems in memory of Xie Tiao. His two masterpieces, "Ascending Xie Tiao North Tower in Xuancheng in Autumn" and "Farewell to Xie Tiao Tower in Xuanzhou" were both written here. Especially the latter one: "Cut the knife to cut off the water, the water will flow again, raise a cup to relieve the sorrow, the sorrow will become more sorrowful, life is not satisfactory, the Ming Dynasty will make the boat flat", which has become a good saying that has been sung throughout the ages.

As one of the "Four Famous Towers in Jiangnan", Xie Tiao Tower is also an important geographical symbol of traditional poetry and literature. After arriving in Xuancheng, the first stop was to visit Xie Tiao Tower. Xie Tiao Tower is located in the center of Xuancheng, on a hillside in Fushan Square. Next to it is the small Xuancheng Museum. There is also a statue of the poet Xie Tiao in the square. When I came here, I found that this place has become a leisure place for locals. There are many elderly people drinking tea and playing cards here, and the environment is no longer quiet.

The historical Xie Tiao Tower is said to have been well preserved until the Republic of China, but was later destroyed by bombing during the war and turned into ruins. Today's Xie Tiao Tower was rebuilt on the original site in the 1990s, and the Huai Xie Pavilion was rebuilt next to it, but the overall style of the past has not been completely restored.

Xie Tiao Tower is not high, with one and two floors. The building is simple and elegant, and inside it briefly introduces Xie Tiao's life. When you get to the second floor, your view is mostly blocked by residential buildings. In ancient times, when you climbed up to Xie Tiao Tower, you could see Jingting Mountain in the north of the city, so it was also called Beiwang Tower.

"Whoever misses the North Tower will feel grateful to the Duke in the wind." Today's Xie Tiao Tower has long been submerged among the tall buildings in the city. I want to find here the "River City is like a painting, and the mountains are like a river" described in Li Bai's poem. The view of "Looking at the clear sky", or the interest of "The wind blows thousands of miles to send the autumn geese, and you can enjoy the high-rise building", I am afraid it is no longer possible.

Xie Tiao's landscape poetry style, which integrates emotions into the scenery, influenced many poets in the Tang Dynasty. Li Bai's admiration and admiration for Xie Tiao is unparalleled. Some people say that Li Bai saw his own shadow in Xie Tiao. For example, both of them were geniuses and unrestrained, but they both failed in their political careers and could only find solace in the mountains and rivers. And Jingting Mountain, a few kilometers away from Xie Tiao Tower, is the intersection of their spiritual sustenance.

Jingting Mountain is also a must-visit place in Xuancheng, located in the northern suburbs of Xuancheng City. This mountain belongs to a branch of Huangshan Mountain. Its altitude is not high, only more than 300 meters, and it stretches from east to west for more than ten miles. It is said that Xie Tiao visited Jingting Mountain when he had nothing to do. Li Bai not only visited Jingting Mountain many times, but also built a small residence here.

There is a poem to prove it: "Under the Jingting Pavilion in my house, I often succeed Xie Gong's works. Hundreds of years apart, the wind is just like yesterday." It means that following Xie Zao, I also settled down at the foot of Jingting Mountain. Although Xie Gong has been dead for a hundred years, it seems like it was just yesterday when I think of his demeanor - he is a complete fanboy.

Compared with famous mountains and rivers, Jingting Mountain has nothing special about its scenery and style. It is only because the poems "Visiting Jingting Mountain" by Xie Zao in the Southern Qi Dynasty and "Sitting Alone on Jingting Mountain" by Li Bai in the Tang Dynasty have been widely praised. , Jingting Mountain became famous. After Xie Li, poets such as Bai Juyi, Du Mu and Han Yu all came here to recite poems and compose poems, so Jingting Mountain is also known as the "Poetry Mountain in the South of the Yangtze River".

Entering the main entrance of the scenic spot, there is still some distance to the climbing steps. Fortunately, the scenery along the way is good. Nowadays, Jingting Mountain is surrounded by tea fields, and the tea produced has a nice name, Jingting Green Snow.

Along the main road, you will first pass by the twin pagodas of Guangjiao Temple, which are said to be the only existing twin pagodas from the Song Dynasty in China. As we approach the foot of the mountain, there are two newly built temples, Guangjiao Temple to the left and Hongyuan Temple to the right. If you don’t visit the temple, you will pass through Jingting Square and start the official mountain climbing.

Not far along the mountain road, after passing Gu Zhaoting, there is a beautiful stone statue deep in the bamboo forest. She is the legendary "Princess Yuzhen" who practiced Taoism on Jingting Mountain. Not far away is the Acacia Spring, which is said to be evidence of the love between Li Bai and Princess Yuzhen.

Princess Yuzhen was the sister of Li Longji, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty. She had a distinguished status and had many interactions with Li Bai. It was her recommendation that allowed Li Bai to serve in the Hanlin Academy in the capital.

Later, Li Bai offended the powerful and was released from the Imperial Academy. It is said that Princess Yuzhen gave up her title in anger and came to Jingting Mountain to become a female Taoist priest. There are rumors that Li Bai was in love with him, so he had a reason to come to Jingting Mountain seven times. However, there is no official record of this matter, so it cannot be trusted. It could also be a scandal deliberately created by the scenic spot to attract popularity.

After passing Xiangsi Spring, there are Shitao Memorial Hall and Cuiyun Nunnery. After walking uphill for a step without steps, you will see the magnificent "Taibai Alone Tower" in front of you. The name of the building is taken from Li Bai's poem. It is a four-story Tang Dynasty-style building with a spacious exhibition hall to display the footprints Li Bai left in Xuancheng. Although it is not at the top of the highest mountain, standing in front of the building can overlook the whole Xuancheng.

"Sitting Alone on Jingting Mountain" was written in the twelfth year of Tianbao's reign, when Li Bai first came to Xuanzhou at the invitation of his younger brother Li Zhao. Since he was forced to leave Chang'an, he has lived a wandering life for ten years. He climbed Jingting Mountain alone and sat alone for a long time. He was moved by the scene and sang this eternal song very sadly.

"All the birds are flying high, and the lonely cloud is alone. I never tire of looking at each other, only Jingting Mountain."

All the birds have flown away, together with the lonely cloud None of them stayed, only Jingting Mountain looked at him silently, and he also looked at Jingting Mountain, as if he had found a confidant.

At this moment, I am also sitting in Jingting Mountain, experiencing Li Bai's poems. On the surface, this poem describes the scene in front of the poet when he was sitting alone in Jingting Mountain, but it is a technique of blending emotions with the scenery and using the scenery to express emotions. Does the phrase "never tire of looking at each other" in the poem refer to mountains or people? Is it Xie Tiao? Or Princess Yuzhen? I'm afraid only Li Bai himself knows.

The scenic spots in Xuancheng related to Li Bai's poems are mainly famous for the first floor, a mountain and a pool. The building is Xie Tiao Tower, the mountain is Jingting Mountain, and the pool is Peach Blossom Pool.

To go from Xuancheng to Taohuatan, you first need to take a bus to Jingxian, and then transfer from Jingxian to Taohuatan. Jingxian County is a famous rice paper production area. Li Bai, who loved to travel, came to Jingxian County three times and visited almost all the mountains and rivers of Jingchuan River. "The Jingchuan River is three hundred miles away, and there are thousands of beautiful songs." This is what Li Bai wrote when he came to Jingxian County for a tour.

Taohuatan is located in the southwest of Jingxian County, on the bank of Taiping Lake and the upper reaches of Qingyi River. Peach Blossom Pond does not really have peach blossoms, nor is it a real pond. Rather, it specifically refers to the section of the Qingyi River that flows through the town. It is named Tan because of the depth of the water. The fame of Peach Blossom Pond stems from Li Bai's eternal masterpiece "To Wang Lun" dedicated here.

Li Bai came to Peach Blossom Pond because he was actually deceived. According to Yuan Mei, a native of the Qing Dynasty, in his "Suiyuan Poetry Talk": Wang Lun, a famous scholar in Jingxian County, loved Li Bai's poems. When he learned that Li Bai was in Xuancheng, he wrote a letter and warmly invited Li Bai to visit Peach Blossom Pond.

The letter is written like this: "Sir, how do you like traveling? There are ten miles of peach blossoms here. How do you like drinking, sir? There are thousands of hotels here." This letter brought Shixian, who loves to play and drink, to Got fooled. After Li Bai arrived, Wang Lun could only tell the truth. The so-called Ten Miles of Peach Blossom refers to the local place called "Peach Blossom Pond", and Wanjia Hotel refers to the owner of a hotel in the village whose surname is Wan. Li Bai laughed loudly after hearing this, but he was not angry at all. Instead, he was very grateful for Wang Lun's kind invitation, so he sang poetry and wine with Wang Lun by the Peach Blossom Pond, and lingered for several days.

Taohuatan Town, known as Nanyang Town in ancient times, preserves many ancient dwellings with southern Anhui characteristics. The Qingyi River divides Taohuatan Town into two parts, with Zhai Village on the east bank and Wan Village on the west bank. There are ancient pavilions commemorating the poet Li Bai on both banks. Standing on Chencun Chang Bridge and looking at the Qingyi River Pond, the water is bright, the blue waves are empty, the green mountains in the distance are like black, and several village women are washing clothes on the bluestone bank, which is like a scene in a peach blossom garden.

Locals say that to enjoy the most beautiful scenery of Peach Blossom Pond, you have to come after it rains. Because most of the beauty of Peach Blossom Pond is hidden in the mist. After a summer rain, the water vapor in the Qingyi River rises up and floats on the pond, like a misty fairyland. It's a pity that my visit was unlucky and I didn't catch such a scene.

Along the path along the Qingyi River, I went to Zhai Village on the east bank first. It feels like most of the indigenous people in the village have moved out, and many of the old houses have been deserted for a long time because they are uninhabited. The old street in Zhaicun was also deserted when I turned around. There were only a few antique shops open, and some of the shops facing the street had rental and sale numbers written on them. Obviously not many tourists come here, so it is an unpopular attraction.

At the end of Zhaicun Old Street towards the riverside ferry, there is an arched alley gate, above which is the "Tage An Pavilion" in memory of Li Bai. When Li Bai was about to leave on the boat, Wang Lun led his tribe to sing a farewell song. Li Bai thanked Wang Lun for his deep friendship and wrote "To Wang Lun": "Li Bai was about to leave on the boat when he suddenly heard singing on the shore. The water in Peach Blossom Pond is thousands of feet deep. , Not as good as Wang Lun’s gift to me.”

When I first read it, I felt that this poem was simple and straightforward, but also emotionally sincere. Perhaps because of its catchiness, it was widely spread among Li Bai’s poems, and it also became an eternal advertising slogan for Peach Blossom Pond in the future. .

Pass through Tage'an Pavilion and arrive at the ancient ferry on the riverside. From here you can take a boat to Wancun on the west bank of Taohuatan. The main attractions on the West Bank include Huaixian Pavilion commemorating Li Bai, Wang Lun's Tomb, and Wanjia Hotel where they drank. I felt that the scenery on the east coast was enough, so I didn’t buy a ticket to take a boat to the other coast.

To the north of Tage'an Pavilion, there is the Zhai Ancestral Hall, which was built in the Ming Dynasty. In the ancient ancestral hall, I saw more than a dozen dragon boats with different patterns, neatly placed upside down, and then I realized that there is a custom of dragon boat racing in Taohuatan every Dragon Boat Festival.

I thought that maybe next year during the Dragon Boat Festival, I could come here again to watch the dragon boats. If it rains, I might be able to see the dragon boats crossing the misty lake surface. Wouldn't it be beautiful?

Located in the west of Jingxian County, more than ten miles away from Taohuatan, Chaji Ancient Village is the largest ancient village in southern Anhui and is known as the "Secret Land of Southern Anhui". It is on the same tourist route as Peach Blossom Pond, so after visiting Peach Blossom Pond, we took a taxi and went straight to Chaji Ancient Village.

Chaji is surrounded by mountains on three sides. There are lush forests and bamboos on the mountains. There are large fields beside the village. Outside the village, three streams pass through the village. There are more than 100 ancient buildings from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is said that if some painters had not come here to sketch and discovered this place, Chaji might still be hidden deep in the mountains at the northern foot of Huangshan Mountain and unknown to the public.

Speaking of Cha Ji, he is actually closely related to Li Bai. It is said that after Li Bai left Peach Blossom Pond, he went to Chaji Panhuan for a few days, and left behind: "Asked me why I live in the green mountains, I smiled without answering and felt at ease. The peach blossoms disappeared in the flowing water, there is no other world than this world." verse. This poem was written by Li Bai when he was traveling in Chaji Bishan, but because it is not as popular as "A Gift to Wang Lun", many people don't know about it.

The word "Cha" in Cha Ji is pronounced as "zha", because most people in the village have the surname Cha. The people with the surname Cha in Chaji Village moved from Jiyang, Shandong during the Tang Dynasty and have thrived here for more than a thousand years. The Cha surname has a large population and numerous ancestral halls. It is said that there were 108 ancestral halls here in its heyday. Jin Yong also had the surname Cha, which should have some connection with this place.

Nowadays, Chaji is a sketching base for art schools across the country, and many painters have built studios here. Chaji is also called a painter's village. When I came to Chaji, my real feeling was that there were many more students taking pictures here than tourists, and the artistic atmosphere was strong.

In Chaji, what impressed me most was the bridge. The village was built along the river as a whole. To facilitate travel, the villagers of Chaji built many arch bridges, flat bridges and hole bridges along the river. Some of the bridges in Chaji are small and exquisite, some are heavy and have gone through many changes. They are dotted here and there, integrating with the houses. This also creates the artistic conception of the houses here where you can see the river from the door and the bridge from the windows.

Chaji is like a simple and elegant ink painting with profound charm. Walking on the bluestone path in the village is like walking in a natural painting. No wonder Li Bai called this place "a different world than this world" and lingered here, just because Chaji is a place that makes people not want to leave after visiting it.

There is still no conclusion about the dispute between Suiye City in Central Asia and Jiangyou in Sichuan where Li Bai was born. But there is no dispute that Li Bai’s Qingshan Cemetery in Dangtu, Anhui Province. Dangtu County is about 70 kilometers away from Xuancheng City. It belonged to Xuanzhou in the Tang Dynasty and is now under the jurisdiction of Ma'anshan.

It takes about an hour or so to take a bus from Xuancheng to Dangtu, and then transfer to the Taibai Tomb from Dangtu East Station. Li Bai's tomb is located at the western foot of Qingshan Mountain in the southeast of Dangtu County. When Xie Tiao was the prefect of Xuancheng, he loved the scenery of Qingshan Mountain and often traveled and chanted. He also built a house in the south of the mountain (today's Xie Gong Temple), so Qingshan Mountain was also called Xie Gong Mountain. When Li Bai was in Dangtu, he also climbed Qingshan many times to look for the remains of Duke Xie.

Historical records record that Li Bai fell into poverty in his later years. At the age of 61, despite his old age and frailty, he still wanted to join the army to counter the rebellion. However, he was unable to do so due to illness, so he had to seek refuge with his uncle who was the magistrate of Dangtu County at the time. Li Yangbing temporarily lives in Longshan, south of Dangtu City. A year later (winter 762), the poet died of illness at home and was buried in Longshan after his death.

Decades after Li Bai was buried, Fan Chuanzheng, the son of Li Bai's best friend during his lifetime and an observer of history, passed by Dangtu and found Li Bai's granddaughter. He learned that she had a last wish to "live close to Qingshan with Xie Tiao". , they paid for the relocation of Li Bai's bones from Longshan to the foot of Qingshan. Qingshan is a place where the poet Xie Tiao often visited. Moving here is like becoming "neighbors of different generations" with Xie Tiao, and it can also be regarded as fulfilling Li Bai's last wish. This is the reason why Li Bai's tomb is in Dangtu Qingshan.

The Dangtu people have now expanded Li Bai's tomb into the Li Bai Cultural Park. Today's cemetery is complete with pavilions and pavilions. There are Taibai Stele Forest, Taibai Temple, Shiyong Pavilion, Qinglian Pond and other scenic spots. Every year, there is an endless stream of tourists who come to pay their respects and visit.

The Taibai Temple is located at the core of the entire cemetery. There is a statue of Li Bai in his later years in the ancestral hall. There are several steles inlaid on both sides of the wall, including the epitaph written by Fan Chuanzheng and the full text of Li Bai's last work, "Song of Death". Behind Taibai Temple is Li Bai's cemetery. The tomb is round in shape, with luxuriant grass on the protruding tomb, and is surrounded by stone bricks. The stone tablet erected in front of the tomb is "The Tomb of Li Taibai, a famous sage of the Tang Dynasty", which is said to be written by Du Fu. I don’t know if it means “all the sages in ancient times were lonely, only the drinkers left their names.”

I took out the liquor I had prepared, but saw many bottles already placed in front of the tombstone. For thousands of years, Li Bai's tomb has probably never been short of wine. Among poets, only Li Bai can be treated like this. I circled the tomb and sprinkled wine as a sacrifice, and then faced Li Bai's tombstone with my hands together and bowed three times to pay homage to this eternal poetry immortal and wine immortal.

The relationship between Li Bai and Dangtu is very deep. In addition to Li Bai’s tomb in Qingshan, there is also a tomb of Li Bai in Dangtu. Located in the northwest of Dangtu County and on the bank of the Yangtze River, Caishiji is where Li Bai wrote "A Night at Niuzhu Nostalgia".

More than ten kilometers southwest of Dangtu is Tianmen Mountain on the Yangtze River, where Li Bai wrote "Wang Tianmen Mountain". That poem was written in the 13th year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty (725), the year after Li Bai left Shu to visit relatives and travel far. On his way to the east of the Yangtze River by boat, he saw the dangerous situation of Tianmen Mountain and couldn't help but recited "Tianmen interrupts the opening of the Chu River, and the clear water flows eastwards to this point."

The green mountains on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are facing each other, and the solitary sail is approaching the sun." Such a wonderful saying.

That was the first time he passed through Dangtu and did not stop. He was only 26 years old at the time, full of lofty ambitions, and could not stop. He would think that decades later, at the end of his life, Dangtu would be his final resting place. That was his best time, and he didn't need to think about this.