Posts Tagged qutang gorge
The Legend of Baidi (White Emperor)
Posted by act2009 in Yangtze Folk Legends on July 6th, 2009
It has a true and interesting story behind Baidi town, near Qutang Gorge of the Three Gorges. In 25 AD, China was in the age of political chaos. Peasant army overthrew the Western Han Dynasty, but a new regime had not been established yet. A local military general, Gongsun Shu (公孙述) sundered some part of southwest China, waiting for political situation change.
It was said that one night Gongsun had a dream, a man told him “You can be an emperor reigning for twelve years”. When he woke up, he felt very mysterious. While he was walking in his courtyard in the morning on the following day, he saw white smoke wafted from the well. It looked like a flying dragon that flied up in the sky. Gongsun Shu thought that it was a good omen for him to be an emperor. Therefore, Gongsun held a ceremony, enthroned himself the emperor and called Baidi, literally “White Emperor”. He christened city established at the mouth of Qutang Gorge “Baidi City” and deployed troops.
One of the good friends of Gongsun Shu, Ma Yuan, was a man of great ability. He heard about the good news of Gongsun, he hurried from far away to visit and wanted to aid him. By Ma’s surprise, Gongsun deliberately displayed arrogant attitude to his long time friend. He ordered subordinates to make civilian costume for him to attend a ceremony, which was grandiose with royal guards and imperial officials would cheer. Ma would be honored marquis by the emperor and commanded the army of the country. The guests who accompanied Ma Yuan were so happy and wanted to stay with him, but he said, “Now the world is very chaotic and who will be unifying the state has not been decided yet. Gongsun Shu does not know how to welcome talents humbly but just pay a lot of attention to tedious ceremonial details. He is a giant puppet indeed. How can he preserve true heroes besides him?” He made up his mind to leave.
Meanwhile, Liu Xiu had established the Eastern Han Dynasty in Luoyang of central China to unify the state. He wrote a letter to Gongsun Shu, told him to analyze the political situation and surrender. However, Gongsun Shu thought that he was the emperor that he could not surrender. He refused the advice from Liu. In 37 AD, Liu Xiu sent troops to attack Gongsun, who died during the fighting.
Gongsun Shu had been emperor for twelve years and eventually killed. However, before he enthroned, he had already ruled China’s southwest region for about 16 years. During his rule, it was quite stable and not affected by the fierce wars fought in middle China. When Gongsun Shu was an emperor, he developed agriculture and water conservancy, which were benefit to his subjects. Therefore, in memory of Gongsun, local people built Baidi Temple in Baidi City.
Fengjie County
Posted by act2009 in Three Gorges on June 29th, 2009
Build up area of Fengjie County, Chongqing
The ancient and rich cultural Fengjie County (奉节县) is located in the east of the Chongqing City, bordering the Wushan County to the east and Hubei Province to the south. It has a history of about 2,400 years. The county takes up an area of 4099 sq. km, a mountainous region, which about 88 percent of land is high ground. The highest point in Fengjie County is 2123 meters above sea level while the lowest is the 86 meters, where it is the gap of the Qutang Gorge, before the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, to which the water will be storing up here.
The majestic Qiyao Mountain is divided by the great Yangtze River, so the famous Qutang Gorge is formed here. The farther from the river, the higher the elevation, and the craggy mountains and the big river make the scene so eye-catching. Fengjie’s climate is typically sub-tropical monsoon with high relative humidity and high summer temperature, but the higher the elevation, the lower the annual average temperature.
Fengjie County is also known as the Poem City. Many eminent Chinese poets, such as Wang Wei, Li Po, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Su Shi (Su Dongpo), and Su Zhe had been there and they left many moving poems to chant the beautiful scenery of the county in Yangtze River.
Baidi Town
Posted by act2009 in Three Gorges on June 21st, 2009
Baidi Town architecture
Baidi is a famous small town located near the mouth of Qutang Gorge in Fengjie County, Chongqing Municipality. In the county, boats sailing on the upper reaches of Yangtze River go downstream smoothly. There are ancient Chinese style houses among the dense, green forest, which is on the high hill located on the northern bank of the river. This is Baidi Town in the Three Gorges area.
The east of the town faces the Kuimen Gate (夔门), the west the Eight Battle Formation Diagram and Baidi Town is like a peninsular in Yangtze River. It had also been a place of strategically importance. A legend goes that Gongsun Shu established this small town in late Han Dynasty for storing grains. He wanted to be a king for a long time, so he ordered his servants distributed such an information that there was always white gas emitted from a downtown well, which looked like a white flying dragon (in general, in ancient China the appearance of dragon was an auspicious prediction). Thereafter Gongsun Shu became the King in 25 AD and called himself Baidi (”bai” = white and “di” = emperor) Emperor, so this town was named after him. In 37AD, Liu Xiu, the Founding Emperor of the East Han Dynasty attacked Shu State and Gongsun Shu failed and died. When Gongsun reigned as an emperor, he developed agricultural and water conservancy works, which were benefit to his people. Later, the local established a temple to commemorate him, and this was Baidi Temple.
The Baidi Temple
In 222 AD, Liu Bei failed in the battle against Eastern Wu State in Three-Kingdom period. Since then, Liu Bei was ill until his death. He made up his will and requested his Prime Minister Zhuge Liang to bring up his son. Therefore, Baidi Temple honored Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang with their golden-gilt statues. However, it is quite strange to see without the Baidi emperor, because his statue has been removed during the Ming Dynasty.
The temple also displays cultural relics discovered from the Hanging Coffins in Qutang Gorge, 73 stone tablets of ancient calligraphy and about 1,000 pieces of heritage from different dynasties.
After the completion of the Three Gorges Dam Project, Baidi Town will become an island in Yangtze River due to the increasing level of water. The island will be looked like a heavenly fairyland.
Qutang Gorge
Posted by act2009 in Three Gorges on June 8th, 2009
Qutang Gorge, China
Qutang Gorge (瞿塘峡), also known as Kui Gorge (夔峡), runs eight kilometers from Baidi city in Fengjie County in the west to Daxizhen in Wushan County, Chongqing Municipality. Although this is the shortest gorge among the three, it is nevertheless the most spectacular. As soon as the roaring Yangtze River rushes into the gorge, it meets head-on with the imposing Kuimen Gate. Mountains rise perpendicularly like walls on both sides of the river squeezing the broad surface into a narrow ribbon threading its way along the gorge. Here the width of the river is reduced less than 200 meters and the narrowest spots are no more than a few dozen meters across while the principal peaks on the banks rise up to 1,500 meters. The turbulent water flowing in the deep valley, which has a continuous line of peaks erected along make for a spectacular vision.
Kuimen, Qutang Gorge, China
There are many historical sites in Qutang Gorge. On a hilltop of the north bank sits the town of Baidi city, where boasts of many rare relics. On the south bank are the pink Whitewashed Wall covered with carved inscriptions, the legendary Meng Liang’s Ladder, the Upside Down Monk, Amour Cave and the sweet-tasting Phoenix-Drinking Fountain in a deep cave. Also on the south bank, not far from downstream, is a very strange-looking peak standing by the river; it is called the Rhinoceros Watching the Moon because it looks like a rhinoceros. Moreover, outside the Qutang Gorge, there is the site of Da Xi Culture Heritage, where archeologists will find interesting.
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