Source: Haigang District Today
Editor’s comments:
As an important tourist city, Haigang District is surrounded by the mountains and the sea with beautiful scenery and mild climate all the year round. There are not only natural landscapes such as magnificent peaks and lucid waters, ancient trees and wild flowers, but also cultural landscapes such as the Great Wall, temples, ports, and castles, which are precious heritages that have been gifted by the nature and our ancestors. In fact, many of the scenery in Haigang District had long been famous in ancient times, which were favored and praised by the literati. Famous landscapes such as “24 Scenic Spots of Linyu” and “8 Scenic Spots of Shimen” have been recorded in the ancient books like Linyu County Annals. What exactly do these ancient beautiful landscapes look like? Where are they hiding? Is there any value in re-development now? In order to find out the answers to these questions, the Publicity Department of the District Party Committee organized media and experts to search for a month. This column Looking for the Beautiful Scenery of Qinhuangdao will show you the beautiful natural scenery and rich cultural heritage of Haigang District.
There are countless legends about the dragon, a fetish in ancient Chinese myths. It is said that there lived a dragon in Shimenzhai Town, where is called the “Dongyin Longqiu”(A dragon used to live in a the pond of the cave)
Qiu means the pond, the literal meaning of “Dongyin Longqiu” is the pond where the dragon used to live. Guided by the locals, we found a cave in the Liangjia Mountain. There are several artificial steps in the cave and a small platform 3-5 meters below the ground on which five or six people can stand.
It was so dark that we could not see anything inside the cave even with the faint flashlight on the mobile phone. The pond was several meters in front of us, and we didn’t know how deep it was. The ground was very humid and covered with mud. We couldn’t move forward in case of falling down and retreated.
“Dongyin Longqiu” is located in Liangjia Mountain. The entrance of the cave is now in a factory yard.
Wherever there are legends of dragons or immortals, there are stories of adventures: It is said that in the 25th year of Emperor Qianlong (1760 AD), Cheng Xibo and his friend Diao Gong visited here, and a servant named Liu Tai followed them. Cheng and Diao focused on the situation inside the cave and ignored the servant Liu Tai, who was lost somehow.
They searched the whole cave but failed to find him, They cried out outside and Liu Tai stumbled out of the cave after a while, with his eyes opened and mouth mumbled.
They asked Liu Tai what had happened, and Liu Tai said in his shock, “The cave was very dark when I went in. After walking ten steps, I found I was suddenly in an open space. I saw the stone steps and went down. It was very flat and wide, but there was a big river on my way, and I can hear the sound of the water. I wanted to come out but I was lost and very worried. Suddenly an old man appeared and led me to the entrance of the cave, and then I heard your shouting of my name and came out of the cave finally.”
Everyone was surprised on his story. Liu Tai fell ill when he returned home, and didn’t recover until more than a month later.
Broken walls of the old house in front of the cave entrance
The ancient literati described it differently when they visited the “Dongyin Longqiu”.
Wang Yishi, a poet of the Qing Dynasty described in his poem “There are beautiful flowers at the north gate of Shimen City, and a spacious area inside the deep of the cave, where two springs flowing out, and the scenery outside the cave was very beautiful with green willows and pines. I want to play the flute to wake the dragon which was sleeping at the bottom of the pond”.
This means that when he went there, the entrance of the cave was lower, and there were two springs flowing out. He played the flute to show his bravery, and he was shocked by the beautiful scenery.
Gao Jinrong, a poet in Qing dynasty, sat at Taoran Pavilion on the top of Liangjiashan , and wrote: “The pavilion is in the north, all the sceneries around the pavilion are picturesque. I look down upon the green field just like embroideries of the farmers. I look up to the sky and feel so close to the sun. The clouds are floating with colorful sunshine and there are green lands between the blue sky and vast sea. Visitors shouldn’t speak aloud, otherwise the dragon would be awake under the rocks of the pond.
When he sat near the entrance of the cave, he wrote “I heard that there was a dragon which used to live in the pond, and today I came here to make it clear”. The legend said “There used to be dark clouds filled the entrance of the cave near the cliff of the mountain. I sat here to feel the strong wind blowing and to hear the water roaring from the pond.”
Gao Jinrong, a peer of Wang Yishi made a different description on the clouds and waters in his poems when he was standing on the top of the Liangjia Mountain and sat near the entrance of the cave, in which he created a mysterious and horrifying atmosphere.
Li Songyun, another poet in the Qing Dynasty, depicted a tranquil scene at night, he wanted to seek for the “dragon’s roaring”, and at last he enjoyed the sound of the water as the music of nature.
The entrance of the “Dongyin Longqiu”
We haven’t heard the sound of the water because of the limited time and the noise of too much people. But we can draw a conclusion according to the ancient records that the so-called “dragon’s roaring” in the cave is the sound of the waterfall. The reason why the sounds are different in different ancient people’s ears is because of the sound of flowing water caused by different amount of precipitation.
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