Dangping Ridge Stele

Dangping Ridge Stele

The Dangping Ridge Stele is a cultural tourism attraction.

The “Dangping Ridge” Stele. Erected at the border between Jiangyuan District of Baishan City and Lao Ridge in Linjiang City, there are currently two steles. The stele head, stele peak, and stele base have survived to this day. The top is carved with a “double dragon” design and inscribed with the characters “Huang Qing” (Imperial Qing), erected in 1908 (the 34th year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty) by the Qing government to commemorate the completion of the road from Lao Ridge to Linjiang.

The stele is 40 kilometers from Baishan City. One of the steles features an inscription written and calligraphed by Xu Shichang. The stele stands 2.45 meters tall in total, with the stele head measuring 0.68×0.08 meters in a rectangular shape, the main body of the stele being 1.24 meters tall, 0.64 meters wide, and 0.2 meters thick. The inscription is written vertically from left to right in regular script, with elegant and graceful characters, flowing and free. The text consists of 21 lines, typically 35 characters per line when full, with some lines containing 37 characters, totaling 591 characters, all clearly legible. The second stele features an inscription titled “Dangping Ridge Stele Record” co-authored by Zhang Fengtai and Li Tingyu, with the main text comprising 593 characters and the reverse side 115 characters, totaling 608 characters.

In the 34th year of the Guangxu reign, to consolidate the frontier and resist foreign invasion, the Qing government established the administration of Changbai Prefecture. Xu Shichang, the Qing imperial envoy, who also held the titles of Minister of the Army, Censorate Censor, Director of the Imperial Tombs Affairs, Head of the Imperial Household Department, and Governor-General of the Three Eastern Provinces concurrently managing military affairs of the three provinces, appointed Zhang Fengtai, the Chief Administrator of Changbai Prefecture, and Li Tingyu, the Magistrate of Linjiang County, to oversee the construction of the Linjiang section of the Linjiang–Changbai–Hailong military road. At that time, Badaojiang was just a small town, and the road to Linjiang was merely a narrow path. Moreover, the area of Laoyeling was covered with dense underbrush, vast and boundless—such had been the case for thousands of years. It was truly the “Shu Road of the Northeast.” Building a road through there was no easy task. For this project, Zhang Fengtai set out from Fengtian (today’s Shenyang) on the first day of the fifth lunar month in the 34th year of Guangxu, traveling about twenty li per day, braving wind and sleeping under the stars. He passed through Fushun, Yingpan, Shangjiahe, Muqi, Xinbin Fort, Huanxiling, Ying’e Bu, Kuaidangmaozi (today’s Kuaida), Tonghua County, Badaojiang, Hongshi, and finally arrived at Linzitou on the fifteenth day of May. Among his companions was Hu Sima Li Shichen (who later became the Magistrate of Xinbin County). After inspection, they found three possible routes from Linzitou to Linjiang: one southern, one central, and one northern—all were difficult to build. Only the unfinished route from Fengjiawopu (now Linzitou) to the ridge top, proposed by Zuo Wingchang the previous year, had relatively less rock and more soil. Though overgrown with thorny bushes, it required less labor and expense compared to the others. They thus decided to commence construction on the 22nd day of May in the 34th year of Guangxu. With three hundred workers enthusiastically contributing their efforts, during the transition between summer and autumn, they hacked through thickets, climbed hills, crossed streams, endured scorching winds and drenching rains, and suffered bites from mosquitoes and gnats, sleeping in the open and dining on frost. Over several months, they felled tens of thousands of trees, cleared eighteen paths, and built over a hundred bridges of various sizes. Finally, by mid-September, the project was completed, and Laoyeling was “leveled.” The scale of this road construction project and the difficulty of the work were truly extraordinary. Only after clearing Dangping Ridge could the Changbai–Longhuagang Road be connected to Linjiang, and subsequently reach Fengtian Provincial City via Tonghua and Hailong. As recorded in the “Dangping Ridge Stele Record” in the Chronicles of Changbai, the significance of building this road was profound: it could “control the distant borderlands, relating to critical frontier matters, requiring advance planning for the overall situation,” and it could “shield Linjiang and guard Tonghua, forming a protective barrier for Liaoning and Shenyang.”

To recognize and reward the achievements of Zhang and Li, Xu Shichang personally wrote and calligraphed the “Dangping Ridge Stele Record.” As Zhang Fengtai said: “The ridge is named ‘Leveled’ because our revered commander Xu commended the successful completion of the roadwork and gave it this name. This ridge is commonly known as Laoyeling”—this is the first stele.

The other stele was co-authored by Zhang Fengtai and Li Tingyu. The front side describes how the three hundred workers struggled to build the road, while the back side lists the names of the inspectors of the road construction team, as well as the leaders of the First, Second, and Third Engineering Teams, along with the surveyors.

This stele is a monument commemorating the meritorious deeds of our ancestors in pioneering and guarding the frontier; it is a true record of the great achievements in developing and defending the Changbai Mountains; it is also the first witness to the development of Linjiang and Changbai. According to the Qing-era Chronicles of the Changbai Mountains and River Ridges, at that time, half of the market traders in Linjiang were Korean. The Bai Mountain Ballad states: “There are only a thousand households by the river, five hundred Chinese and seven hundred Koreans.” Since there were no carts in Lin County, it also says: “Since ancient times, no cart tracks have been seen in the city—the road is harder to travel than the Shu Road.” ... On the return trip from the White Mountains to Linjiang, the newly built winding road of Dangping Ridge could already be heard with the sound of carts. It is also said: “Children do not know what these things are; they look on in wonder and then ask their parents and elders.” Without the initial development, there would be no prosperity in Changbai and Linjiang today, nor would there be an intact national territory. Their great contributions command the reverence of future generations, who must engrave them in their memories and never forget them.