Immortal Capital Cliff Inscriptions

Immortal Capital Cliff Inscriptions

The Immortal Capital Cliff Inscriptions are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Immortal Capital Cliff Inscriptions are located in the Xiandu Scenic Area of Jinyun County, Zhejiang Province. They are distributed across five scenic spots: Chuyang Mountain, Dinghu Peak, Xianshui Cave, Tiecheng, and Xiaochibi, spanning from the Tang Dynasty to the modern era.

There are over 120 surviving cliff carvings and inscriptions. The earliest is the seal script “Ni Weng Cave” created by Li Yangbing, a famous seal script master of the Tang Dynasty’s Qianyuan era (758 AD), along with a travel record from the first year of the Jianzhong era. There are 55 cliff inscriptions from the Song Dynasty, 32 from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, 15 from the Republican era (1912–1949), and 10 from the contemporary period. Xiandu Mountain is a famous Taoist mountain in China, so many of the inscriptions are related to Taoism. There are also inscriptions by visitors, including poems, essays, and prose. The scripts include seal, clerical, running, regular, and cursive styles. Notable authors of the inscriptions include Li Yangbing of the Tang Dynasty, Shen Kuo of the Song Dynasty, Li Jian of the Ming Dynasty, Yuan Mei of the Qing Dynasty, Lou Cun of the Republican era, and Sha Menghai of modern times.

The Immortal Capital Cliff Inscriptions span more than a thousand years, featuring a wide variety of calligraphic styles and schools, with many masterpieces created by renowned artists. As such, they are quite rare in the history of Chinese calligraphy. The inscriptions also document numerous events related to Taoist and Confucian activities on Xiandu Mountain, making them invaluable textual resources. In 2001, the Immortal Capital Cliff Inscriptions were included in the fifth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units by the State Council.

Xiandu Subdistrict: The Xiandu Scenic Area Management Committee of Jinyun County (abbreviated as the Xiandu Management Committee) and the Xiandu Subdistrict Office operate under one team with two titles. The committee and the subdistrict share office space and are jointly responsible for the protection, planning, development, construction, and other economic and social management functions within the Xiandu Scenic Area. The subdistrict office administers seven administrative villages, covering an area of 35.9 square kilometers. The jurisdiction includes one police station, one primary school, one township health center, with a total population of 9,862, and an average rural per capita income of 9,388 yuan.

In recent years, the Xiandu Management Committee... More details about Xiandu Subdistrict ++

Further Reading:

· Fifth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units