Yangfu Mountain Scenic Area

Yangfu Mountain Scenic Area

Also known as Quyu Mountain, it stands alone by the river. Covering an area of 37 hectares and standing 139.8 meters above sea level, the mountain is home to Yangfu Temple, which was once very popular for worship, hence the mountain being named after the temple. The surface soil of Yangfu Mountain is yellow loam, with parts cultivated into orchards and forests of black acacia. At the southern foot lies Jinshan Park, built with funds raised by local farmers.

Is there really a king on Yangfu Mountain outside the old city of Wenzhou? I'm actually quite unfamiliar with Wenzhou's folk customs. But looking at those colorful clothes and painted facial masks, I think this king of Yangfu might be the "Monkey King." However, that seems a bit unlikely. Last year when I was at Yue's place in Dongtou, I saw a local Yangfu Temple where the deity enshrined was actually Yang Liulang. When did Yang Liulang come to Wenzhou? I remember listening to Liu Lanfang’s storytelling of *The Yang Family Generals* as a child, where Yang Liulang ended up in Yunnan, changed his name to Ren Tanggui (?), and became a cattle trader. Later, he set up a wild ox formation and defeated the Liao Kingdom. But I never heard anything about Yang Liulang coming to Wenzhou. However, after the Song Dynasty moved south, it's not impossible that descendants of the Yang family settled in Wenzhou. There aren't many people surnamed Yang in Wenzhou—maybe they changed their surnames? Or perhaps they were Yang Liulang’s subordinates? …This is really something I can’t figure out. Let’s take a break.

However, there are also plenty of tales about demons and monsters in Wenzhou. Mr. Tang ?? wrote a narrative poem called *The Demon Child*, which is about a little demon king. Are there many strange things in the south too? Perhaps it’s a remnant of primal wildness? After the 1950s, Mr. Tang ?? wrote many narrative poems about southern customs, with *The Song of the Boatman Zhou Lu* being the most famous. But I’m quite skeptical about Mr. Tang’s motives for writing these narrative poems. At that time, the poetry scene in New China paid a lot of attention to these kinds of folk stories, and it’s likely that the elder Tang was influenced by that. Many of Wenzhou’s folk legends have come to me through Mr. Tang’s poetry. But from what I’ve learned later, almost none of the folk stories narrated in Mr. Tang’s poems escaped his editing—and those edits precisely reflect the grand narratives of that era. *The Demon Child* echoes the story of *Chenxiang Rescues His Mother*, and *The Song of the Boatman Zhou Lu* has shadows of *The Butterfly Lovers*. The overarching theme is anti-power. Just like *Liu Sanjie*.