The Snake Rolling

The Snake Rolling

Fulong Mountain, also known as Ruoshan, stands at an elevation of 282 meters. Located by the sea and surrounded by flat terrain, its abrupt shape and steep curves give it a majestic and rugged appearance.

At the summit lies a natural basin encircled by peaks and shielded by verdant cliffs. Towering ancient trees, numerous historical relics, a tranquil environment, and picturesque scenery have made this place renowned since ancient times for its “Eight Scenic Spots,” including Bamboo, Valley, Mist, Clouds, Pipes, River, Tides, and Tidal Bore. These form a series of landscapes centered around Fulong Temple, flanked by attractions such as the Lotus Pond, Immortal Bridge, Thousand-Foot Cliff, Snake Rolling, and cliff inscriptions. The visits of historical figures like Wang Anshi, Su Dongpo, Qi Jiguang, and Li Shutong, the later achievements of local natives such as Yu Qiaqing, Lin Handa, and Zhang Jinglu, along with the folk legend of the “thousand-year-old serpent under the water spitting white lotus flowers,” have imbued the mountain with profound cultural significance and charm.

Among these scenic spots, the most legendary and imaginative is the Snake Rolling.

Also called the “Stone Altar,” the Snake Rolling is located 200 meters north of Fulong Temple, at the summit, on the southern end of the Thousand-Foot Cliff.

A local legend surrounds the Stone Altar: It is said that deep within the Lotus Pond of Fulong Temple, two serpent spirits—one male and one female—lurked. Every year on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (Dragon Boat Festival), they would stir up storms and attempt to devour a living person. Eventually, the magistrate of Zhenhai County devised a plan to kill them. Having consumed a large amount of poison, the serpents suffered in agony, leaped out of the pond, and rolled violently across the nearby mountainside. Wherever they rolled, sand and rocks flew, vegetation was stripped bare, and not even a blade of grass could grow. Since then, locals have called this place “Snake Rolling.”