“Yuanji Above” Cliff Inscription

“Yuanji Above” Cliff Inscription

The “Yuanji Above” Cliff Inscription is a cultural relic protection unit of Haishu District.

The “Yuanji Above” Cliff Inscription is located on the eastern rocky cliff of Longgu Village in Longguan Township. According to historical records: “At the foot of Tianjing Mountain, there were originally the Tianjing Temple (built in the first year of the Song Dynasty’s Jianlong era) and the Guanlong Temple (built in the second year of the Song Dynasty’s Qiandao era). Due to their efficacy in prayers for rain, successive regional governors and local magistrates carried out renovations over the years. There were five springs on the mountain, which were decreed in the early Kaqing era of the Song Dynasty as the Five Dragon Deities, and in the twenty-sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty’s Zhizheng era, Zhang Qiyuan, Deputy Commissioner of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Circuit, requested an imperial decree to change their title.” Based on this, the inscription is believed to be related to the original temples. The rock face is trapezoidal, measuring 3.06 meters in height, 1.30 meters in width at the top, and 2.40 meters in width at the bottom. The four large characters “Yuanji Above” are directly carved into the vertical cliff face. Each character measures 45×35 centimeters. Above the characters, the inscription reads “Autumn of the Renxu Year, the Seventh Year of the Jiaqing Reign” (1802), while the signature below states “Guo Zhishu, Magistrate of Yin from Minzhong.” The calligraphy is in running script style, with fluid brushstrokes.

In September 2007, it was designated as a cultural relic protection unit at the district level in the eighth batch of Yinzhou District.