Qingshan Scenic Area

Qingshan Scenic Area

Qingshan, also known as Qinglin Mountain, features rugged peaks, rolling ridges, exquisite rock formations, undulating terrain, lush forests, and murmuring springs. Historical records state that Xie Tiao, a poet of the Southern Qi Dynasty and prefect of Xuancheng, was deeply enchanted by its beauty, calling it the “Capital of Mountains and Waters,” and even built a residence on the southern side of the mountain. The Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, who “bowed his head in reverence to Xie of Xuancheng throughout his life,” admired both the scenery of Qingshan and the character of Xie Tiao, and once expressed the wish to “live near Qingshan like Xie Tiao,” hoping to become his neighbor across generations.

After Li Bai’s death, he was originally buried at the southeastern foot of Longshan Mountain. In the 12th year of the Yuanhe era of the Tang Dynasty (817), Fan Chuanzheng, the observatory commissioner of Xuanshe-Chi, following Li Bai’s dying wish to be “buried at Qingshan,” along with Zhuge Zong, the magistrate of Dangtu County, relocated Li Bai’s tomb to the southwestern side of Qingshan, now at the entrance of Gujia Village in Taibai Township. The tomb faces south with its back to the mountain and overlooks water, approximately 300 meters from the road. Along the stone path beside the road, past a small stone bridge, you enter the Li Bai Tomb Cemetery. On the left side of the cemetery lies the “Qinglian Pond,” where willows sway and green waters ripple. An arched “Huahe Bridge” spans the pond, connecting to the “Ten Odes Pavilion.” In his later years in Dangtu, Li Bai wrote ten poems praising the landscape and scenery of Dangtu, collectively known as the “Ten Poems of Gushu.” Later generations built a pavilion by the Guxi River to commemorate them, which was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

The newly constructed “Ten Odes Pavilion” features upturned eaves and classic elegance. At its center stands a stone tablet inscribed with Li Bai’s “Ten Poems of Gushu.” To the left of the pavilion is the Taibai Shrine. With two sections, it has plain white walls and gray-black roof tiles. Inside, the shrine is paved with blue bricks, featuring soaring eaves, carved beams, painted rafters, and a bright, spacious interior. Above the main hall’s door is a horizontal plaque inscribed with “Taibai Shrine” in the handwriting of Lin Sanzhi. Inside the hall stands a 2.47-meter-tall, approximately 3-ton white marble statue of Li Bai. The statue depicts him standing sideways, left hand on his sword, right hand behind his back, eyes filled with wisdom, beard flowing, and exuding extraordinary presence. The backdrop is a large dark green lithograph depicting scenes from Li Bai’s travels in Dangtu, with calligraphy by Shu Tong reading “Lofty Traces of Li Bai” above the print. In the central upper part of the hall hangs a plaque inscribed with “Poetry Without Equal” in the handwriting of Situ. On both sides of the hall are six stone tablets inlaid into the walls: one with a lifelike full-body carving of Li Bai; one with his poem “Song of the Road”; three others reproduce steles written by Li Hua, Liu Quanbai, and Pei Jing of the Tang Dynasty; and the most precious is a surviving Song Dynasty stele. This stele, measuring five chi and seven cun in height and two chi and nine cun in width, was “re-carved and erected to the left of the tomb” in the 2nd year of the Chunyou era (1242) by Meng Dian, who concurrently governed Taiping Prefecture and commanded military forces, based on the original stele text by Tang Dynasty’s Fan Chuanzheng. It contains 30 rows of 63 characters each, in regular script with characters six fen in size, and bears the title “New Tomb Stele of Imperial Scholar Li of the Great Tang” above. This stele, over 740 years old, is among the earliest historical relics preserved at the Li Bai Tomb Shrine.