Heart-Stirring Stone at Caiyan Stream

Heart-Stirring Stone at Caiyan Stream

“If the heart-stirring stone moves, so does the heart; if the heart moves, so does the stone.” In Caixi Rock, Putian, Fujian, lies the famed Heart-Stirring Stone, hailed as the most marvelous rock in the eight Min regions. The Heart-Stirring Stone consists of two massive boulders stacked on top of each other, standing about 27 meters tall. The upper boulder resembles an umbrella cap of a mushroom, while the lower one looks like the stem. Standing beneath it, a person is not even half as tall as the stem. This stone rolled down from the mountaintop in the 42nd year of the Wanli reign during the Ming Dynasty (1614) and has remained unchanged despite centuries of wind and rain.

Beneath the Heart-Stirring Stone lies another flat stone resembling a bed, which can seat around 20 people. It is inscribed with the three characters “眠云石” (Cloud-Sleeping Stone), said to be where immortals once sat, lay, and discussed scriptures and philosophies. From the wooden viewing platform nearby, the distant mountains and waters are veiled in a light mist, with oil-tea camellia trees covering the hillsides in bright, lush green. Villages nestle beside streams in the valleys, looking like sleeping infants. According to local sources, Caixi Township has a long history of oil-tea cultivation, with over 20,000 acres of oil-tea forests today. Tourism has brought both production and sales of oil-tea to prosperity.

Source: Fujian Provincial Tourism Development Commission