Wan'an Jiulong Shiba Tan (Nine Rapids and Eighteen Shoals)

Wan'an Jiulong Shiba Tan

The Perils of the Gan River Are All in Jiulong Shiba Tan (Wan'an, Jiangxi)

In ancient times, merchants, exiles, and demoted officials traveling to Guangdong had to sail up the Gan River and pass through Meiguan to reach the Lingnan region. The Eighteen Shoals of the Gan River became a treacherous route and also a scenic wonder. Many notable figures who passed through the shoals left behind poems and writings. Su Shi wrote: “A man with two streaks of white hair, seven thousand li from home, / A lone leaf on the waters at the Eighteen Shoals. The hills remind me of joyful days, troubling my distant dreams; / The name ‘Huangkong’ (Fearful Rapids) moves this lonely official to tears.” Wen Tianxiang left behind his final masterpiece: “Speaking of fear at Fearful Shoal, lamenting loneliness in the lone sea. / Since ancient times, who can escape death? Let me leave my loyal heart to shine in the annals of history.”

Ancient poems and writings recorded the dangers of the Eighteen Shoals in those days. One piece, “Record of Rocks in the Water,” described the shoal rocks: “There are rocks like oxen, like dogs and horses, like dragons and snakes that look fierce and ready to fly or run, like monkeys raising their arms or crouching and crying out—all stirring up waves heard for miles... When a boat passes, no one remains unmoved; a slight misstep will get it bitten and shattered.” “The roaring noise of the rapids is like thunder, jagged rocks stand in chaotic disorder and cannot be avoided; all travelers say the shoal path is perilous—yet who urged you to come here to face danger?”

I heard a folk legend about the Eighteen Shoals when I was young: long, long ago, a deity wanted to build a city in Ganzhou but found no suitable stones nearby and had to transport them from far away. The deity found the stones too heavy and cumbersome to move, so he turned them into a herd of pigs and had them walk south along the riverbank. Along the way, the deity noticed some pigs had gone missing and asked a woman washing clothes by the river: “Auntie, have you seen my black pigs?” The woman, head bowed over her washing, replied: “Just now I saw several rocks roll into the water.” Little did she know that this mortal’s words had unveiled a divine secret. All the pigs immediately turned back into stones and sank into the water, becoming the Eighteen Shoals of the Gan River.

After hearing this story, I had long yearned to witness the perilous beauty of the Eighteen Shoals. In the winter of 1951, during my first rural work assignment in southern Jiangxi, I was stationed in Dahuhujiang, Ganxian County—right in the area where the Eighteen Shoals were located. I remember upon arriving in the village, the locals told me that grain boats had hit reefs and sunk in the river, and many men had gone to rescue the grain. At the time, I didn’t know those reefs were part of the Eighteen Shoals. Later, after getting to know the locals better, I learned that many of the men made their living on the water, and quite a few worked as “tan shi” (rapids guides). Whenever a boat approached the shoals, it would pull ashore to hire a tan shi to board and guide the way. The tan shi knew every hidden reef under the water like the back of their hand and could navigate the dangers with ease. But in strong winds and rough waves, even the tan shi dared not take risks and would have to drop anchor and wait for calm waters before attempting to cross.

Although I often traveled along the riverside at the time, viewing the shoals from the shore was like seeing flowers in the fog—not very clear. Once, I took a boat from Ganzhou to Wan’an during the dry season when the shoal rocks were fully exposed, and with the guidance of the tan shi and boatmen, I finally got a true glimpse of the Eighteen Shoals.

The boat first passed Baigan Shoal, which was just an ordinary sandy shallows with no real danger. Then came Bitan, where jagged rocks were scattered like countless giant turtles lurking underwater, stretching continuously, though the channel remained unthreatening. I thought the dangers of the shoals were nothing more than this, but the boatman laughed and said, “We’re just getting started!” Sure enough, before reaching Jieping, I saw huge rocks underwater jutting out like the fangs of a dog, and the wooden boat carefully maneuvered through gaps between “Human Head Rock” and “Tiger Neck Rock.” By then, I was starting to feel nervous, but this was only the prelude. After passing Jieping and arriving at Tianzhu Shoal, three stone peaks lay hidden in the middle of the current, the passage narrow and the water rapid, with waves surging like mountains. The small boat had to gauge the wind direction, study the water flow, and watch out for hidden reefs. Just after passing one pillar, it nearly collided with another. The boatman made a sudden turn of the rudder while the tan shi simultaneously prodded with his pole, narrowly avoiding a crash. After three consecutive close calls, we finally escaped from Tianzhu Shoal. I broke into a sweat, and the tan shi and boatman also let out a sigh of relief.

Next, we passed Chahuzi Shoal, Xiaohu Shoal, and Goujiao Shoal, none of which were very dangerous. Then came Dahu Shoal, where massive rocks lay across the channel like people lying in wait, blocking the waterway. This was the famous “Shiren Ba” (Stone Man Barrier). During the dry season, large boats couldn’t pass and had to be ferried across using smaller boats—a process called “ban ba” (carrying the barrier). We were on a small boat and barely scraped the bottom to get through. Then came Luota, Tongpen, and Qingzhou Shoals. Upon reaching Liangkou Shoal, we entered Wan’an County territory. There, submerged trough rocks lay like turtles lying low near the water’s surface. After passing Kunlun and Xiaotan Shoals, we arrived at Wusu Shoal, where there were “Monkey Rock” and “Fishing Pair Rock,” which were rather hazardous. After Anchu Shoal came Xiao Liao and Da Liao, where the underwater reefs were densely scattered, jagged and intertwined. Xiao Liao was known for its “Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams” layout, and Da Liao for its “Carpenter’s Square and Steelyard” pattern. Small boats felt as if they had entered a watery labyrinth or were navigating a forest of blades. Then came Mianjin and Piaoshen Shoals, leading to the last one—Huangkong Shoal. “Speaking of fear at Fearful Shoal,” the very name of the shoal inspired dread and fear. When we encountered strong winds and high waves at this point, the boat dared not proceed, and we had to pull ashore and wait. After a long wait with no sign of calm, we learned we were not far from Wan’an City and had no choice but to disembark and walk. It was a pity—we came so close yet failed to witness the scene of boats “gliding swiftly as arrows, surging angrily as if boiling.”

Isn’t the journey of life much like Jiulong Shiba Tan? With hidden reefs and lurking dangers.

After being officially transferred to work in southern Jiangxi in 1954, I had long wanted to revisit the place but never had the chance. It wasn’t until after the Cultural Revolution that a film editor from Zhujiang Studios came to southern Jiangxi to collect material. Several literary friends and I took a tugboat from a timber storage yard specifically to see the Eighteen Shoals. Passing through Chutan, where the Zhang and Gong Rivers converge, we floated downstream. The water was clear, the wind mild, and the waves gentle—but alas, the reefs were there with no real danger. The boatman explained that after years of dredging and clearing by the navigation authorities, those once terrifying and obstructive reefs had been blasted away. The hundred-mile-long Eighteen Shoals waterway was now equipped with navigation markers, making the entire Gan River passable, allowing hundred-ton ships to travel through unimpeded without the need for tan shi guides.

Back in the 1940s when I was in school, I read in the newspapers about a TVA-style project in Jiangxi designed by Americans. It was touted as an unprecedented grand engineering feat to dam the Gan River and build a hydroelectric station right at the site of the Eighteen Shoals. But there was only thunder and no rain—the project was reportedly shelved due to excessive costs. This project that the people of Jiangxi had hoped for half a century finally came to fruition in the reform and opening-up era. The Wan’an Hydropower Station was built on the solid foundation of Huangkong Shoal. What was once a place of terror and dread now shines brightly, benefiting the people.

The hidden reefs and dangerous rocks of the Eighteen Shoals have long been buried deep beneath the water. The landscape of the Gan River’s Eighteen Shoals has become a piece of history—lost without a trace and impossible to revive. All that remains are the poems and writings of figures throughout the ages and the folk legends.