Zeng Gong's Reading Cliff

Zeng Gong's Reading Cliff

Zeng Gong's Reading Cliff (including the Reading Cliff, Ink Pool Inscription, Zeng Wendinggong Ancestral Hall, Zeng Wendinggong Memorial Archway, Sixian Hall, Yangfeng Pavilion, Corridor, Stone Bed, and Cliffside Rock Carvings) is located on the mountainside by the Xushui River, south of Qincheng in Nanfeng County. Zeng Gong, a native of Nanfeng, Jiangxi, studied here in his youth and was one of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song dynasties, renowned as both a poet and an essayist. The Reading Cliff is over ten feet deep, eight feet high, and more than ten feet wide — a natural stone chamber that houses a stone table, stone stools, and small cavities. In front of the cliff is a broad, flat stone platform with a pavilion built atop it. The stone pillars, ceramic tiles, painted decorations, and soaring eaves give it a strong traditional ethnic aesthetic. Carved into the rock face are the two characters “书岩” (“Book Cliff”) handwritten by Zhu Xi, the Neo-Confucian scholar of the Southern Song Dynasty. By the pool, a stone stele bears Zhu Xi’s original inscription of “墨池” (“Ink Pool”). The scenery in front of the Reading Cliff is picturesque and majestic — trees frame pavilions, reds and greens intermingle, and the Xushui River flows in from the west, its reflections creating a painting-like view. In 1983, the 900th anniversary of Zeng Gong’s death, the Zeng Gong Memorial Hall was built next to the Reading Cliff. The hall displays Zeng Gong’s life and major achievements, mainly through pictorial exhibits accompanied by text. Arranged chronologically, it introduces Zeng Gong’s upright, unyielding, honest, and principled character. Exhibits include rubbings, newspapers, reviews, poems, prose publications, or photocopies related to Zeng Gong collected from across China. To commemorate this member of the Eight Great Prose Masters, Shu Tong, a renowned Chinese calligrapher and then-chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers Association, inscribed the golden plaque reading “Reading Cliff,” which hangs prominently at the center.

Jiangxi Fuzhou City

Zeng Gong (1019–1083), courtesy name Ziguo, was of Han ethnicity, born in Nanfeng, Jianchang Commandery (present-day Nanfeng County, Jiangxi Province), and later resided in Linchuan. He was a Northern Song prose writer, historian, and statesman. Coming from a family of Confucian scholars, both his grandfather Zeng Zhiyao and father Zeng Yizhan were notable officials of the Northern Song. Zeng Gong was gifted with extraordinary intelligence and an exceptional memory. As a child, he could recite poetry and literature after reading it once, and by age twelve, he was already composing essays. In the second year of the Xining era (1069), he served as a reviser for the Veritable Records of Emperor Yingzong of Song, and was soon appointed as a prefectural judge in Yuezhou. In the fifth year of the Yuanfeng era (1082), he passed away in Jiangning Prefecture (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu), and was posthumously honored with the title “Wen...” More detailed information about Zeng Gong ++

Further Reading:

· Sixth Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Units