New’an Cliff Inscriptions

New’an Cliff Inscriptions

The New’an Cliff Inscriptions are a cultural relic protected at the provincial level in Jiangxi Province.

Era: Yuan Dynasty

Type: Grottoes and Stone Carvings

Location: Tianlong Field, New’an Village, Honglin Forest Farm, Shipu Township, Xinjian County, Jiangxi Province

Introduction: Situated in the Tianlong Field of New’an Village, Honglin Forest Farm, Shipu Township, Xinjian County, Jiangxi Province, these Yuan Dynasty cliff inscriptions record the later activities of the famous geographer Zhu Siben. Zhu Siben (1273–1333), also known as Benchu and Zhenyi, was a native of Linchuan, Jiangxi. A geographer and Taoist practitioner of the Yuan Dynasty, he studied Taoism at Longhu Mountain before settling in Dadu (present-day Beijing). He was appointed by imperial decree to conduct rituals at sacred mountains and traveled across half of China. Using the “grid and mileage method,” he first created sectional maps which were then combined into a larger map—later serving as a model for subsequent cartographers. In the first year of the Zhi era of the Yuan Dynasty (1321), Zhu Siben served as the abbot of the Yulong Wanshou Palace in Xinjian. This cliff inscription documents the fact that he, along with Li Shian, the Left Councillor of the Jiangxi Provincial Administration Commission, co-sponsored the “fundraising and restoration” of the temple. The cliff face is 4.2 meters high, 2.5 meters wide, and 2 meters thick, with an inscribed area totaling 8 square meters. The inscriptions face south. The characters are carved top to bottom and right to left, in 16 rows of regular script in positive relief, totaling 519 Chinese characters. Except for 8 characters that are unclear, the rest are legible. It was designated as a Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Unit in 1987.

Further Reading:

· Third Batch of Jiangxi Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units