Mengshan Water Curtain Cave Waterfall

Mengshan Water Curtain Cave Waterfall

Among the famous mountains and rivers north of the Yangtze River, a three-tiered waterfall like the Water Curtain Cave Waterfall in Mengshan is quite rare. It surges and leaps through the green mountains and layered rocks, taking a thrilling plunge from a cliff about a hundred meters high. Blocked midway by a sheer drop, it then resumes its headlong rush downward, forming a cascading waterfall that roars and splashes with dynamic energy. As the water crashes down, a fine spray scatters like hail and rainbows often appear, creating an extraordinarily beautiful scene. The cool mist refreshes both body and mind. Gong Dai of the Ming Dynasty once composed “Ode to the Mengshan Waterfall” in its praise: “Is this the Milky Way descending? / It plunges down from tens of thousands of feet above. / Were the banished immortal still here to see, / He’d ask no more of Mount Lu.” Wang Yunsheng of the Qing Dynasty described the Water Curtain Cave Waterfall thus: “Treading the steps in search of a fairyland, / I see a stream hang from mid-sky. / Though clouds part now and then, / The rain-like scene seems never to end. / Water strikes stone, drumbeats resound, / Wind parts the curtain, threads unwind. / To this day the curtain stays unrolled, / While moonlight peers through, ageless and cold.” This means: Walking up the stone steps in quest of a celestial realm, you see a waterfall cascading from mid-air. The water curtain drifts like moving clouds or ceaseless rainfall. The torrent dashes against the rocks, sounding like a drum, while the wind parts the falls like scattered silk threads. The curtain hangs unfurled through the ages, as moonlight vainly tries, century after century, to peer through.

In the middle of the layered cliffs there was once a stone cave, said to be where the Warring States-period sage Guiguzi (Wang Chan) became immortal, with its entrance concealed by the water curtain. Even today, stories are still told of how Sun Bin and Pang Juan studied under Guiguzi here.