Maling Mountain Wanghai Tower Tourist Scenic Area

Maling Mountain Wanghai Tower Tourist Scenic Area

Maling Mountain Wanghai Tower Tourist Scenic Area is a national AA-level tourist attraction and a cultural tourism site.

Wanghai Tower is located atop a mountain approximately 2.5 kilometers southeast of Dashangzhuang Village. It is a tall stone peak, with massive rocks stacked together in the shape of a tower. Legend has it that as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, when Confucius traveled among the various states and visited the State of Tán, he and the ruler of Tán, Tanzi, climbed this tower to gaze at the sea and watch the sunrise. It was later called Kongwangshan Wanghai Tower and recorded in historical chronicles.

About 30 meters southeast of Wanghai Tower lies a relatively flat high platform where there used to be a temple called "Danaxia Temple." Temple fairs were held here twice a year, on the 15th day of the third lunar month and the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. The fair stretched from Wanghai Tower in the south to Heilongtan in the north, spanning about 2.5 kilometers. People from all directions flocked here, creating a bustling and lively scene.

Poets throughout the ages who visited the site left behind poems recorded in historical chronicles. For example, Wang Heng, a successful candidate in the imperial examination (Tai Wu Chen class) in the 13th year of the Qianlong reign during the Qing Dynasty, visited here and composed a regulated poem titled "Sea Tower Cloud Shadows": "Mountain peaks, sheer cliffs form towers, / The tower’s form pierces clouds at their highest bower. / Men gone, sea and sky ripple and flow, / Mountain paths see human shadows come and go. / Mists brighten nine points, earth stays still, / Emerald hues embrace three peaks as daylight fills. / As if feasting on rosy clouds at the peak so high, / Riding the wind, one feels as if in Paradise nigh."

To the south of Wanghai Tower lies a vast expanse of red rock sea. The mountain rocks themselves are red, layered upon each other. At sunset, when the glow of the sun shines on the red rocks, it resembles a vast red ocean—truly enchanting.