Anlu Taipingzhai

Anlu Taipingzhai

Taipingzhai

Originally named Shiyanshan, it is located on the northwestern border of Bopu, with an elevation of 517 meters. It shares the same mountain range as Baidai Mountain and belongs to the Hongshan Mountain system, making it the highest peak within Anlu City. As early as 303 AD during the Western Jin Dynasty, Zhang Chang, a native of Yiyang from Jingchu who was suffering under harsh forced labor, led thousands of displaced people from Jiangxia to resist government troops at Taipingzhai and oppose the imperial court. For a time, he established a regime, appointed officials, and occupied vast areas of the five provinces of Jing, Jiang, Yang, Xu, and Yu, striving to restore the Han Dynasty. Today, the main peak of Taipingzhai still retains ancient city walls and stone houses where troops were stationed at the time, as well as natural landscapes such as Zhang Chang’s Dragon-Subduing Pool, Plum Blossom Cave, and Immortal Chess Platform. The Taipingzhai Scenic Area is shaded by dense foliage and boasts towering ancient trees. It is home to 227 species of plants and over 30 types of wild animals, with a forest coverage rate of 96%.

To the northwest of Taipingzhai lies a mountain shaped like a horn. Legend has it that when Zhang Chang’s camp was besieged by Western Jin troops for several days and ran out of food, leaving his forces in despair, an elderly woman with white hair arrived at the stronghold. She asked the cook why he looked so worried. Upon learning that the soldiers had no grain to cook, the old woman took out a horn-shaped object and said, “Every day, scrape a little bit off and put it in the pot to boil—it will be enough to feed ten thousand soldiers in the stronghold for three months.” However, the old cook did not follow her advice. Instead, he threw the entire horn into the pot. In an instant, the horn began to grow larger and larger as it boiled, eventually transforming into a horn-shaped mountain—now known as Horn Mountain Peak. The old woman was Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, who lived in “Guanyin Chong” (today’s Guanyin Village, Wangyizhen, Anlu), and the “horn” was a celestial fruit she brought from Yaochi (the Jade Pool).