Guangquan Rock Carvings

Guangquan Rock Carvings

During the Shaoxing era of the Southern Song Dynasty, the court faced threats both externally from the Jin invaders and internally from peasant uprisings, which seriously endangered the stability of the regime. Guided by the principle that "to defend against external threats, internal stability must first be secured," the Southern Song court launched large-scale military campaigns to suppress the peasant rebellions. It was during this period of warfare that Yue Fei became connected with the tea-growing region of Chaling. Located in Guangquan Village, Gaolong Town, Chaling County, the "Guangquan" cliff inscription is the most significant testament and reflection of this historical backdrop.

On the eighth day of the second lunar month in the second year of the Shaoxing reign (1132), Yue Fei received an imperial decree to pursue and suppress the rebel forces led by Cao Cheng. After nightfall, Yue Fei and his Yue Army arrived in Chaling from Maozhu'ao, Yongxin, Jiangxi, and set up camp in Hehu Village, present-day Zhitang Town. Late at night, guided by a local private tutor, the Yue Army marched five kilometers to a large rock face in Guangquan Group, Guangquan Village, now part of Gaolong Town. As dawn was about to break and the sky began to lighten, the weary soldiers and horses rested briefly near a clear, sweet spring at the foot of the rock. Refreshed by the mountain spring water, they regained their vigor. By then, the sky had turned a faint shade of dawn, growing brighter. Inspired by the sight, Yue Fei picked up his spear, used a rice plant stalk as a brush, and inscribed two large characters on the rock face: "Guang Quan" (光明, meaning “Bright Spring”). From then on, the place became known as "Guangquan," and the village was renamed "Guangquan Village."

The existing "Guangquan" cliff inscription features relief-style regular script characters, approximately two meters above the ground, measuring 2.66×1.97 square meters. Above the main inscription are six smaller characters in the same style, reading "Inscribed by Duke Yue Zhongwu of the Song Dynasty" (宋岳忠武王题), each about one square meter in size. In 2002, the inscription was designated as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit by the People’s Government of Hunan Province.

According to the Zhitang Town Annals, after the Yue Army departed, locals once copied Yue Fei’s handwriting in ink onto a wooden plaque and hung it beside the rock face, but it was soon destroyed. The current "Guangquan" cliff carving was commissioned during the Xianfeng era of the Qing Dynasty by Mr. Peng Xijun from Shilong Village. Peng Xijun, styled Yunzhuang and known as "Mr. Zhuang," was the great-grandson of Peng Weixin, one of the "Three Great Scholars of Chaling." He served as a scholar in Chaling Prefecture and was known for his filial piety. He published Peng Weixin’s Collected Works, the Ink Fragrance Pavilion Collection, and gained fame for declining the recommendation of Filial and Incorruptible Official in the first year of the Xianfeng reign (1851). The current inscription characters were penned by his hand.

Legend has it that Peng Xijun did not carve the two five-meter-wide characters "Guang Quan" in a single attempt but put considerable thought into the process: he first wrote the characters on stiff paper, cut out the shapes, and then used the principles of projection to enlarge the shadows under lamplight in a dark room. After tracing the enlarged shadows, he meticulously refined them, repeating the processes of cutting, projecting, tracing, and refining until the characters reached the desired size. Only then did he complete the two large characters, "Guang Quan," and hired artisans to carve them onto the same rock face where Yue Fei had inscribed them centuries earlier—resulting in the Guangquan cliff carvings we see in Chaling today.

Folklore from the Chaling tea region tells a magical story about the carving of the "Guangquan" inscription: after the artisans finished carving, one of them attempted to sign his name beneath the inscription. Before he could finish even one character, the previously clear sky suddenly darkened with clouds, thunder, and lightning, and the rain washed away the newly carved name. Believing that his act had offended the divine, the artisan dared not proceed further and even declined the reward promised by Mr. Peng.

Read more:

· Ninth Batch of Hunan Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units