Wumalan River

Wumalan River

Wumalan River is located south of Wuxuan County, on the southern bank of the Qian River. From a high vantage point, five continuous mountain ridges strikingly resemble five galloping steeds, forcefully halting the mighty, dragon-like rush of the Qian River and compelling its waters to veer eastward. Between the five horses stands Wenbi Mountain, which towers like a bamboo shoot and faces a two-hundred-meter-long oval sandbar in the river. Hence, since ancient times there has been the poetic phrase “Five horses block the river’s mouth, a writing brush faces the sandbar.”

There is a legend passed down through generations about these five mountains: In ancient times, five celestial horses descended to the human world and found Wuxuan so beautiful they did not wish to return to heaven. To force the horses back to the skies, the Jade Emperor ordered the rain god to unleash days of torrential rain, causing the villages on the southern bank of the Qian River’s mouth to be on the verge of being submerged by floods. To save the people, the five horses transformed into five stone mountains, blocking the floodwaters and thereby altering the course of the river. Since then, Wuxuan has been graced with the scenic wonder known as “Wumalan River.”