Yuecheng Ridge

Yuecheng Ridge

Yuecheng Ridge, locally known as Laoshanjie.

Located in the northeastern part of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and along the border with Hunan Province, it is one of the Five Ridges of Nanling. In ancient times, it was called Shian Ridge, Linyuan Ridge, or Quanyi Ridge. Stretching from northeast to southwest for 200 kilometers, it is a granite block mountain. Its main peak, Mao'er Mountain, stands at an elevation of 2,142 meters and is situated in the northeast of Ziyuan County, Guangxi. A Xiang-Gui valley lies between it and Dupang Ridge, through which the Xiang-Gui Railway passes.

One of the Five Ridges, "located north of present-day Xing'an County in Guangxi, it served as a vital transportation route from Hunan into Guangxi. The area also includes the ruins of Yanguan and the Qin City in Xing'an County. The Five Ridges all lie along the Nanling Mountain Range, which originates from the Yunling Mountains in Yunnan, extends eastward into Guizhou as the Miao Ling, then further east across the borders of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Fujian, stretching all the way to the sea. There are countless peaks and ridges in this range, but historical texts specifically name the five major ones: Dayu, Qitian, Dupang, Mengzhu, and Yuecheng — a reference related to the military advance routes of the Qin army①." From "Records of the Grand Historian · Biographies of Zhang Er and Chen Yu": 'To the north were the campaigns along the Great Wall, to the south the garrisons of the Five Ridges.' From the poem "To Gu Jiaozhi Gongzhen of Jiaozhi" by Lu Ji of the Jin Dynasty: 'Drums beat beyond the Five Ridges, banners fly ten thousand li away.' The phrase 'Drums beat beyond the Five Ridges' is annotated by Li Shan as referring to the five routes leading into the southern regions."