Pingchang Youlaoshan

Pingchang Youlaoshan

Youlaoshan is a high mountain ridge located in Fenbichang, Pingchang County, with an elevation of 740 meters. The view from the summit spans dozens of miles in every direction. It sits at the border between Zhongxin Village and Daping Village, characterized by its majestic peaks and steep, rugged cliffs.

A long, long time ago, Youlaoshan had no official name, and the entire ridge was covered with dense, towering pines and cypresses. At that time, there was a Taoist hermit named You who was captivated by the area’s beautiful scenery. He made it his home to cultivate himself and pursue the Tao, and began planning to build a temple. He rallied three local clans—the An, He, and Wei families—to jointly donate money and grain. Together, they constructed a stone-and-wood temple at the mountaintop, and inside the temple, statues were erected of Guanyin, as well as Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei. In front of the temple stood three towering ancient cypress trees. Legend has it that one morning, a local magistrate from Minshengchang in Tongjiang County saw the shadows of three trees reflected in his washbasin as he washed his face. He looked around but saw no large trees nearby. Later, after some investigation, he learned that it was the reflection of the three trees on Youlaoshan. Soon afterward, people built a stone wall over five feet high around the perimeter of the mountain summit, with one gate on the east side and one on the west, forming a strategic pass where “one man could hold off ten thousand.” Part of the structure was later repurposed as a schoolhouse. In the 15th year of the Republic of China (1926), Wang Jiaru and Han Siqi taught at the temple. To commemorate this Taoist hermit who roamed the mountain, people named the mountain “Youlaoshan” (You the Hermit’s Mountain).

Between 1958 and 1962, the pines and cypresses on the mountain were gradually felled, the temple was demolished, and all that remains of this scenic site are its ruins.