Xunle Book Cliff

Xunle Book Cliff

Xunle Book Cliff is a national AAA-level tourist attraction and a Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Xunle Book Cliff is located in Dongxing Village, Dongqing Town on the western bank of the Jialing River. In the fifth year of the Jiaqing reign during the Qing Dynasty (1800), local villagers such as Kou Jishun rallied workers to carve two rock chambers into the mountain to take refuge from warfare. From the 20th year of the Daoguang reign (1840) to the 10th year of the Guangxu reign (1884), the esteemed local scholar Jia Ruzhen utilized the natural rock cave located to the right and below the original chambers, along with the stone cliff above it, to successively carve five additional chambers. Including the original ones, there were seven interconnected chambers covering an area of 355.5 square meters. Outside the rock chambers, a “Bamboo Bridge Studio” was established where renowned local scholars were employed to proofread, publish, and reprint the “Four Books,” “Five Classics,” and also produced extra copies of the “Collected Annotations on Elementary Learning.” These works were of high quality and earned a far-reaching reputation, attracting a constant stream of literati and scholars. Calligraphy works by those who composed poetry and demonstrated excellent brushwork were engraved on the chamber walls—totaling 152 pieces in running, regular, and seal scripts, comprising more than 19,000 characters. The interior also features stone carvings of figures such as Confucius, the God of Literature, Guan Yu the God of War, the Eight Immortals, Guanyin, the Medicine Buddha, the God of Wealth, the Earth God, the Goddess of Childbirth, the Silkworm God and Goddess, as well as five relief sculptures and nine murals. Jia Ruzhen also built pavilions, terraces, rooms, and corridors in dozens of locations around the cave, enclosed by a stone wall, within which flowers and trees were planted. A spring inside the rock chamber never runs dry throughout the year. Jia Ruzhen resided there permanently, using literature to gather scholars and cultivate his interests, hence the name “Xunle Book Cliff” (“cliff of seeking joy through books”). In the 15th year of the Guangxu reign (1889), at the age of 75, Jia Ruzhen renamed the site “Jiusi Shrine”; locals commonly called it “Jia Family Cave.” Since the Republican era, the decline of the Jia family led their descendants to sell off all the book printing blocks from the Bamboo Bridge Studio. On the eve of liberation, the pavilions, terraces, rooms, and corridors outside the cave had already been dismantled. During the Cultural Revolution, the divine statues inside the cave were destroyed. Currently, the reliefs and cliff inscriptions still remain, earning the site the title “Qing Dynasty Calligraphy Exhibition Hall.” On April 8, 1983, the county government designated it as a county-level cultural relics protection unit.

Protected Area: Centered around the cave entrance, extending 50 meters east to the boundary of Kou Xiaoguo’s private slope on Hu’an Mountain, 20 meters south to the mulberry field of Group 1, Dongxing Village, 20 meters west, and 25 meters north to the protection sign monument.

Construction Control Zone: Extending 100 meters east from the protected area to the ridge of Hu’an Mountain, 60 meters south to Kou Xiaoying’s contracted land in Group 1, Dongxing, 60 meters west to Kou Zhilong’s private slope boundary on the left side of Hu’an Mountain, and 75 meters north to the lower end of the stone stairway.