Steep Pit Stone Carvings

Steep Pit Stone Carvings

The Steep Pit Stone Carvings are a cultural tourism attraction.

Yingshan is located in the northeast of Sichuan Province, on the watershed ridge between the Jialing River and the Qu River. Due to factors such as terrain, atmospheric circulation, and solar radiation, the area frequently experiences droughts. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, it has suffered more than three hundred severe droughts, hence the saying “nine out of ten years are drought years.” Droughts are often followed by floods, creating an alternating pattern of drought and waterlogging that has brought tremendous disasters to the people. Historical records such as the “Chronicles of Local History” document tragic scenes including “cracked farmland,” “withered crops,” “barren land for miles,” “complete crop failure,” “rice as precious as pearls and firewood as costly as cinnamon,” “people eating tree bark, grass roots, and white clay,” “cannibalism,” “corpses lining the roads,” and “dead bodies strewn everywhere.” Near the Dunpen Power Station in the county, inscriptions carved into a rock wall document two major droughts that occurred in the late Qing Dynasty — clear evidence of this historical hardship. Though these carvings have endured nearly a century of wind and rain erosion, the characters remain clear and legible. The inscription reads: “In the mid-fifth month of the 30th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign (1904), a severe drought struck. Crops were so withered they could be set on fire, and all prayers proved utterly ineffective. It was said that during the great drought in the fourth year of the Daoguang era (1824) at Dunpen, when waterwheels were used to draw water for less than ten days, a giant turtle suddenly appeared on the water’s surface. That very night, torrential rains fell, bringing relief to the suffering people. Now, facing a drought like in the past, the same ritual was enacted — altars were erected to pray for rain. Gentry from the surrounding areas set up over ten waterwheels, and thousands gathered, hoping that the river god would heed their call and bestow his mercy, so that the people might be blessed with rain. Sure enough, the next day brought pouring rain. This inscription is made to inform all living beings. Chief (name omitted). The 24th day of the fifth month, 30th year of Guangxu, Qing Dynasty. Carved collectively by the people of the four districts.” The Liuriver, a tributary of the Qu River, is the only major river in the county. It flows through the Yingqu border area of Dunpen Township, forming a natural waterfall over ten meters high, with a deep pool below known as Dunpen. The stone carvings also record the extreme drought and the drawing of water from the pool, referring to how it once “greatly comforted the people,” but still, the tragic scenes of “barren land for miles” and “corpses strewn everywhere” persisted. In January 1965, the Dunpen Hydropower Station was completed, and 164 electrical irrigation stations along the river ensured stable agricultural yields against both drought and flooding. Since then, the events described in the stone carving have become history.