Moon over Mengmen at Night

Moon over Mengmen at Night

Looking down from the Yellow River Bridge at the border, the river surges out of the Longchuan Gorge and suddenly widens. Where the water becomes broader, a huge rock stands firmly in the middle of the river. Viewed from above, it looks like a gate; from the side, like a boat; and from below, like a mountain. In reality, it is a small island in the Yellow River. Majestically located in the middle of the current, it splits the river’s flow — this is the legendary Mengmen Mountain, said to be “carved through the rock by Yu the Great.” Legend has it that when Yu was taming the floods, he first carved the first hidden floodgate here to block the deluge, and it came to be called Mengmen. To this day, the massive rock of Mengmen still bears four bold, one-meter-square red characters inscribed by the Jinming Prefect: “Reclining to Calm the Wild Current.” When the river water recedes, these characters emerge above the surface for visitors to admire.