Huicai Gully Stone Carvings

Huicai Gully Stone Carvings

The Huicai Gully Stone Carvings are a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The Huicai Gully Stone Carvings are located about 45 kilometers north of Hami City. They consist of a natural square-shaped stone measuring 33.2 meters in length, 3 meters in width, and 2 meters in height. On the right end of the southern side of the stone, remnants of Chinese characters reading “维汉永和五年六月十五日” (the 15th day of the 6th month of the 5th year of Yonghe during the Wei-Han period) and “沙海” (Sandy Sea) can be found, initially carved during the Eastern Han Dynasty. On the left end of the western side, there are two lines of regular script, with the first line faintly legible as “唐姜行本” (Tang Jiang Xingben) and the last line as “贞观”“十四年六月” (the 14th year of Zhenguan, 6th month), believed to have been inscribed using the existing Han Dynasty stele. The three large characters “焕彩沟” (Huicai Gully) were carved during the Qing Dynasty.

Legend has it that this was once a resting place for General Fan Lihua’s troops during their march in the Tang Dynasty. As one ventures further into the mountains from here, the weather becomes cooler, but if you head back out of the mountains, it gets hotter. Therefore, Fan Lihua reportedly ordered the troops to stay and change their gear here, and prepared coffins for fallen soldiers. Witnessing this scene, locals named the place “Coffin Gully.” This name remained in use until the Qing Dynasty when General Yue Zhongqi of Ningyuan passed through and, upon hearing the grim name, found it unpleasant and inauspicious. Noticing the vibrant, colorful pebbles of various sizes in the gully, he ordered the name changed to today’s Huicai Gully.

On the alluvial fan near Nanshankou, there is an 8-meter square, 10-meter-high beacon tower, and remnants of another beacon tower can be found on the western hillside. This area was once a strategic military location.

On October 7, 2019, the Huicai Gully Stone Carvings were included in the eighth batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units