Inverted Bamboo Cliff

Inverted Bamboo Cliff

Inverted Bamboo Cliff is located 17 kilometers south of Nanzhen Town in Shixing County, on Bai Renzhang Mountain north of Huangdong in Shendushui Township. This mountain features a cliff surrounded by a cluster of bamboo plants with upside-down-growing stalks. Locals call this place Inverted Bamboo Cliff, believing it to be where immortals once played chess.

Legend has it that one day long ago, a young man from Chengnan Xincun, a village near the mountain, went up the hill to cut bamboo. Passing by the mouth of a cave at the cliff, he saw two white-haired old men playing chess. The young man placed the bamboo he had cut upside down beside the cave and focused intently on watching the two elders play. One of the red-faced old men, noticing how engrossed the youth was, thought to himself that the boy must be studious and a good candidate for immortality. He said to the boy, “There are some taros in the pot inside the house. You must be hungry—go ahead and help yourself.” The boy went into the house, lifted the pot lid, and was shocked to find not taros but human heads inside. He dared not take any to eat. Seeing the boy’s reluctance, the white-haired elder realized the youth was not destined for immortality and said, “You’d better head home—the ashes from the paper money your family burned for you have flown all the way here.” The boy also felt it was time to return. When he came back to the spot where he had left the bamboo, he found that the stalks he had cut had grown into a lush grove of upside-down bamboo, and the knife he used to chop the bamboo was covered in thick rust. Only then did he realize he had encountered immortals—but when he turned around, the two white-haired elders were gone. Back home, he told his parents, “Today I met two white-haired old men playing chess on the mountain. I only stayed to watch one pawn cross the river before coming back.” Little did he know, he had been away from home for three whole years. Truly, “a day in the mountains is a thousand years in the world.” The boy shared his strange encounter with fellow villagers, and ever since, the legend of Inverted Bamboo Cliff has spread far and wide.