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Cliffside Stone Carvings of Xiashan

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The Cliffside Stone Carvings of Xiashan are located in the northern part of Qingyuan Gorge, Qingcheng District, Qingyuan City, particularly concentrated on the western side of Feilai Temple and around Feiquan Cave. Due to years of weathering and damage from temple renovations and road construction, many of the carvings have been lost. Currently, there are 56 surviving cliffside inscriptions, including 1 from the Song Dynasty, 21 from the Ming Dynasty, 31 from the Qing Dynasty, and 3 from the Republican era onwards. These include inscribed titles, characters, and poems, with inscribed characters being the most numerous. There are also 19 stone steles. The earliest surviving cliffside carving is the two characters “葛坛” (Gean Altar) inscribed in the fifth year of the Qiandao era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1169) by Tao Ding, the Transport Commissioner, on the cliff where Ge Zhichuan once practiced alchemy. Each character is 0.32 meters wide. The earliest surviving stele is the Yuan Dynasty’s “Record of the Construction of the Feilai Hall at Guangqing Temple in Xiashan, Qingyuan County, Guangzhou Route” by Yang Guan, the county magistrate. The stele stands 1.50 meters tall and is 1.20 meters wide, containing a total of 1,126 characters. Notable examples include the “Stele for the Reconstruction of the Ancient Feilai Temple” by Shang Kexi, the Prince of Pingnan, which is 2.00 meters tall and 0.95 meters wide. There is also the stele where Ruan Yuan, Viceroy of Liangguang, supplemented the Tang Dynasty seal script “云台” (Cloud Terrace) characters originally written by Luo Yin, measuring 1.20 meters in height and 0.64 meters in width, with each character being 0.40 meters tall and 0.30 meters wide. Additionally, there are poetic steles by literati such as Wu Yingfen, featuring refined and elegant wording as well as bold and vigorous calligraphy. Many of these are recorded in the Republican-era edition of the *Qingyuan County Annals*.

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The Cliffside Stone Carvings of Xiashan are a cultural relic protection unit of Guangdong Province.

The Cliffside Stone Carvings of Xiashan are located in the northern part of Qingyuan Gorge, Qingcheng District, Qingyuan City, particularly concentrated on the western side of Feilai Temple and around Feiquan Cave. Due to years of weathering and damage from temple renovations and road construction, many of the carvings have been lost. Currently, there are 56 surviving cliffside inscriptions, including 1 from the Song Dynasty, 21 from the Ming Dynasty, 31 from the Qing Dynasty, and 3 from the Republican era onwards. These include inscribed titles, characters, and poems, with inscribed characters being the most numerous. There are also 19 stone steles. The earliest surviving cliffside carving is the two characters “葛坛” (Gean Altar) inscribed in the fifth year of the Qiandao era of the Southern Song Dynasty (1169) by Tao Ding, the Transport Commissioner, on the cliff where Ge Zhichuan once practiced alchemy. Each character is 0.32 meters wide. The earliest surviving stele is the Yuan Dynasty’s “Record of the Construction of the Feilai Hall at Guangqing Temple in Xiashan, Qingyuan County, Guangzhou Route” by Yang Guan, the county magistrate. The stele stands 1.50 meters tall and is 1.20 meters wide, containing a total of 1,126 characters. Notable examples include the “Stele for the Reconstruction of the Ancient Feilai Temple” by Shang Kexi, the Prince of Pingnan, which is 2.00 meters tall and 0.95 meters wide. There is also the stele where Ruan Yuan, Viceroy of Liangguang, supplemented the Tang Dynasty seal script “云台” (Cloud Terrace) characters originally written by Luo Yin, measuring 1.20 meters in height and 0.64 meters in width, with each character being 0.40 meters tall and 0.30 meters wide. Additionally, there are poetic steles by literati such as Wu Yingfen, featuring refined and elegant wording as well as bold and vigorous calligraphy. Many of these are recorded in the Republican-era edition of the *Qingyuan County Annals*.