Chujian Lock Key: Banbi Mountain

　　Banbi Mountain is located by the Fuchi River. Its towering, unique peak rises abruptly from the ground, standing on the southern bank of the Yangtze River and jutting into the midstream, facing the important eastern Hubei town of Tianjiazheng across the river. Legend has it that Emperor Qin Shi Huang, wielding his mountain-moving whip, split apart a mountain on the riverbank upstream in Huangshi City. One half of the mountain remained in place, becoming today’s Xisai Mountain; the other half floated downstream along the river until it reached the shores of Fuchi, and thus was named Banbi Mountain (Half-Side Mountain). Hence, Banbi Mountain and Xisai Mountain share the poetic titles of “Upper Wall” and “Lower Wall.” Banbi Mountain faces the river on one side, with cliffs over a hundred meters high, presenting a spectacular sight. Here, the great river suddenly narrows to just over 500 meters in width during normal water levels—making it the narrowest section below the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River and resembling a throat gateway. Beneath the cliffs, the river flows rapidly, with crashing waves hitting the banks, awe-inspiring and intimidating. An ancient poet wrote: “Lofty and rugged, Banbi Mountain stands, / The Yangtze’s lock key, taming wild waves’ hands. / A mighty gateway to the land of Chu, proud and grand, / Waves crash against wind and thunder at this dangerous strand.”

　　Banbi Mountain, situated at the strategic junction of Hubei and Jiangxi, commands the upper and lower Yangtze River and serves as the eastern gate to Wuhan, the hub of nine provinces. Since ancient times, it has been a battleground fiercely contested by military strategists. From the late Han Dynasty onwards, renowned military figures have fought across this region, including the great general Gan Ning of the Sun Wu Kingdom, the Tang Dynasty military governor Yang Xingmi, the folk hero Yue Fei of the Southern Song resistance, the Red Turban leader Xu Shouhui of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang who vied for supremacy at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, as well as the peasant rebellion leader Li Zicheng during the late Ming and early Qing periods.

　　In the spring of 1853, to suppress the Taiping Rebellion, the Qing court dispatched Anhui Governor Jiang Zhongyuan to lead both naval and land forces to garrison Banbi Mountain. In October, the Taiping Western Expeditionary Army, after capturing Jiujiang, sailed upstream directly toward the strategic Banbi Fortress, defeating Jiang Zhongyuan’s tens of thousands of troops and seizing all their warships. The Taiping Army then established five camps on the mountain and stretched three iron chains and seven bamboo cables across the river to block Qing forces from advancing eastward down the Yangtze toward Tianjing (Nanjing). In October 1854, Zeng Guofan, leader of the Xiang Army, sent troops eastward, with the Taiping defenses along the Yangtze at Banbi Mountain bearing the brunt of the attack. Led by Shi Zhenchang and Wei Yide, the Taiping forces—

　　—engaged in fierce and bloody battles with the central forces of the Xiang Army under Peng Yulin, holding their ground for half a month. In November, the southern forces of the Xiang Army led by Luo Zenan joined forces with Peng’s troops and clashed again with the Taiping defenders. Outnumbered, Shi and Wei’s troops suffered heavy losses: over a thousand soldiers were slaughtered, another thousand drowned when boats capsized, and thousands more fell to their deaths from the cliffs into the river. At the time, it was described: “The plains ran red with blood, the cliffs bore dark stains, and the southern banks of the river turned crimson with gore.” After losing Banbi Mountain, the Taiping Army quickly re-established their camps at the foot of the mountain and maintained the iron chains across the river as before, still preventing the Xiang naval forces from advancing eastward. On December 20, Zeng Guofan personally directed a combined land and water assault on the Taiping Army, bombarding Niuganji Fort and Wuwangmiao Camp with new-style Western cannons and using furnaces and axes to melt through the iron chains. Besieged from both front and back and left without reinforcements, the Taiping fighters suffered nearly ten thousand casualties in the bloody battle, their bodies floating on the river, their war boats destroyed, and the iron chains sunk. The Xiang Army also suffered heavy losses, with many officers killed. This battle had a significant impact on the war situation at the time. Thirty years later, in 1884, during the Sino-French War, Viceroy of Liangguang Zhang Zhidong, following orders from the Qing court, dispatched personnel to Banbi Mountain to construct artillery fortifications.

　　In 1927, Zhang Zhen’s regiment of the 19th Division of the National Revolutionary Army’s 6th Army decisively defeated the 2nd Division of Warlord Sun Chuanfang’s 8th Army at Banbi Mountain, capturing the artillery forts and the Ma’anshan positions. In the history of the Chinese nation’s resistance against aggression, Banbi Mountain also enjoys widespread renown. During the War of Resistance Against Japan in April 1938, the 8th, 10th, and 14th Artillery Regiments of the Nationalist Government’s 9th War Zone 2nd Army Corps, along with the Banbi Mountain Fortress Defense Unit, deployed 40 artillery pieces along the Banbi Mountain line of forts, with heavy artillery positioned on the western side of the mountain to control Tianjiazheng. In early June, the Wuhan Garrison Command dispatched a reinforced brigade totaling 7,200 troops to garrison Banbi Mountain, guarding the eastern gateway of Wuhan. The entire brigade, united in enmity, signed oaths declaring “We are willing to live or die with Banbi Mountain.” In September, the Japanese launched a frenzied combined land, sea, and air assault on the Banbi Mountain Fortress. The Chinese defenders resisted stubbornly, engaging in intense battles for over half a month and inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese. Ultimately, however, with all positions destroyed, Banbi Mountain fell. In this battle, 824 anti-Japanese soldiers were killed, 278 were wounded, and once again, the heroes’ blood stained this land red.

　　Remnants of ancient battlefields from Banbi Mountain are visible everywhere. On the southeast riverside, the ruins of ancient artillery batteries remain well-preserved, constructed from a mixture of lime and glutinous rice. From the river, visitors can view three cliff inscriptions on the sheer riverside cliffs: “Iron Chains Sank into the River,” written vertically, the inscription surface measuring 3.5 meters high and 1.5 meters wide, penned by Xiang Army naval commander Peng Yulin in 1854; “Southeast Half-Wall,” written horizontally, the inscription surface 1.5 meters high and 2.5 meters wide, inscribed by General Ding Sibin in 1864; and “Chu River Lock Key,” written horizontally, the inscription surface 1.4 meters high and 4.5 meters wide, written by Qing general Yang Yuebin in 1884. Located in Shengjiawan on the western side of the mountain is the “Tomb of a Thousand Men,” built in 1854, containing the remains of countless fallen Taiping soldiers. A stele erected and inscribed with 468 characters by Wang Wenming, then the head of the Banbi Mountain ferry outpost, stands there, with the stele now housed in the provincial museum.

　　Banbi Mountain and its surrounding areas boast a wealth of cultural relics and historic sites. In 1981, Neolithic to Eastern Zhou Dynasty remains were discovered on Banbi Mountain, and in 1984, pottery ding vessels and dragon-phoenix bronze mirrors from the Warring States period were excavated. Also uncovered that year was the Xiaopao’er Mountain Chu Tomb, whose occupant was a woman of noble status, with numerous burial artifacts. Within a 5–10 km radius to the southeast lie the tomb of the Three Kingdoms general Gan Ning, the ancient mining site at Gangxia, and ancient golden osmanthus and peony trees at Huangjia on Shangchaohu. Within a 3–10 km radius to the northwest are the deep and expansive underground caves of Yuanguang Cave, the Song Dynasty “Meishan” cliff inscription written by Prefect Fan Zhongxuan, as well as historic river crossings used by the Red Army, New Fourth Army, Eighth Route Army’s 359th Brigade Southward Detachment, and the People’s Liberation Army during their crossing operations.