Stele Corridor of Furong Tower

　　The stone carvings at Furong Tower represent the essence of the cultural heritage of Qianyang Ancient Town. They mainly come from two sources: first, the steles from the tower itself, including poetic steles created during literary gatherings, commemorative steles for the restoration of Furong Tower, and steles inscribed with calligraphy by ancient masters; second, historical steles such as Qing Dynasty government notices and record steles collected from the ancient town by cultural heritage authorities.

　　The corridor is divided into two sides. One side features poetry and calligraphy steles, including running script by Tian Mingyu, teacher of Shen Congwen; the “Final Words from Xupu Field Headquarters” by Zhou Zefan, a warlord in Western Hunan; character steles by Wang Jixian, a renowned Qing Dynasty calligrapher from Changpo in Qiancheng; character steles by Zhao Mengfu, a great Yuan Dynasty calligrapher; character steles by Yue Fei, a patriotic general from the Song Dynasty; as well as works by Huang Tingjian and Mi Fu, great calligraphers of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Yan Zhenqing, a master calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty.

　　The “Ancient Longbiao Mountain” stele was inscribed by Yuan Shuxian, an educational official of Qianyang County, in the 35th year of the Qianlong reign (1770, Gengzi), and recarved in the 23rd year of the Daoguang reign (1843, Guimao).

　　The other side of the corridor mostly consists of record steles. The first two are commemorative steles for the restoration of Furong Tower. Others include anti-Japanese war slogan steles, Qing Dynasty temple and ancestral hall steles, and government notices. These steles are of great value for the study of the politics, economy, history, and culture of Qianyang County.

　　Source: Qianyang Ancient Town