Taibai Stele Forest

　　A Fine Addition Among China’s Newly Built Stele Forests—Since 1999, the governments of Ma'anshan City and Dangtu County have invested over 1.5 million yuan to build the Taibai Stele Forest, which is now officially open to the public. The architecture of the Taibai Stele Forest was designed under the leadership of Professor Zhu Liangwen, Dean of the School of Architecture at Southern Industrial University. The style adopts the Jiangnan garden format, with corridors encircling the water, pavilions, terraces, and towers that are simple and elegant, uniquely shaped, and all featuring typical Huizhou architectural characteristics. The stele forest is filled with lush grass, rippling waters, rustic stone hills, verdant trees, and pleasant scenery.

　　The calligraphy works in the Taibai Stele Forest were collected through official letters issued by the Anhui Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau and the People's Government of Dangtu County. To date, it has received and preserved classic poems by Li Bai from various periods, handwritten by 106 renowned modern and contemporary calligraphers. The scripts include regular script, cursive script, clerical script, seal script, running script, and Wei stele script. The poems were engraved onto the stelae by Mr. Ma Ruisheng, an engineer from the Hefei Sculpture Institute. The stelae are made of high-quality bluestone from Yushan, Jiangxi, known for its fine texture and pure color.

　　The plaque “Taibai Stele Material” was inscribed by Mr. Guo Moruo, with vigorous and powerful characters. The walls inside the main hall are inlaid with works by seven modern master calligraphers: Mao Zedong, Guo Moruo, Lu Xun, Yu Youren, Shen Yinmo, Lin Sanzhi, and Sha Menghai. Along the corridor outside the hall are works by 99 calligraphers from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and various provinces and cities. The works display diverse styles—some simple and implicit, some fresh and delicate, some bold and unrestrained, and others dynamic and varied.

　　The newly opened Taibai Stele Forest excels in calligraphy works, architectural style, and stele engraving, making it a fine addition among the newly built stele forests in Anhui Province and even across China.

　　

　　Li Bai (701~762)　　The Poet Immortal Li Bai (February 8, 701 – December 762), courtesy name Taibai, also known as Qinglian Jushi or the Exiled Immortal, and nicknamed Li Twelve, was a poet of the Tang Dynasty, often referred to together with Du Fu as “Li-Du.” Li Bai left behind the collection “The Collected Works of Li Taibai,” with representative works including “Quiet Night Thought,” “Drinking Alone under the Moon,” and “Dreaming of the Goddess on Mount Tai and Bidding Farewell.” He brought ancient romanticist literature to new heights, with his songs and seven-character quatrains reaching levels difficult for later generations to surpass. Li Bai’s achievements in yuefu poetry, songs, and quatrains are considered the highest; his style is bold and unrestrained, fresh and graceful, rich in imagination, with marvelous artistic conception and language, characterized by romanticism and clear themes. There are various theories about the death of Li Bai, none of which have reached a consensus... Details+