Tieshan Park

　　Tieshan Park is the largest park in Jining City. It was first built in 1981 and officially opened to the public in 1985, covering an area of over 580 acres. The park has successively developed various scenic areas such as an amusement park, zoo, peach blossom garden, rose garden, peony garden, cherry garden, and plum blossom garden, gradually forming a unique style where there are scenes within scenes and gardens within gardens. In recent years, the park has become a popular destination for local residents to relax, entertain, and exercise.

　　The Tieshan Cliff Carvings are located within Tieshan Park, about two li northwest of Zoucheng, commonly referred to as Nangang. The cliff face is eighty meters high, with the carved stone measuring sixty-six point one meters in height and sixteen point four meters in width, covering a total area of 1,085 square meters. The sunny side features inscriptions of the "Mahāsannipāta Sūtra · Chapter on Piercing the Bodhi" and the "Stone Eulogy," dating to the first year of the Daxiang era (579). Written in clerical and regular script styles, the sutra text spans seventeen lines, with each line containing between six and sixty-one characters, totaling 930 characters, of which 777 are still identifiable. Character sizes range from forty to sixty centimeters.

　　The "Stone Eulogy" is located on the right side and bears the inscription of the sutra sponsor “Kuang Zhe.” The two characters “Stone Eulogy” are in seal script, measuring ninety-five by seventy-five centimeters. The eulogy text consists of twelve lines, with each line containing between forty-three and fifty-two characters, and character size of approximately twenty-two centimeters. Originally inscribed with 614 characters, 492 remain today. The lower part contains the inscribed names, originally 65 characters, of which 45 are still preserved. The names include: “Zhou, Gongcao of Rencheng Commandery; Dàdū Weinà of Pingyang County; Li Ju'ao of Zhao Commandery; Sun Qia, Ningshu General and Dàdū Du of Rencheng Commandery, sponsor of the sutra; An Daoyi, monk of Dongling, inscribed the sutra (see Figure 2); Zhou, Pingyue General of Qi’s Search for Virtuous Men; Lü Changgao, Zhubu of Rencheng Commandery and Dàdū Weinà.” Aside from official participants, the person who inscribed the sutra was An Daoyi. In 1988, the Tieshan Cliff Carvings were designated as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit.