The Southern Sky Column

　　    About three hundred meters east of the Two Stones at Tianya Haijiao stands a tall, solitary cone-shaped rock, like a divine brush pointing straight to the sky. This is the Southern Sky Column, approximately seven meters high. Viewed from the front, it resembles the head of a philosopher, while from the side, it looks like a two-masted sail rising from an ancient ship. The pattern on the back of the fourth series of the two-yuan RMB note features this very Southern Sky Column.

　　    Legend has it that it was once part of the Heavenly Pillar (天柱), which broke when the angry god Gonggong struck Mount Buzhou, causing the pillar to snap and the earth’s bindings to sever. This fragment was sent here to hold up the southern sky alone. In the first year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1911), Fan Yunti, then the magistrate of Yazhou, inscribed the four characters “Southern Sky Column” based on this tale.

　　    Another legend tells of a time long ago when fierce waves raged across the sea near Lingshui’s Li’an area, often capsizing fishing boats and claiming lives. Two fairies from the Queen Mother of the West secretly descended to earth and stood in the South China Sea, guiding local fishermen safely to catch fish, bringing stability and prosperity to their lives. When the Queen Mother found out, she ordered Thunder God and Thunder Goddess to retrieve the two fairies. Refusing to go back, the fairies turned into a pair of peak-shaped rocks, standing in the sea to continue guiding the fishermen. Enraged, Thunder God split the double-peaked rock with a thunderclap. One piece fell into the sea near Li’an, while the other flew to the shore beside Sanya’s “Tianya Haijiao,” becoming today’s “Southern Sky Column.”