Huaiyang City

　　    Huaiyang City is surrounded by water on all sides, with a vast urban lake stretching as far as the eye can see. About one li northeast of the city, a prominent earthen mound rises abruptly from the lake surface, adorned with colorful pavilions and railings and shaded by ancient green cypresses. This is the place where Fuxi, the legendary figure Taihao, is said to have first created the Eight Trigrams, hence the name "Painting the Trigrams Platform," also known as the Eight Trigrams Altar. Huaiyang was anciently called Wankiu and was the capital established by Taihao Fuxi. The Painting the Trigrams Platform is described as “the altar where Fuxi obtained the white turtle and the Eight Trigrams by the Cai River.” The platform is [X] meters high, with a base area of about 10 mu, entirely encircled by water except for a small path on the southwest side that allows passage. The temple on the platform was built at an unknown time in history. After enduring the erosion of time and weather, the temple, once one of the “Seven Platforms and Eight Scenic Spots of Ancient Chenzhou,” no longer exists. Only the legendary Bagua Cypress, said to have been planted by Fuxi himself, still stands tall and proud. Fuxi named it the Bagua Cypress. The platform is famous for Fuxi’s creation of the Eight Trigrams: using a single long line to represent “yang,” two short lines for “yin,” and then combining them to depict the diagrams of Qian, Kun, Dui, Xun, Zhen, Kan, Li, and Gen. With their rotations and movements, the interplay of yin and yang generates endless changes. Beyond the Eight Trigrams, sixty-four hexagrams can be formed, and with the variations of the six lines, the patterns of change in many natural phenomena can be deduced.