Xunle Book Cliff

　　Xunle Book Cliff is situated in Dongxing Village, Dongqing Town, on the western bank of the Jialing River. In the fifth year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1800), local villagers such as Kou Jishun led efforts to carve two stone chambers into the mountain to take refuge from war. From the 20th year of the Daoguang reign (1840) to the 10th year of the Guangxu reign (1884), the local Confucian scholar Jia Ruzhen expanded the site by carving five additional chambers from a natural rock cave and the rocky outcrop above it, connected to the original two, making a total of seven interconnected chambers covering an area of 355.5 square meters. Outside the caves, he established the “Bamboo Bridge Studio,” where he hired renowned local scholars to proofread, publish, and reproduce the “Four Books,” “Five Classics,” and additionally print the “Collected Annotations on Elementary Learning.” The publications were of high quality and gained widespread acclaim, attracting a continuous stream of literati and scholars. Calligraphic works and inscriptions by these visitors—featuring running script, regular script, and seal script—total 152 pieces and over 19,000 characters, all engraved on the cave walls. The site also features stone carvings of figures such as Confucius, the God of Literature, Guan Yu, the Eight Immortals, Guanyin, the Medicine Buddha, the God of Wealth, the Earth God, the Goddess of Childbirth, the Silkworm Deity, and his consort, along with five relief sculptures and nine murals. Outside the caves, Jia Ruzhen built pavilions, terraces, corridors, and rooms, encircling the area with a stone wall and planting flowers and trees within. A spring inside the caves flows year-round without drying up. Jia Ruzhen often resided here, gathering with scholars for literary discussions and enjoying life, hence the name “Xunle Book Cliff” (Cliff of Seeking Joy and Books). In the 15th year of the Guangxu reign (1889), at the age of 75, Jia Ruzhen renamed the site the “Nine Thoughts Shrine,” though locals commonly referred to it as “Jia Family Cave.” Since the Republican era, the decline of the Jia family led descendants to sell off all the woodblocks from the Bamboo Bridge Studio. By the eve of liberation, the pavilions, terraces, and corridors outside the caves had been dismantled. During the Cultural Revolution, the statues inside the caves were destroyed. Today, the reliefs and cliff inscriptions remain, earning the site the nickname “Exhibition Hall of Qing Dynasty Calligraphy.” On April 8, 1983, the county government designated it as a county-level cultural relics protection unit.