Mount Heming

　　  Mount Heming, also known as Tazi Mountain, is located on the outskirts of Jiange County along the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway. Legend has it that ancient times often saw cranes perching and calling here. It was named after the founder of Taoism, Zhang Ling, who ascended to heaven on a crane from this mountain. In recent years, some scholars have suggested that this is the birthplace of the Five Pecks of Rice sect founded by Zhang Ling, making it the foremost among Taoist sacred sites, hailed as the “Celestial Capital of the Taoist Realm.” Today, Mount Heming Park has been established on the mountain, featuring pavilions, terraces, towers, and gazebos that blend ancient architectural styles with modern art, making it a major scenic attraction in northern Sichuan.

　　  At the northern end of the mountaintop stands the Wenfeng White Pagoda, which is 21.7

　　  meters tall and has six stories and eight sides. The outer columns of the first story are carved with coiling dragon designs, and at the center of the pagoda’s core is a bluestone slab engraved with the Taiji and Bagua patterns. It is the only brick-and-stone pagoda in northern Sichuan related to Taoism. The mountaintop also hosts dozens of stone carvings from the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. Among the most notable are the Taoist statue carvings, the “Jianzhou Chongyang Pavilion Inscription and Preface” stele, and the “Ode to the Revival of the Great Tang” stone carving—collectively recognized as the “Three Wonders” of Mount Heming’s stone carvings. These are considered exquisite cultural relics from ancient times.

　　  The First Wonder: The “Jianzhou Chongyang Pavilion Inscription” stele authored by Li Shangyin. The Chongyang Pavilion was first built in the ninth month of the eighth year of the Dazhong era in the Tang Dynasty (854 AD), supervised by Jiang Yu, the governor of Jianzhou. Intent on leveraging Li Shangyin’s fame to immortalize his own governance achievements, Jiang Yu invited Li Shangyin, who was then serving as an official in Zizhou, to compose the inscription for the pavilion. For over a thousand years, the stele has protected the pavilion, and the pavilion has gained renown because of the stele. Though the pavilion has suffered damage over time, the Tang Dynasty stele has survived to this day. According to the record of the pavilion’s reconstruction: it was built in the ninth month on the eastern hill, facing south, serving as a scenic spot for ascending heights on the Double Ninth Festival, hence the name “Chongyang” (Double Ninth). During the Northern Song’s Zhizheng era, the pavilion collapsed and the stele fell. Through the Song, Ming, Qing dynasties, and early Republican period, it was either repaired or fell into ruin, experiencing repeated cycles of rise and decline. The current Chongyang Pavilion is built in the style of the Tang Dynasty, covering an area of 18.5 square meters, standing 4.4 meters high, with a gray curved ridge roof. The Song Dynasty inscription “Ancient Chongyang Pavilion,” carved deeply and powerfully in bold strokes, is located on the central back wall of the pavilion. The Tang Dynasty stele of Li Shangyin’s “Jianzhou Chongyang Pavilion Inscription,” now housed within a niche beside the pavilion, is 1.88 meters tall and 0.85 meters wide, inscribed in small seal script. It is a valuable artifact for studying Tang Dynasty culture.