Stone Carvings of Dragon and Tiger

　　Introduction    Located in the Pavilion of Dragon and Tiger Steles next to the central square of Hunchun City. It was built to commemorate General Wu Dacheng, a patriotic military leader from the late Qing Dynasty. After 1840, Tsarist Russia annexed vast territories north of the Heilongjiang River and east of the Ussuri River, repeatedly provoking incidents, acting lawlessly, and causing great hardship to the border people of China, who were displaced and lived in turmoil. Between 1880 and 1886, Wu Dacheng, serving as an imperial envoy, traveled extensively between Jilin, Hunchun, and Ningguta to resist Tsarist Russian invasion. To prevent further incursions, he signed the “Hunchun Eastern Frontier Re-survey Agreement” with Tsarist Russia, re-erected a boundary stele at the mouth of the Tumen River, added new boundary steles — the La and Sa steles — and sixteen boundary markers along the Sino-Russian border in Hunchun. He also erected a bronze pillar in Changlingzi. These efforts effectively curbed Russian westward expansion and safeguarded Chinese territory. Liangshui Town, located on the road from Tumen to Hunchun, was originally called Liangshui Quanzi. At that time, due to Tsarist Russian invasions involving burning, killing, and looting, villagers were forced to flee their homes. In 1881, when Wu Dacheng inspected the border region, he helped local residents repair their homes, established an agricultural encouragement office (“Quannong Suo”), and organized locals to resist Russian aggression. Through sustained effort, the Liangshui area gradually prospered. To show their gratitude to Wu Dacheng, the locals asked him to inscribe something in their honor. Wu Dacheng, with vigorous strokes, wrote the condensed phrase “Dragon Coiling, Tiger Crouching” as the two characters “龙虎” (Dragon and Tiger), symbolizing the Chinese nation — as descendants of the dragon — standing majestic and resolute, vowing to defend the frontier and the motherland at all costs. The two characters are written in Zhongding script (an ancient form of Chinese seal script), close to pictographs, with powerful and forceful brushwork. Locals meticulously carved these characters onto a granite stone stele. The “Stone Carvings of Dragon and Tiger” embody the unyielding spirit of the Chinese nation and inspire the patriotic devotion of the Chinese people.

　　 Jilin Yanji City