Changsha Old Stories

Author: Li Yin
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: Yongzhou is located in the southern part of Hunan, anciently known as Lingling, named after the Emperor Shun. The two rivers, Xiang and Xiang, converge here, serving as a key route from Hunan to Guangxi. Anciently, Yongzhou was a remote land where emperors banished officials. In the winter of 805 AD, Liu Zongyuan, who had been exiled due to the failure of the Yongzhen Reforms, traveled upstream along the Xiang River and quietly arrived in Yongzhou to take up the position of Military Commissioner.
After arriving in Yongzhou, Liu Zongyuan, always yearning for a return to the capital, never sought a permanent residence. Initially, he stayed at Longxing Temple on the eastern bank of the Xiang River in the southern part of Yongzhou. Soon after, he moved from Longxing Temple to Gaoshan Temple. Gaoshan Temple, known as Fahuasi during the Tang Dynasty, was built in the mid-Tang period and was much larger in scale than Longxing Temple. Every evening, when the temple struck its drums and bells, the sound could be heard throughout the city, earning it the name "Evening Bells of Gaoshan Temple," one of the Eight Scenic Views of Yongzhou.
In 809 AD, five years after arriving in Yongzhou, Liu Zongyuan, following Tang Dynasty custom, could have been "relocated" to a better post, especially since that year marked the enthronement of a new crown prince and a general amnesty. However, the court explicitly stated that the "Eight Marshals" were not included in the amnesty. With no hope of returning north, Liu Zongyuan moved out of Gaoshan Temple and settled on the western bank of the Xiang River at Rangxi, renaming it "Yuxi." The reason he called it "Yuxi" was that he felt too foolish to have offended the court and been sent to such a remote place, so he believed the landscape had become foolish along with him. In reality, his use of irony was merely a way to express his anger. Other places he named "Yu" included Yuqiu, Yuquan, Yugou, Yuchi, Yutang, Yuting, and Yuqiao, collectively known as the "Eight Yus," with an accompanying poem inscribed on the river rocks. Today, only Yuxi and Yuqiao remain, along with a recently restored Yuting.
Liu Zongyuan's "Eight Records" are a masterpiece of landscape essays, concise yet profound, each piece independent yet interconnected. Most people's impression of Yongzhou is shaped by these essays. However, due to the passage of time, the scenery described in the "Eight Records" has changed significantly. Only Xiaoshicheng Mountain still bears some resemblance to the original landscape, while the rest—Xishan, Xiaoxi, Yuanjiagou, Shiqiu, Shijian, Goumutan, and even the renowned Xiaoshi Tan—are difficult to recognize in their original form. Xiaoshicheng Mountain was given a temple called "Zhishan An" during the Ming Dynasty, earning it the alternate name "Zhishan." Today, the Zhishan District of Yongzhou City is named after this.
After the An Lushan Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty was already declining. Despite the court's misfortunes and its penchant for tragic court intrigues, it also inadvertently created a literary feast of unintended consequences. No one could have predicted, not even Liu Zongyuan himself, that this seemingly ordinary episode of exile in Chinese history would become a turning point for him and leave an indelible mark on Yongzhou.