Tonggu Stone, also known as Sword-testing Stone, stands one kilometre east of the county seat. It is one of the Eight Scenic Sights of Tonggu Garrison Town and a county-level key cultural relic protection unit. The county of Tonggu derives its name from this rock.
According to the Records of Yining Prefecture compiled in the eleventh year of the Tongzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty: “Tonggu Stone is situated in the 24th Du of Wuxiang. Rising several zhang high, it takes the shape of a bronze drum.”
Multiple ancient inscriptions and seal characters remain on the stone. The three vertical regular-script characters “Tonggu Stone” each measure 1250 pixels, inscribed by Yan Lun, Military Defence Commissioner.
Other carvings include “Sword Testing”, “Pan Zhou’s Benevolent Governance” and the poem Ode to Tonggu Stone. All three inscriptions were written by Deng Zilong, a distinguished Ming general and garrison commander of Tonggu Camp.
Origin of the “Tonggu Stone” Inscription
According to legend from the Western Jin Dynasty, Xu Jingyang (Xu Xun) swung his sword to slay an evil flood dragon on this bronze-coloured, drum-shaped boulder east of Tonggu City. The rock split right down the middle, and a golden rooster flew away. This gave rise to the folk tale: The bronze drum cannot ring; the golden rooster soars up to heaven.
Though legendary, the story proves that the name “Tonggu” existed long before the Ming era.
Tonggu Garrison was formally established in the fifth year of the Wanli reign (1577), marking the first official use of the name in administrative setup.
In the second year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty (1910), Tonggu Civil Administration Department was founded under the jurisdiction of Nanchang Prefecture.
In February 1913, the department was abolished and Tonggu County was established, directly under provincial administration.
It is widely known that this huge bronze-hued, drum-shaped boulder east of Tonggu County rang when struck, hence the name Tonggu Stone, which gave the county its title.
Carved vertically on the cliff face are the three characters “Tonggu Stone” in elegant, forceful regular script. The signature at the bottom reads: “Written by Yan Lun, Military Defence Commissioner, a native of Jin.”
For a long time, this landmark inscription remained an unsolved mystery with many conflicting theories.
Two explanations gained the widest currency:
Based on the signature and the legend of Xu the Immortal slaying the flood dragon, some scholars believed that “a native of Jin” referred to the Jin Dynasty. In other words, the inscription was carved by a man named Yan Lun during the Jin Dynasty.
Others cited the Official Records in the Daoguang edition of the Records of Yining Prefecture, which records “Yan Lun, native of Jin’an”. Combined with the genealogy of the Wang clan from Jin’an in Fujian Province, they concluded that Yan Lun was a descendant of Wang Chao, elder brother of Wang Shenzhi, the founder of the Min Kingdom during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.
Wang Chao’s wife Lady Hou was conferred the title “Madam of Jin’an Commandery”. Amid clan infighting that triggered turmoil across Fujian, the Wang family scattered and fled to different regions. Their descendants referred to themselves as “people of Jin”. One descendant named Yan Lun was dispatched to Tonggu to recruit troops. Having heard the tale of Xu Jingyang and seen the drum-shaped boulder east of the city, he carved the three characters “Tonggu Stone” on the cliff.
Both theories rely largely on folklore rather than solid historical evidence, so no definite conclusion could be reached.
Recently, Professor Mao Jing, visiting scholar from the Chinese Department of Peking University and professor at Nanchang University, conducted field research on Tonggu Stone. After examining extensive historical documents, he finally uncovered the truth behind the inscription.
Professor Mao argued that the two previous theories lack documentary support and contradict historical facts:
First, more than 1,600 years have passed since the Jin Dynasty. Judging from the rock texture, such a well-preserved cliff carving could not have survived that long; only one surviving Jin Dynasty cliff inscription has ever been found across Jiangxi Province.
Second, Jiangxi was ruled by local separatist forces in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and the Min Kingdom never extended its influence into this region.
Third, the calligraphy follows the Palace Style, which only became popular after the Ming Dynasty.
Fourth, the official title “Military Defence Commissioner” was exclusively used in the Ming Dynasty.
Building on these observations, as well as historical records of Tonggu and Yining Prefecture, Professor Mao traced clues from the Records of Yining Prefecture and Index of Stone Inscriptions of Jinshi Candidates in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Further research into the Records of Pingding Prefecture and Veritable Records of Emperor Wanli of the Ming yielded conclusive evidence:
Yan Lun (1553–1610), a native of Pingding Prefecture in Shanxi Province, passed the imperial examination and became a jinshi in the 185th place of the third class in the fourteenth year of Wanli. He later served as Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Henan Judicial Commission.
In the sixth month of the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, Yan Lun, Director of the Nanjing Ministry of War, was promoted to Judicial Commissioner of Jiangxi with military oversight of Ningzhou.
Professor Mao therefore concluded that the three characters “Tonggu Stone” were written by Yan Lun in 1598, during his inspection tour of Tonggu under Ningzhou’s jurisdiction.
That same year, Deng Zilong, the famous anti-pirate general and founder of Tonggu Garrison, died a heroic death fighting in Korea.
By carving the inscription, Yan Lun formally validated the place name Tonggu and paid tribute to Deng Zilong, the founding commander of Tonggu Garrison.
As a researcher of local history, I hold that Professor Mao’s textual research is well-grounded and has uncovered the authentic origin of the Tonggu Stone inscription
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