Jingxing Rock Scenic Area

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, more than ten literary friends made an appointment to visit Jingxing Rock. One of the Eight Great Sights of Xianju, it bears the poetic name Watching the Moon from Jingxing Rock.

There have long been two ideal spots for moon appreciation. The first is beside water. A bright moon hangs in heaven;

A moon glimmers beneath the waves.

Two moons stay intertwined,

Silent, bound by unbroken longing. Every line brims with poetic charm. West Lake’s Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake in Hangzhou is a famous waterside moon-viewing landmark. The second spot is mountain summits. The unique delight of watching the moon atop a peak lies in the orb’s flawless crystalline brightness and immense scale, unmatched anywhere else.

The bright moon feels close enough to touch, blurring the divide between mortal world and celestial realm. Visitors sink into rapturous bliss, feeling as if they have become immortals, endlessly enchanted by boundless delight. Xianju’s Watching the Moon from Jingxing Rock ranks among the finest summit moon-viewing destinations.

Jingxing Rock stands southwest of Xianju County Seat, around twenty kilometers away. Though named a “rock”, it is in fact a mountain ringed by sheer vertical cliffs, carved as if with axes and blades, imposing and grand. Pan Lai, a Hanlin Academy Compiler of the Qing Dynasty, inscribed after his visit: Ten thousand mountains lie far below. Kang Su wrote in verse: Heaven draws near, clouds tread beside my steps;

Forests grow deep, emerald green drips onto my robes. Wu Shilai of the Ming Dynasty penned: I trace paths along the edge of heaven,

Meet monks wandering amid mist. All sang fervent praises of Jingxing Rock’s towering height.

Only one trail leads up the mountain: a winding switchback known as the Eighteen Turns, quite steep. Young visitors can climb straight to the Heavenly Gate in one breath, while elders must pause for rest many times along the way.

Upon reaching the Heavenly Gate, the eye stretches thousands of li. Billowing sea clouds roll beneath, making you feel you stand at the edge of the sky. Tucked among dense bamboo groves atop the mountain’s central plateau sits Jingju Temple. First erected in the 3rd year of the Zhenguan reign of the Tang Dynasty (629 AD), it fell into ruin before the Southern Song eminent monk Xingji rebuilt it. Monks Yifang, Miaozhan, Shiqi and Zhan’an resided here successively through the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the 12th year of the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1655), mountain bandits seized the temple as their stronghold. Three years later in 1658, Qing troops suppressed the bandits, and Jingju Temple was destroyed in the conflict. The temple visible today was reconstructed on the original ruins in recent years. Though not as grand as Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou or Guoqing Temple on Tiantai Mountain, it boasts an intimate, delicate charm all its own.

The abbot of Jingju Temple is warm and welcoming, serving us tea and offering storage for our luggage so we might tour the mountain unburdened.

Jingxing Rock boasts numerous scenic wonders: Jade Pillar Peak, Dragon Pool Gully, Resonant Rock, Moon Reflecting Pond, Moon-Watching Pavilion, Star-Picking Platform, Cloud-Celebrating Terrace and the Study Hall.

Our first stop was the Study Hall. This small recess embedded in a hundred-ren sheer cliff is where Wu Shilai, later Left Censor-in-Chief of the Ming Dynasty, buried himself in diligent study before embarking on his official career. Only a handful of people can fit within the hollow. Wu carved a stone desk into the rock and studied facing the cliff, never descending the mountain for two full years.

Wu Shilai was born in Houren Village, Baita Town, Xianju County. A child prodigy, he could compose essays by age ten. At twenty-three he passed the provincial civil service exam; at twenty-four he traveled to the capital but failed the metropolitan examination. Undaunted by defeat, he retreated to Jingxing Rock and devoted himself to daily study in the Study Hall. When exhaustion made him cough up blood, splatters stained every wall. His father came to visit, saw the blood-spattered rock faces, and wept aloud: “My son has coughed up his heart and liver!” He begged Wu to return home, yet Wu remained resolute. After two more years of unceasing study in the hall, he passed the metropolitan exam at twenty-seven. He went on to hold posts including Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of Punishments, Vice Minister of both the Ministry of Punishments and Ministry of Personnel, and Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate. In history, Wu Shilai is celebrated for his fearless, unyielding opposition to the treacherous grand secretary Yan Song and his son.

Today the Study Hall on Jingxing Rock stands as a symbol of tireless scholarly perseverance. Every visitor, young and old alike, comes to pay homage, drawing inspiration from Wu Shilai’s relentless dedication to learning.

Hundreds of meters north of the Study Hall lies Resonant Rock, also named Bell Rock. Local legend tells that when Nüwa mended the broken sky, she cleaved a massive boulder from Jingxing Rock to use as repair material. Having gathered sufficient stone elsewhere, she abandoned this giant slab here.

Though we know this ancient tale is a later romantic fabrication, Resonant Rock remains an unparalleled wonder of Jingxing Rock. It is an enormous stone pillar leaning against the main mountain yet separated by a narrow fissure less than fifty centimeters wide. The crevice stretches roughly sixty meters long and plunges nearly one hundred meters to the rock base, appearing exactly as if sliced open by a celestial blade mid-air. Such an extremely narrow, deep stone rift is rarely seen across the world, well deserving the title “World’s No.1 Stone Gorge”.

If you toss small pebbles into the fissure, the stones bounce off the rock walls as they fall, releasing wonderful tinkling echoes. The sound begins slow and crisp, quickens into low rumbling reverberations, then fades into distant, ethereal tones like the lingering echo of a flute drifting from beyond the mountains.

People never tire of this magnificent “stone melody”. Every visitor to Jingxing Rock stops at Resonant Rock to hurl pebbles into the crevice, “playing” the beautiful natural tune for their own delight.

We then toured Jade Pillar Peak, Dragon Pool Gully and other sights, returning to Jingju Temple as noon drew near. The temple was already thronged with visitors all come to await the full moon.

By dusk, more than a thousand tourists lined the stretch east of the temple around the Moon-Watching Pavilion.

Gazing east from the pavilion, layer upon layer of distant mountains shrouded in mist unfurl like an ink wash landscape painting. Visitors admired this vast natural scroll stretching across the horizon, chatting about Mid-Autumn customs and moon-viewing traditions as they waited for the moon to rise.

Some say Mid-Autumn customs originated from lunar eclipses. Legend holds that one year on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, a lunar eclipse occurred — ancient folk believed a celestial hound had swallowed the moon. Families baked countless round cakes and tossed them skyward to distract the hound. Lured by the fragrant cakes, the beast spat out the moon to feast on the treats instead. From then on, people baked round offerings each year on the same date to sacrifice to the hound, forming a lasting custom. The circular cakes resembled the full moon, hence the name mooncakes.

In truth, China’s Mid-Autumn Festival gradually evolved from ancient rituals of moon worship held at the Autumnal Equinox. Moon worship ceremonies existed as early as remote antiquity, not to ward off a moon-eating hound, but as a rite to greet the coming cold season. The Rites of Zhou records: “In mid-spring by day, earthen drums are beaten and the Elegant Yue ode played to welcome summer heat; on mid-autumn nights, the ritual to greet cold follows the same custom.” The Autumnal Equinox generally fell near the fifteenth of the eighth lunar month, the night when the moon reaches its fullest, brightest phase. Thus the equinox moon worship was fixed to the fifteenth of the eighth month, establishing the Mid-Autumn Festival as a regular observance. Over time, moon sacrifice and moon appreciation merged into one tradition. By the early Tang Dynasty, the Mid-Autumn Festival was widely celebrated; it flourished throughout the Song Dynasty, and by the Ming and Qing dynasties ranked alongside the Spring Festival and Dragon Boat Festival as one of the nation’s major holidays.

Many dismiss moon appreciation as a refined pastime exclusive to literati, yet this is a narrow prejudice. Who among humanity does not adore the pure glowing moon? Looking around the more than one thousand visitors at the Moon-Watching Pavilion, only a handful were scholars. Moon-gazing is a state of mind, a spiritual yearning for beauty. The bright moon symbolizes purity and family reunion, a vessel holding humanity’s ideals, wishes and affections.

As night fell, twilight draped Jingxing Rock like fine silk. Trees and faces dozens of meters away blurred into soft haze. Wisps of evening mist drifted above the mountain and the open lowlands beyond. Distant mountains turned deep black, their layered ridges indistinguishable, like a thick dark curtain strung across the horizon. Behind this shadowy veil floated a bank of pale white cloud, rendering the deep indigo night sky soft and enchanting. The dark firmament resembled a vast ocean, and the white mist looked just like foamy spray cast up by crashing waves. Locals claim the moon rises as if emerging from the sea when viewed from the pavilion — a lovely romantic metaphor.

The floating white cloud bank gradually brightened: the moon was about to rise, and the crowd cheered.

At first only a thin streak of silver light peeked through the mist. In the next instant, the full moon surged upward as if lifted by unseen hands. In the blink of an eye, the pure, flawless round moon hung fully before all eyes.

The sky softened to pale blue, silver mist billowing and drifting. The pitch-black mountains faded to hazy grey silhouettes. The area around the pavilion blazed as bright as daylight, every face dozens of meters away clearly visible.

Standing high on Jingxing Rock, we felt extraordinarily close to the moon, which appeared far larger than usual. Visitors gasped, saying they had never seen such a massive lunar orb. Compared with the moon seen from flat ground, the full moon atop Jingxing Rock appears more than twice its ordinary size. It is not only enormous but dazzlingly luminous, crystal clear as a polished jade plate lit from beneath, every fine vein and texture of the jade rendered perfectly transparent. This extraordinary crystalline radiance comes from viewing the moon from a lofty mountain peak: unobscured by low-hanging mist and unmasked by thick terrestrial night haze, the moon shines with unparalleled clarity. Truly, Jingxing Rock offers unrivaled conditions for moon watching.

The full moon drifted slowly just before us, so near we could almost reach out and touch it — yet no one lifted a hand, as if afraid to smudge its spotless, lovely glow. The crowd watched in absolute silence, as though fearing to startle the radiant celestial maiden gliding past.

May we all live long, sharing this beautiful moon though thousands of miles apart. The bright moon embodies humanity’s finest hopes and ideals, and offers profound insights into life and the cosmos. Su Dongpo’s Prelude to the Water Melody writes: Joy and sorrow, parting and reunion mark mortal lives;

Waxing and waning, full and dim the moon endures —

Such perfection was rarely meant for earthly men. Zhang Ruoxu’s Spring River Moonlit Night reads: Its shimmering glow ripples ten thousand li of waves;

Where along the spring river does the bright moon not shine?

Who by the river first beheld this moon above?

When did this river moon first cast its light on man?

Generations pass endlessly, yet the river moon

Remains unchanged year after year. Li Bai’s Toasting the Moon muses: Men of today cannot see the moon of ancient times,

Yet this very moon once shone on ancients long gone.

Ancients and moderns flow like endless streams;

All who gaze upon this moon share the same profound emotion. These verses carry timeless philosophical reflections on the universe and human existence.

Autumn winds picked up, coolness nipping at our skin. We departed the Moon-Watching Pavilion and descended the mountain bathed in silvery moonlight. It was past nine o’clock at night, yet streams of visitors still climbed upward to view the moon without cease