Shuilian Cave Scenic Area is located at the foot of Zigai Peak in Hengshan Mountain, about 4.5 kilometers away from Nanyue Temple. Tickets for Shuiliandong Scenic Area are not included in the tickets for Hengshan Scenic Area, and you need to purchase tickets separately. The water source of Shuiliandong comes from the top of Nanyue Zigai Peak, flows through the cave, and flows into the unfathomable stone cave. When the water is full, it overflows and flows down, forming a waterfall. When the weather is clear, the sun shines on the water curtain, and rainbows often appear, colorful and spectacular. Shuiliandong is not only beautiful in scenery, but also a treasure house of calligraphy art. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, there have been more than 100 inscriptions by celebrities in the past.
There is a Taoist temple in front of Shuiliandong - Zhuling Palace. It was built in the Song Dynasty and has been repeatedly demolished and repaired. The existing building was rebuilt in 2000. At the entrance of Shuiliandong, you can see a huge stone engraved with "Zhuling Cave Sky", and a white marble arch dragon and phoenix bridge with three gilt characters "Shuiliandong" embedded in it. The symmetrical pavilions on both sides of the bridge are called Tai Chi Dragon Phoenix Bagua Pavilion.
Going up the stream, you can see two granite stones lying in the stream with cliff carvings on them. One is inscribed with "Heaven and Earth Flow Together", and the other is inscribed by Li Yuandu, a famous scholar in the late Qing Dynasty. "Watching the waterfall while drunk". Above the stone carving of "Zui Mian Guan Waterfall" is Zuimian Lake. The stone wall beside the lake stands tall. The stone wall is engraved with the cursive character "Zui" written by the famous monk Huai Su of the Tang Dynasty. Next to it is the inscription of Peng Hairpin, the magistrate of Hengshan County in the Ming Dynasty. .
Go straight along the stream and pass by Jinniu Pond, which is Shuiliandong Waterfall. The waterfall is more than 50 meters high, pouring down from the high hanging stone wall with water splashing in all directions. On the cliff opposite the waterfall, there is a pavilion called Xuelang Pavilion. It was built in the Tang Dynasty, rebuilt in the Qing Dynasty, and rebuilt again in 1964.
Shuilian Cave is located at the foot of Zigai Peak, one of the seventy-two peaks of Nanyue Hengshan Mountain, in Shuilian Village, Nanyue Township, 4 kilometers away from Nanyue Town. According to the records of "Yi Tong Zhi" and "Fu Di Zhi", Shuiliandong was called Zhuling Cave in ancient times. It is said that it was the place where Emperor Zhuling lived. People in the Tang Dynasty called Zhuling Cave "Zigai Fairy Cave". Taoists believe that it is the Taoist "Third Cave of True Void Blessed Land" and the "Zhuling Taixu Xiaoyou Heaven", referred to as "Zhuling Cave Heaven". It has always been a cave where gods live. "Qianhuo Leishu" says: According to legend, in ancient times, Dayu came to Nanyue to control floods and came to Nanyue to ask for gold slips and jade books. He held a sacrificial ceremony in the Zhuling Cave. In the 26th year of Kaiyuan of the Tang Dynasty (738 AD), Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty sent an eunuch. Zhang Fengguo led Taoist priest Sun Zhiliang and others from the capital to Zhuling Cave in Nanyue to drop the golden dragon and jade slips. This grand event of "throwing a dragon into the cave sky" was recorded in detail in the "Nanyue Zhi". Later generations wrote a couplet on the place where the golden dragon and jade slips were thrown into the water curtain cave: To the north alone, without facing the direction, the Milky Way pours down thousands of feet, and the jade splashes fly. Beads, looking at the source of each other, come to the purple cover; when I patrol the west, I should hate it, abandon the nine-fold golden tower, throw myself into the dragon to save my life, and look for the cave in the sky towards Zhuling.
The source of Shuiliandong Waterfall is the spring at Zigai Peak. The three springs gather together and flow into the valley above Shuiliandong. The valley is three feet wide. It was originally the place where nine immortals of the Liang Dynasty ascended to heaven during the day. Later, the Nine Immortals Temple was built. Near the Nine Immortals Temple are Taiyang Spring, Xixin Spring, Dongzhenyuan, Immortal Pond, etc. According to legend, the spring water is unfathomable. The spring water flows straight from the stone wall, making a thunderous sound that can be heard for ten miles. After visiting this place in the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Juzheng said: "The waterfalls and springs are falling, and the water curtains are folded in several layers, hanging in the clouds, hanging like beads, and falling like cut jade." Indeed, it gushes down from the cliff, which is as wide as three taels and more than fifty meters high. It pours beads and splashes of jade, like a huge white curtain, blocked by the rocks in the stone wall, and then bends and reflects from the cracks in the stone. , jumped out, the valley was full of water splashing, shining with crystal dazzling brilliance. The blue pool under the water curtain cliff, the clouds in the sky and the green mountains on both sides form a beautiful landscape painting. Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty wrote "Water Curtain Cave" and praised it: "I misunderstood that the Yinghai Sea was turning into beautiful waves, but I didn't expect that the Milky Way was turning into blue water; it is the deep retreat of the Xiang Concubine, with five heads hanging on the crystal curtain." This poem can be said to describe the three unique wonders of light, sound and shadow in Shuiliandong.
On the right side of Shuiliandong, the stone wall is steep. Originally there was a stone house and the Dragon God Temple on the rock. This ancestral hall is where Zhang Fengguo, an attendant of the Xuanzong sect of the Tang Dynasty, and Sun Zhiliang, a Taoist priest, cast their "Golden Dragon and Jade Slips". On the opposite side of the mountain stream, more than twenty feet away from the Dragon God Temple, there is a hexagonal pavilion built with granite inlays, called Xuelang Pavilion. It was built by Li Yuandu of the Qing Dynasty in the 10th year of Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1884 AD). There are stone tables and stone benches in the pavilion. The pavilion is named after the stream of water churning like snow waves. Sitting in the pavilion at that time, watching the pearls and jade jumping in the green pool, and listening to the roar of steroids, I could understand the interest contained in the four words "Xia Xue Qing Lei" engraved on the stone wall. Nowadays, the Dragon God Temple no longer exists, only the Walang Pavilion still exists. It provides convenience for tourists to rest and watch the wonders of Shuiliandong.
It is said that Shuilian Cave is connected with Zhuling Cave on Shigu Mountain in Hengyang. The one in Shigu is the Zhuling Back Cave and the one in Nanyue is the Zhuling Front Cave. The water source comes from the top of Zigai Peak of Nanyue, flows through the cave, and merges into the unfathomable stone cave that is more than 6 meters wide. The water overflows and falls vertically, forming a waterfall with a height of more than 60 meters. It is like a water curtain hanging for nine days, so it is named Water. Curtain hole. Every sunny day, the flying rainbow above the water curtain is dazzling and colorful, making it a spectacle. During the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, many famous poets wrote poems about it. The stone carvings include "Nanyue Zhuling Cave Sky" in the Song Dynasty, "The First Spring in the World" in the Ming Dynasty, "Xia Xue Qing Lei" and "Drunken Sleeping Waterfall" in the Qing Dynasty. In addition, there are "Flying Qiong Splashing Snow", "Curtain Hanging Ancient and Modern" and so on. Shuiliandong was the place where Taoist activities took place in the Tang Dynasty. They regard it as a blessed land of cave heaven and call it "Zhuling Cave Heaven". Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty also sent the imperial historian to lead Taoist priests to worship at Toulongtan. Now the valley above Shuiliandong has been built into a large reservoir in 1964. In the past, Taiyang Spring, Xixin Spring, etc. were all submerged in the reservoir. The water from the reservoir can be used to irrigate farmland. It can also generate electricity. The waterfall is like a thin white veil, hanging lightly to the bottom of the pool. Therefore, "the wonder of Shuiliandong" is still a unique attraction in Nanyue.
Address: Within Shuiliandong Scenic Area, Nanyue Hengshan Scenic Area, Jinsha Road, Nanyue Town, Nanyue District, Hengyang City
Type: Cave, Forest Mountain, Waterfall Historic Site
Visiting time: Recommended 1-2 hours
Tel: 0734-5673377; 0734-5671111 (Hengshan Scenic Area)
Official website: (Hengshan Scenic Area)/
Open Time: 7:00-17:00