by Scott Xuekun Liu

Longhu Shan (Mount Dragon and Tiger) is a popular place to hike and see Hong Kong’s beautiful scenery near the HKU campus. Zhengpeng Lou, in his 2018 feature article, introduced us to a trail he described as ‘treacherous’, where one can start from Longhu Shan to Mount High West to see the marvelous sunset and cloud sea. I have visited this trail several times, and it often reminds me of the mountain in my hometown, coincidently also called Longhu Shan and located in Guixi, Jiangxi province.

Mount Longhu in Jiangxi is famous for being one of the birthplaces of Taoism and is part of the Danxia landform. It is inscribed on the World Heritage list by UNESCO for its beautiful scenery created by humans and nature. As a sacred place for Taoism, Mount Longhu has attracted Zhang Daoling – the first Tian Shi (a Taoist priest) – and many others to live there and build palaces that are nowadays imbued with historical and cultural significance. The Shangqing Palace, built in the East Han Dynasty, is an important site of Daoist worship.

The Danxia landscape features cliffs and escarpments, red terrestrial clastic rock and long rivers. Amongst these spectacular natural works are located the Cliff Tombs of Mount Longhu, which every visitor to the region must visit. Cliff Tombs are ancient coffins placed in the dangerous cliff caves dating back to the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (476-221 BC). The meaning behind this cultural practice of placing coffins in cliffs might lie in the word ‘guan’, the word for coffin, which is also a homophone for ‘official’. The idiom, ‘sheng guan fa chai’, exploits this homophonic relationship by conveying the sense of lifting ‘guan’ and getting rich. The action of lifting coffins from river banks to cliff caves hence signifies the process of getting promoted to the position of a government officer and becoming rich. Actual performances that reenact the ancient act of hoisting coffins on cliffs are given every day by local residents, whose other jobs include climbing cliffs and searching for rare Chinese herbs. The performance is often accompanied with Chinese drums beats to intensify the sense of excitement.

Apart from enjoying the beautiful scenery in Mount Longhu, one can also experience the unique dialect spoken there. Local residents of Guixi speak the Gan dialect. For the local residents, tickets are free, and a common way to prove whether one is local or not is to show one’s identity card. But another more interesting way is to say something in local dialect to the ticket sellers. Besides a free ticket, being able to speak the local dialect can also mean paying less when purchasing food there. For example, the price for a tea-boiled egg is usually 3RMB when one orders in Putonghua. But for a person who speaks the local dialect, the price will come down to 2 RMB. To enjoy these benefits, one can always ask local friends for help. But, if you are a good at learning dialects, why not try to learn some expressions in the local dialect and experience some fun.

Published on: May 22, 2019 < Back >