Travel Notes | My trip to Tiger Hill

I found the GIF before and released it on the last day of the Chinese New Year.

This article still contains many pictures of killing cats. It is recommended to eat it with WiFi.

Today is the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

We should go out for a hundred walks and enjoy the lanterns, but the epidemic requires us to stay at home self-isolate and overcome the difficulties together.

Then let’s go to Orange’s storage room and visit Tiger Hill together. Legend has it that Su Shi once said: "I once said that if you don't visit Huqiu or visit Luqiu in Gusu, it's two wrong things. "Regardless of whether the rumors are true or not, I personally feel that Tiger Hill is the best destination during our trip to Suzhou.

Huqiu Mountain Scenic Area is located in the northwest corner of the ancient city of Suzhou. It has a long history of more than 2,500 years and is known as "The No. 1 Scenic Spot in Wuzhong " and "The No. 1 Mountain in Wuzhong". In front of the scenic spot is an ancient canal. Although the canal is no longer busy with water transportation, cruise ships still come and go on it.

Tiger Hill is amagical place. On this mountain, there are ancient temples, Taoist temples, places for Confucian lectures, and the tombs of ancient celebrities. It is quite difficult for cultures with so many different factions and positions to coexist harmoniously in this place.

The mountain gate of Tiger Hill is Toushan Gate. The top gate has yellow walls, which shows that there must be a temple inside Tiger Hill. As soon as you enter the mountain gate, you can see the fierce statues of the heavenly king on both sides of the mountain gate. The tall statue of the King of Heaven stands on the Tiger Hill on a cloudy sky, adding a mysterious atmosphere.

The order of our tours in Huqiu was actually random, so my travel notes are not in that order.

There are places of interest in Tiger Hill such as Zhishuang Pavilion, Yubei Pavilion, Magnolia Mountain House, etc., but to be honest, I feel that they are just houses and stone tablets with stories. What is really charming about Tiger Hill is its thick layer of historical accumulation. itself.

Jianchi is one of the two most famous attractions in Tiger Hill. It is said that there are three reasons why it is called Sword Pool. One is that if you look at it from above, this pool looks like a flat sword, but I can’t fly, so I didn’t actually see it ; the other reason is Legend has it that three thousand Bianzhu and Yuchang swords were buried in Helu, the king of Wu, hence the name. There is also a saying that Qin Shihuang and Sun Quan both came here to dig swords, and the sword pool was dug by them. Of course, this is all nonsense. In fact, the sword pool is naturally formed.

It is said that during the Spring and Autumn Period 2,400 years ago, King Helu of Wu was accidentally injured during the battle between Chu and Li in the Yue Kingdom and died soon after. His son buried him in Huqiu a few days after his death. It is said that a white tiger squatted on the mountain three days after the burial, so "Haichong Mountain" was renamed Huqiu Mountain. The sword pool hides the entrance to the tomb of King Wu Helu.

The two red characters "Jianchi" are said to have been written by Wang Xizhi. The four blue characters "Wind Valley Cloud Spring" are said to have been written by Mi Fu. I don’t know if it’s true or not, I just want to know how they reach the water to write |･ω･｀)

Another of the two most famous attractions in Huqiu is Yunyan Temple Pagoda. You can see it from a distance before entering the mountain gate of Huqiu.

Yunyan Temple Pagoda is a Leaning Tower The tower is tilted toward the northeast by north, with its top 2.34 meters away from the center and a maximum tilt of 3 degrees and 59 minutes. Locals say that the Yunyan Temple Tower is the second most leaning tower in the world, the first most leaning tower in China, and a symbol of ancient Suzhou. I dare not say where it ranks, but this tower was built in the sixth year of Xiande of the Later Zhou Dynasty (959 AD) and completed in the second year of Jianlong of the Song Dynasty (961 AD). More than a thousand years The pagoda is vigorous and powerful, simple and vigorous, and has the charm of the Chinese character "tiger" in Huqiu.

The Erxian Pavilion in Huqiu may not be as famous as the two above, but everyone must have heard of this poem:

"Nostalgic for listening to flute poems in the air, but when I go to the countryside to read them, I feel like a bad person"

There are two stone tablets in this pavilion, respectively engraved with two gods, one is Chen Tuan and the other is Lu Dongbin. It is said that one day these two immortals were playing chess here, and a woodcutter saw them, so he came over to watch them play chess. After watching a game of chess, he returned home, but no one recognized him. Later, people guessed from his clothes. He is from thousands of years ago. And this woodcutter is the "Lanke Man".

There is a poem in the pavilion that says: "Dreams said in dreams are not dreams, and seeking yuan in Yuanli is Yuan." The legend is still very romantic. Maybe places like Huqiu where famous scholars and experts lived in seclusion must have been magical to the ancients. Maybe the recluse deliberately made up such a story to show his extraordinaryness.

This is actually the Sun Wu Zi Pavilion. I didn’t take the photo of the Erxian Pavilion_(:з」∠)_

There is a White Lotus Pond in Huqiu. There is a "Nodding Stone" in the pond, and the word "Nodding" is really engraved on it _(:з」∠)_

Next to the nodding stone is the Sheng Gong podium. Sheng Gong was a famous eminent monk in China's Jin Dynasty, Zhu Daosheng. It is said that he traveled around and came to Huqiu to preach here. Many people listened to his sermon at that time. When he said that all evil people can become Buddhas, there was a stone among them. Suddenly, he nodded slightly, and this stone was the nodding stone in the pool. It was a severe winter, but the white lotuses in the pool were blooming one after another, and the pool was full. Therefore, there is a saying that "the pool is full when you are born, and it is empty after you are born", "Sheng Gong said it, The stubborn stone nodded , and the white lotus flowers bloomed. Lotus blooms".

Of course, these are all legends to persuade people to believe in religion, but this big stone with "nodding" carved on its "forehead" really looks like a person squatting in a pool.

There is a stone archway with three doors and four pillars in Huqiu called Xiao Wudang. The four characters "Wu Fen Chu Sheng" are engraved on the forehead. There is a stone Guanyin Cave among the rockeries behind the archway, which is commonly known as "Haichao Guanyin". The ancient cave is still there today, but the Buddha statue is said to have been stolen. It is quite magical to enshrine the Buddha statue next to Xiao Wudang.

After watching Little Wudang, I returned to the top of the mountain and on the way back down, there was a Huqiu Photo Studio. There were many different kinds of cameras. I also saw a large-format camera for the first time in there, which was used to cover the head and the camera. At first, I thought it was just an ordinary scenic photo studio, but later when I chatted with my father, I learned that there was a "Huqiu brand" camera, and one of his college friends had one. It's a pity that I didn't see the "Huqiu" brand in the photo studio. Instead, all I saw was "Leica".

There was a fat wild cat at the door of the photo studio, eating the cat food fed by the clerk fiercely, with "Don't touch me" written all over its face.

Going down the mountain again, you will pass by a Crane Raising Stream, where there are actually two cranes. The water from the mountain stream flows out of nowhere in the mountains. It is not surprising that there is a mountain stream in a place with lush vegetation and abundant rainfall. But the scenery in a famous place like Tiger Hill is better than the allusions in it.

Legend has it that during the Tang Dynasty, a Taoist priest from Qingyuan, whose origin was unknown, raised cranes here and wrote the poem "Visiting Tiger Hill with Shen Gongzi". Yan Zhenqing loved his poem so much that he not only composed it as a harmonious poem, but also wrote it as a dharma post. Later, this place became one of the witness sites of the fifteen legends of Tiger Hill.

The Zhenniang Tomb in Huqiu is also one of the witness sites of fifteen legends. There is indeed a real mother, her original name is Hu and her first name is Ruizhen. Her parents died when she was young. During the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, she fled with her relatives to Suzhou. Unfortunately, during her escape, she fell into a brothel outside Changmen in Suzhou - "Leyun Tower".

She was a stunning beauty in Suzhou. Although she was a brothel girl, she kept herself as pure as a jade and only accompanied her guests by singing, dancing, painting and calligraphy. At that time, a rich man named Wang Yinxiang in Suzhou bribed the madam with a large sum of money in an attempt to stay at Zhenniang's place. Zhenniang knew that she could not escape this time, so in order to maintain her chastity, she hanged herself. This shocked Wang Yinxiang, so he built this tomb for his true mother and swore a vow never to marry again in this life. Many literati sympathized with Zhenniang and wrote some poems on her tomb.

War and turmoil are like this "cannibalism". Maybe without that war, the true mother would not have become a "fragrant soul", but there would definitely not be such a tragic story.

There is also a Hanhan Spring in Huqiu. emmmm, they are the two "Hanhan" of Tiehanhan. We searched for a long time to see Hanhan Spring. In fact, it was called Hanhan Spring because the man who dug the well was a monk, and his name was Venerable Hanhan. Although his story is also a Buddhist legend, the name Hanhanquan is still quite interesting ◔◡◔

Many scenic spots on Tiger Hill are related to monks. Pillow stones and peach stones were named by monks because they looked like them. Perhaps naming stones is one of the few entertainment projects for monks in their austere life of practice. This photo of tourists coming out of the mountain gate of "Entrance to Liberation" is just like Tiger Hill, a bit fantasy ↓

In this photo, the electric car is parked next to the "Please do not park vehicles" sign, which is also a bit fantasy ↓

Tiger Hill is such a beautiful and a bit fantasy place. It is beautiful in its beautiful landscape, beautiful in its historical accumulation, and even more beautiful in its tolerance and harmony. Even the public toilets in the picture below are perfectly integrated into this landscape.

It may take some time for the turning point of the new coronavirus epidemic to arrive, and the current anxious situation may continue for a few more days. Restricting travel, controlling public opinion, and closing communities are our weapons to defeat the disease. We cannot see the invisible battlefield against the anti-China forces, and it is difficult for us to help the angels in white. However, our peace of mind and self-isolation are the most solid strength for us to send away the plague as soon as possible.

Of course, our lives will continue, and some people’s livelihoods may have been affected by the epidemic. I hope we can find ways to help them get through this difficulty sooner rather than later.

Today is a holiday, but it is also a day for us to overcome the difficulties together. If we unite as one, we can plunge the "God of Plague" into the vast sea of ​​people's war and make the days of spring come as soon as possible.

Please say to each other today: "Come on!"