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About Mount Tushan
Mount Tushan (涂山) is a hill on the Huai River (淮河) at Bengbu (蚌埠), Anhui, bound up with the legends of Yu the Great (大禹); its main peak rises to 338.7 m.
There are four views on where the Tushan of ancient legend lay, and one tradition identifies it with this hill by Huaiyuan (怀远). Tradition says Yu split the hills here to lead the Huai through and married a woman of the Tushan clan (涂山氏). The Zuo Zhuan (左传) and the Records of the Grand Historian (史记) both name Tushan as the place where Yu assembled the lords. The story of Yu passing his own door three times without going in is also tied to the mountain.
The Huaiyuan County government retells how the Tushan woman waited on the summit for Yu to return and sang a song beginning "Hou ren xi yi" (候人兮猗, "waiting for him, oh"), counted as the first of the southern songs (南音之始). In another version she waited so long that she turned to stone; the rock is called the Qimu Stone (启母石, "Stone of Qi's Mother") or Wangfu Stone (望夫石, "Husband-Watching Stone") and stands by the Qimu Ravine (启母涧) at the southern foot.
The summit carries Yuwang Palace (禹王宫), also called the Temple of Yu, a shrine to Yu and the Tushan woman first built in the early Han. The Anhui provincial press office counts more than thirty historic sites on the mountain, and poets including Liu Zongyuan (柳宗元) of the Tang and Su Shi (苏轼) of the Song left verses about it. Mount Tushan forms part of the Tushan–Bairuquan (涂山—白乳泉) scenic area, a provincial scenic area since 1987. Each year on the 28th day of the third lunar month the Tushan temple fair is held here, an Anhui provincial intangible cultural heritage item.
What to look for
- Yuwang Palace (禹王宫) on the summit, a shrine to Yu and the Tushan woman founded in the early Han
- The Qimu Stone (启母石), a rock by the Qimu Ravine said to be the petrified wife of Yu
- Jingshan Gorge (荆山峡), one of the historic sites listed for the mountain
- The Tushan temple fair on the 28th day of the third lunar month
- On the slope of Mount Jing (荆山), a 9.5 m white granite statue of Yu (1989) that faces Mount Tushan and the Huai
Location & getting there
Getting to Mount Tushan
- Search for 涂山 with 蚌埠市 and 怀远县.
Find Mount Tushan
涂山 · 怀远县
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Sources & visit information
Written from the linked sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer on 2026-09-23. Opening hours, admission and access arrangements are not covered; confirm current visitor information with the site.
Some facts checked against Wikipedia contributors, "涂山" · CC BY-SA 4.0.