Guixi 贵溪市

Setting and landscape

Guixi sits where the Wuyi Mountains (武夷山脉) give way to the Poyang Lake plain: the Huaiyu Mountains (怀玉山) rise in the north, the Wuyi range in the south, and the Xin River crosses the middle in a valley of low ridges. The Xin runs about 60 kilometres through the city and takes small and mid-sized boats. Danxia landforms are concentrated around Longhu Mountain.

History

The Tang court created Guixi County in 765 from parts of Yugan (余干) and Yiyang (弋阳), under Xinzhou (信州). The name comes from a local river; one account identifies it as the Xu Creek (须溪), another as the stretch of the Xin in Guixi, whose Baimang islet (白芒洲) once grew fragrant herbs, so that the stretch was also called Xiangxi (芗溪). In 1187 the philosopher Lu Jiuyuan (陆九渊) and his student Peng Shichang (彭世昌) founded Xiangshan Academy (象山书院) on Yingtian Mountain (应天山), one of the four great academies of the Southern Song; Lu is known as Lu Xiangshan after it. The Guixi smelter opened in 1980 and became the county's main industrial enterprise, though most of its copper ore comes from elsewhere.

What to see

Longhu Mountain, about 20 kilometres from Yingtan city, is a national geopark (2001) with Danxia peak forests, and was inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2010 as part of China Danxia. Legend says it was named when dragon and tiger appeared as Zhang Ling (张陵), founder of the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, completed his elixir here. The Xianshuiyan cliff tombs (仙水岩崖墓群), where the ancient Yue people placed coffins on the cliffs over two thousand years ago, are a national key cultural relic.

Shangqing (上清), a national historic and cultural town, holds the Mansion of the Celestial Masters (嗣汉天师府), home of the hereditary Zhang Celestial Masters; most of its buildings are Qing or modern rebuilds. The Great Shangqing Palace (大上清宫) was renamed by the Kangxi Emperor and has been rebuilt; its bronze bell is a provincial protected relic.

Crafts

Guixi copper chasing (贵溪錾铜雕刻), on the national intangible-heritage list since 2021, dates from the late Ming Chongzhen reign: craftsmen punch designs into red copper sheet with chisels, and because Longhu Mountain is a birthplace of Taoism, chased-copper ritual implements and Taoist elements have strongly influenced the craft.

Highlights

• Longhu Mountain 龙虎山: Danxia peak forests; World Heritage as part of China Danxia since 2010.
• Shangqing 上清古镇: National historic town with the Mansion of the Celestial Masters.
• Xianshuiyan cliff tombs 仙水岩崖墓群: Ancient Yue cliff coffins; national key cultural relic.
• Xiangshan Academy 象山书院: Founded in 1187 by Lu Jiuyuan; one of the four great Southern Song academies.
• Guixi copper chasing 贵溪錾铜雕刻: National intangible heritage since 2021; chiselled designs on red copper sheet.