Wolong Gang, Historical site in Nanyang, China

Wolong Gang is a low ridge in Nanyang whose name, 'Crouching Dragon', comes from its winding, folded terrain. On the ridge stand the Yuan-to-Qing Temple of the Marquis of Wu and the Nanyang Hanhua Museum, China's first museum of Han dynasty stone reliefs.

The site was home to Zhuge Liang, a great strategist who lived here for ten years before joining Liu Bei. This period established it as a place of historical importance during the Three Kingdoms era.

Zhuge Liang is honoured here under his epithet Wolong, 'crouching dragon', which also names the ridge. Worship began in the Jin dynasty and grew during the Tang and Song. The Yuan emperor Renzong gave the buildings the title Temple of the Marquis of Wu in 1317, and the Qing rebuilt them in 1711 following the old Longgang panorama.

The core area groups the hill, the Temple of the Marquis of Wu and the Hanhua Museum within about 10 square kilometres west of Chezhan South Road and east of the Shierli River. The temple holds the steles and couplets, so allow most of your time there; the museum stands next to it. The Wolong Academy inside the temple grounds is being converted into a display on Zhuge Liang's life.

Among the steles kept at Wolong Gang, the most prized is a stone inscription of Zhuge Liang's Chu Shi Biao in Yue Fei's own handwriting. The Southern Song general is said to have copied the memorial in a single sitting, and the carved text preserves his calligraphy beside the words of the man he admired.