Hongya Danjing, Cultural heritage in Nanchang, China

Hongya Danjing sits at the entrance to the Meiling range in Wanli district, where a steep cliff face carries the Hongya waterfall that scatters spray over the rocks below. Carved into the cliff are many inscriptions; one dated to the winter of 1185 remains legible, recording visitors who lingered until dusk. Legend holds that Hongya Xiansheng drilled five wells in the ravine to refine cinnabar, then ascended.

Hongya Danjing appears in the list of the Ten Scenes of Yuzhang, the oldest of them, at the entrance to the Meiling range near the Wanli district waterworks. Legend holds that Hongya Xiansheng attained the Dao here, cut five wells in the ravine, drew water to refine cinnabar, and flew up once the elixir was made. A cliff inscription dated to the winter of 1185, the Yisi year of the Chunxi era, remains legible.

Hongya gets its name from the legendary hermit Hongya Xiansheng, who is said to have dug five wells in the ravine to draw water for alchemy before ascending. Near the cliff once stood the Hongya Pavilion, Xianren Bridge, Lingguan Altar, and the Buddhist Cuiyan Temple and Daoist Ziqing Palace, long stops for visitors.

The site sits at the entrance to the Meiling range, near the Wanzhou district waterworks, where the cliff face and waterfall are reached on foot. The rock wall is steep and the spring spray makes the stone slippery, so watch your footing near the pools. Several of the cliff inscriptions are worn and hard to read; the 1185 Southern Song carving remains legible.

The cliff face preserves a Southern Song inscription dated the winter of 1185, carved by visitors Zhou Cizhang, Gong Suzheng and Ye Meiwei, who washed in the spring and stayed until dusk. Nearby, a legend holds that Ouyang Xiu, served Luohan tea brewed with Hongya water, called it the finest under heaven; since the spring ranked seventh, Hongya became known as the "Eighth Spring under Heaven".