Pengzu Mountain in the Pengshan district of Meishan, in Sichuan province, hosts two Buddha statues carved in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). [Photo by YANG ZHENGLAN/FOR CHINA DAILY]
Lost riches, cliff tombs and longevity give Meishan its allure, Huang Zhiling reports.
Guo Qu doesn't just eat when he travels-sometimes, he travels to eat. The self-proclaimed foodie from Hunan province's Zhuzhou made a 60-kilometer side journey to Meishan city during a recent business trip to Sichuan province's capital, Chengdu.
"I wanted to taste authentic Dongpo Pork Knuckle in Su Dongpo's hometown," he says, referring to the ancient poet and gourmand.
His stomach led him to Meishan. But he discovered the city provides a feast for all the senses.
Guo enjoyed viewing cultural relics related to Zhang Xianzhong, who led a rebellion in the 1600s, Han Dynasty (206 BC-220) cliff tombs and Mount Pengzu.
Su Dongpo was a poet, writer, painter, calligrapher, pharmacologist and statesman in the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
He is venerated as a gastronome and credited with creating many household Chinese dishes like Dongpo Pork Knuckle, a dish of pigs' feet stewed with ginger and spices.
A statue of the Song Dynasty poet Su Dongpo at the Ancestral Temple of the Three Sus in Meishan. [Photo by LIU LANYING/FOR CHINA DAILY]
Su's ancient home is today the Ancestral Temple of the Three Sus.
"Three Sus" refers to Su Dongpo; his father, Su Xun; and his younger brother, Su Zhe-all of whom were celebrated literati and officials.
The temple is next to the renowned Meizhou Dongpo Restaurant, where Dongpo Pork Knuckle is the house specialty.
Meishan has long been a travel destination but has gained greater appeal since the recent excavation of relics in its Pengshan district related to Zhang, who led an uprising of farmers during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Zhang was a native of Shaanxi province, who captured Chengdu and declared himself emperor in 1644. Two years later, he deserted the city and planned to move to neighboring Hubei province.
His troops were ambushed on the Pengshan section of the Minjiang River by a Ming general, who set Zhang's ships on fire. About 1,000 boats sank with the wealth he'd looted from governments and ordinary people.
For four centuries, a legend had persisted that Zhang's gold and silver sat at the bottom of the Minjiang.
A gold seal of Zhang Xianzhong excavated from the Jiangkou site. [Photo by LIU LANYING/YANG ZHENGLAN/FOR CHINA DAILY]
In 2011, workers found many gold and silver items and coins while digging sand for construction purposes in the Pengshan-district section of the Minjiang in Pengshan's Jiangkou town.
The discovery enticed treasure hunters.
In 2016, police found 10 gangs of illegal relics excavators and nine illegal relics-trading networks had sold over 300 million yuan ($42 million) worth of artifacts from the site.
This pushed archaeologists to undertake Sichuan's first underwater archaeological expedition, says Liu Zhiyan, an archaeologist with the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.
Over 30,000 relics have been recovered, including gold, silver, bronze and iron items that date back about 400 years.
"The gold and silver coins we found have words related to Zhang Xianzhong," Liu says.
More than 1,000 artifacts, including Zhang's gold seal, are directly related to the Daxi Kingdom he founded after the Ming collapsed, institute president Gao Dalun says.
This provides evidence that the Pengshan section of the Minjiang was where Zhang's fleet was attacked and destroyed in 1646.
A museum will be built on the excavation site.
Ingots from the underwater site. [Photo by LIU LANYING/YANG ZHENGLAN/FOR CHINA DAILY]
Recovered relics are stored in a cliff-tomb museum just across from the site.
Pengshan's wealthy residents ordered the boring of tombs into the sides of cliffs during the Han Dynasty.
Several of Jiangkou's 4,580 cliff tombs are housed in a museum in the town, curator Wu Tianwen says.
Every multi-chamber tomb contained a ceramic or stone coffin, and a kitchen and closet carved from rock.
Relics unearthed include a 1.4-meter-high bronze "money tree" with coins for leaves and the stone carving of a naked man and a woman engaged in foreplay.
The money tree is believed to be the largest of its kind unearthed from a Han Dynasty cliff tomb. The statue is considered one of China's earliest portrayals of sex in art, Wu says.
But another final resting place also draws many visitors to Jiangkou-the mausoleum of Peng Zu, from which Pengzu Mountain takes its name.
Lore claims he lived for 136 years (800 years according to the ancient Chinese calendar), which makes the site a magnet for visitors who hold traditional beliefs about longevity.
A Han Dynasty (206 BC-220) multi-chamber cliff tomb. [Photo by LIU LANYING/YANG ZHENGLAN/FOR CHINA DAILY]
The Pengshan native lived during the Shang Dynasty (c.16th century-11th century BC) and is considered one of China's earliest health experts. He developed theories about diet, qigong (breathing exercises) and sex.
Mount Pengzu hosts paintings, tablets and sculptures that expound upon his ideas.
Peng's theory still influences the residents of Pengshan, where the proportion of centenarians is 17 times higher than the national average.
It's a lasting legacy, indeed.
The mountain also hosts two Buddha statues carved in 713, as well as mountain peaks, forests and bamboo groves. The 28-meter-high statue of Sakyamuni is one of the world's tallest.
Indeed, visitors will discover Zhang's riches are far from Meishan's only hidden treasure.
