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£ £ Baidi
city, also known as White Emperor City located at the entrance of
the Qutang Gorge on the north bank of the river, 8 kilometers (5 miles)
from Fengjie county seat, clings to grandeur hills and cliffs. It
is actually is a mini city scattered with temples and gates on top
of Baidi Hill.
The Baidi City
was said to be built by Gongsun Shu, an official turned soldier,
as the site of his headquarters during the end of the Western Han
Dynasty. The legend goes that in 25 A.D. Gong Sunshu saw white vapor
in the shape of a dragon rising from a nearby well, and taking this
as an auspicious omen, he declared himself the 'White Emperor' and
renamed the town 'White Emperor City' and the hill Baidi Hill. Later
in 36A.D. he raised a war with Liuxiu (Emperor Guangwu of the Easten
Han Dynasty), then a member of the Han imperial family, in order
to annex each other. In this turbulent period, the city was entirely
survived from warfare. The grateful local people then built a temple
to commemorate him. During the Ming Dynasty, the statue of Gongsun
Shu was replaced by
a new one for Liubei and later with another three for Guanyu, Zhang
Fei and Zhuge Liang respectively.
Another story
of the city is about the Three Kingdoms. During the Three Kingdoms
Period, Liu Bei, the king of Shu, retreated from a disastrous war
against general Lu Xun of Wu Kingdom, and died here in distress.
On his deathbed, Liu entrusted state affairs and his son, Liu Chan,
to Prime Minister Zhuge Liang (a famous idea man in China's history).
The front hall contains large modern statues which depict the scene
in the story. To the left is the handsome, winged Observing Stars
Pavilion (Guanxing Ting) where Zhuge Liang observed the stars and
made accurate wea ther
forecasts which helped him plan his victorious battles. With upturned
eaves and polished beams, the temple has 12 pillars on the ground
floor and 6 on the upper floor.
Baidi city
is also known as City of Poems. In ancient times, attracted by its
fame, many scholars and poets visited here and left lots of literal
relics. In the city, there are over 70 poems, carvings, and cultural
relics of the Sui, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, in which two steles
from Sui, Qing Emperor Kangxi, Bamboo-Leaf Stele and Phoenix Stele
are the most outstanding.
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