Fuling

Fuling, situated on the southern bank of the confluence where the Wu River and Yangtze River meets, is an ancient town and connecting link in water transportation between northern Guizhou and eastern Sichuan. About 2,000 years ago, it was the political center for the Kingdom of Ba and was the sites of its ancestral graves.

The main attractions in Fuling are the White Crane Ridge and the ancient musical instrument excavated from graves of the Kingdom of Ba.

White Crane Ridge is located on the western part of Fuling town. It is a 1,600-meter-long and 15-meter-wide rock ridge in the Yangtze River. It was given the name because an elderly person who often rode on a crane, flying around this area in search for herbs to make immortality pills according to a Tang Dynasty legend. Ancient watermarks in the form of fourteen-scaled fish and inscriptions recording the hydrology of the Yangtze River at this point have been found here. One of the oldest stonefish could be dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) period. It can only be seen during the spring and autumn season when the river water is at its lowest level, perhaps once in every twenty years or so. Declared a national monument, Baiheliang engravings can be divided into 163 sections with over 30,000 characters. Most of the inscriptions date to the Song Dynasty (960-1280 A.D.).

The ancient musical instrument excavated from Xiao Tianxi Graves of the Warring States Period. The bronze serial bells consist of fourteen bells of descending scale and in similar shape. From the exquisite flora patterns found on the bell, it revealed that even at that point of time, high standard and skillful craftsmanship were employed in smelting metal and the production of metal wares.