Journey to the City Wall 80 - Shiyan

Time: 20250823-20250828

The airport in Shiyan is called Wudangshan Airport, which is very close to the Wudang Mountain scenic area. Arriving at six in the evening, I headed straight to a hotel in Laoying Town to check in.

Because I most wanted to see the Yuxu Palace in the morning. 1

There, not only are there handsome and playful young Taoist priests, but also foreign Taoist masters who like to perform swordplay. 2

More than 600 years ago, Ming Emperor Yongle Zhu Di began his project of "building the Forbidden City in the north and repairing Wudang in the south."

The four stele pavilions and the steles inside are original artifacts from that time, also recording this history. 3

At that time, 300,000 workers gathered here and worked for twelve years straight to build the nine palaces of Wudang Mountain. Yuxu Palace is the largest and is next to the workers' quarters, so it has always been called "Laoying" (Old Camp). 4

To tour the scenic area, you must take the scenic shuttle bus, which follows a Y-shaped route. Taizipo is the hub station, about 16 kilometers from the scenic area entrance, with a half-hour ride.

Taizipo, also known as Fuzhen Temple, has the famous Nine-Bend Yellow River Wall. 5

If you want to take the cable car up to the Golden Summit, you must first go to Qiongtai.

The Qiongtai Central Temple is not to be missed, but the weather was bad when we arrived. 6

This Taoist temple existed before Zhu Di’s major renovations. You can see the Yuan Dynasty stone hall preserved inside, which houses a blue stone carved statue of the Black Tortoise deity. 7

The Golden Summit is the most crowded place, after all, it has the three treasures of Wudang! They are the Ever-Burning Lamp, the Fossil Stone Pedestal, and the Golden Brick.

Actually, just leaning on the railing and quietly watching the surrounding winds and clouds is also wonderful. 8

What impressed me most was the city wall built in 1419. It winds around Tianzhu Peak, with a circumference of 344.43 meters. 9

Inside the city wall is called Zijin City. 10

I heard the mountain path from the Golden Summit to Nanyan is only 4.5 kilometers, so we decided to walk down the mountain.

This was a wrong decision because when we arrived, not only was Nanyan Palace already closed, but our legs were also exhausted, and we ended up limping for a week. 11

Arriving in Shiyan city center, the liveliest place seemed to be near the People's Hospital, where a transparent pyramid stands at the entrance with a helicopter inside.

To eat Sanhe Soup across the street, you have to cross the pedestrian overpass, which offers the best city views. 12

With limited mobility, I could only stroll around the nearby People's Park. Upon entering, I saw the "Pain Platform."

How did it know my legs hurt? 13

The Chongyang Tower on the small hilltop is the least ancient tower in the world, completed in 2009.

The plaque at the entrance clearly states the purpose of building this tower: "To make the elderly feel proud, educate the youth, and inspire the children." 14

This city is called the "Mountain and Water Auto City," where "Mountain" refers to Wudang Mountain, and "Water" refers to the Danjiangkou Reservoir, the core water source of the South-to-North Water Diversion Middle Route Project.

Auto City: Driven by the Third Front construction, the Second Automobile Works was located in Shiyan, starting construction in 1967. Today, it is an important production base for Dongfeng Motor and is known as the "Capital of China’s Commercial Vehicles." 15

The name "Shiyan" appeared during the Ming Chenghua to Jiajing periods. In 1969, Shiyan was established as a county-level city; in 1973, it was upgraded to a prefecture-level city. It is far less ancient than Wudang. 16

The world’s Tai Chi originates from Wudang. To see the bronze statue of Zhang Sanfeng, the founder of Tai Chi, you must visit the small but exquisite Wudang Museum. 17

The most wonderful part inside is the statue gallery. 18