Outside the Feixian Pass, the Immortal Building is still among the white clouds
Li Tengpeng
Feixian Pass is located at the southern end of Lushan County, at the junction of Yucheng, Tianquan and Lushan counties (districts).
Feixian Pass has a long history, and is said to be the place of "Heyi Achievement" referred to in "Shangshu Yugong", which is called the relic of Dayu water control. The Han used to be called "Leaky Pavilion", which is the ancient guan land. During the Tang and Song dynasties, it was called Feixian Pass because of its rugged terrain and difficult immortals to cross.
Feixian Pass is a necessary route of the Southern Silk Road and an important post station of the Tea Horse Road. Due to its special geographical location, Feixian Pass has been a contested place for soldiers since ancient times, and it has also achieved its long-term prosperity. After the "4·20" Lushan earthquake, Feixianguan has been built into a national 4A-level tourist scenic spot, which can be called a pearl on the Sichuan-Tibet Line.
Feixianguan (Image source: Ya'an Municipal People's Government website)
In the scenic spot, Feixianguan Pass has a history of thousands of years, carrying the profound cultural heritage of Feixianguan.
In ancient times, Feixian Pass was closed to traffic, and it was the last station from the mainland to Southwest Yi, and crossing the river was Yidi. The rock on the wall of the gorge at the northern end of Duogong Gorge is engraved with four big characters "Heyi Ji", which should be the ancient cultural symbols and geographical coordinates of Feixian Pass.
Because the two banks of the northern section of the Duogong Gorge were like knives and axes, no one in the Tang Dynasty could enter the Feixian Pass from the Duogong Gorge before.
In the earliest days, from Ya'an to Feixian Pass, it was necessary to cross the mountain from Duoying to Longchigou, and from Longchigou through tofu stones down Laojunxi to Suxi Field to reach Feixian Pass. The road was over mountains, rocky, rugged, forested, bandits, and very few people walked. In the Tang Dynasty, the road from Duogong Gorge into Feixian Pass was opened, and the partial bridge (or plank road) was repaired, and the road from Ya'an to Feixian Pass was much more convenient.
"Feixian Pass" by Zhang Daqian (Image source: Ya'an Municipal People's Government website)
After the road was opened, Song Jianfei Xian Pass closed the city, with two city gates in the north and south, and set up a guarding imperial division to guard the imperial pass. At that time, Feixian Pass was already the throat of Ya'an to the southwest Yi.
The south gate is next to the cliff rock on the left and the cliff on the right. The door has four big characters carved in stone: "Dongying Gate". There is a tower on the city gate, and the city gate is equipped with a very thick wooden gate, which opens early and closes late. The city gate is adjacent to the stone rock bridge (plank road), which is more than 20 meters long and about 2 meters wide. The left side of the bridge is close to the cliff, and the right side is supported by stone pillars. The columns and cliffs are framed with stone beams, and the bridge deck is paved with stone slabs. On the right side of the bridge is built a stone railing several tens of centimeters high. It is a fortress that is unruly and unopened.
In the Ming Dynasty, the city was closed, and the commander was abolished. Houguancheng fell into disrepair and collapsed in many places, and in the twenty-ninth year of Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty (1849), Lushan County ordered Fan Laiqing to continue repairs. After the restoration, the north gate was higher than the old one, and statues of Confucius and Guan Yu were sculpted in the city tower. The three big characters "Feixian Pass" are engraved on the north and south sides of the city gate cave, and there are stone carved couplets on both sides of the gate, all of which are Fan Lai Qingqing. The North City Gate still exists, and the tower was destroyed in 1935. Stone carvings above and on both sides of the gate are clearly visible. Nan Facing Lian is "The guest feather has gone by the yellow crane; The fairy tower is still among the white clouds." The northern face is "Renyi Lai Hajima; The land is Yingzhou."
About ten meters away from the North City Gate, in the sixteenth year of the Wanli Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty (1588), the stone fang on the southern boundary of Lushan County was built. Both sides of the stone square are engraved with the characters "South Boundary of Lushan County". Under the large characters are engraved the official positions and names of Lushan Zhixian at that time, the main book, the canonical history, the Confucian teachings, and the teachings. The two stone pillars of the stone fang are engraved with couplets inscribed by Li Lingyun, the commander of Chunlushan County of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty, and the couplets are covered by the slogan of the Red Army's Long March, and only the three small characters "Bian, Ji, and Tea" in the upper right corner of the upper link remain, remembering the prosperity of the Tea Horse Ancient Road Station in the early days of Feixianguan.
Beichengmen and Lushan County's South Boundary Stone Fang are both provincial cultural relics protection units.
In 1938, during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the government recruited more than a dozen county migrant workers to build the Yakang Highway. The highway entered Feixian Pass through Duogong Gorge, and the south gate of Feixian Pass and the plank road outside the city gate were destroyed. The road passes through the middle of Guancheng, dividing Guancheng into two sections. Only a section of the city wall remains on the eastern foot of the Luo Peak in the west, and the rest has been submerged with the passage of time. The North City Gate and the South Boundary Stone Fang are preserved because they are located at the northern end of the Guancheng.
For thousands of years inside and outside Guancheng, a common people have multiplied. At first, residential buildings were built along Guancheng, and over time, the interior and exterior of Guancheng became settlements, known as "Guanmenkou". When the people's commune is called, it is called the production team at the gate.
More and more houses have been built as the population has grown, both old and only built in recent decades. There are old-fashioned courtyard houses and modern brick houses, which are arranged and uneven.
In 2013, Lushan was rebuilt after the "4·20" earthquake, and all the original houses in front of the gate were demolished to build beautiful Qiang-style buildings, but the largest "Liao Family Compound" here is still retained for people to visit. Today, on Guanmenkou Street, the stone road, stone steps, the stone square in the south boundary of Lushan, and the gate of the north city gate all record the vicissitudes of the history of Feixian Pass for thousands of years.
At the former south city gate, the Feixian Pass Gate Archway was rebuilt. The south side of the archway is written with three big characters "Feixian Pass", and the north side is engraved with the four characters "Dongying Gate". Along National Highway 318, enter Feixian Pass from Duogong Gorge, and the first thing that catches your eye is the majestic Feixian Pass Gate Memorial Arch. The majestic archway still retains the momentum of the first pass of the Chengdu West Tea Horse Road.
Feixianguan (Image source: Ya'an Municipal People's Government website)
Source: Sichuan Provincial Office of Local History
Author: Li Tengpeng (Member of Ya'an Writers Association, retired teacher of Lushan County Teacher Training School)
Contribution: Ya'an Local Chronicles Compilation Center
Pictured: Fang Zhi Sichuan