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Elephant Trunk Hill
By admin on 2015-03-04

Attraction Type:

Guilin Elephant Trunk Hill, also called the elephant hill, lies on the conjunction of the Li River and the peach blossom river. It is the badge of Guilin city. The whole hill looks exactly like a huge elephant stretching its trunk drinking water of the Li River. It is the masterpiece of karst landscape, composed of pure limestone deposited on seabed 360million years ago.

There is a legend tells that how Elephant Trunk Tree came about, In ancient time there is an elephant, which belonged to the Emperor of Heaven, came down to earth to help the people in their work. This angered the Emperor of Heaven, who stabbed the elephant while it was drinking at the river's edge and turned it to stone. The cave between the body and the trunk of this elephant figure is of a particularly interesting shape and has inspired poets and other writers, old and new, to engrave verses on its walls. The poems of Lo You, Fan Chengda, and other poets from different dynasties are of inestimable literary and archaeological value. On the top of the hill stands the Puxian Pagoda, erected during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and shaped as the handle of the dagger with which the elephant was killed.

Between the "trunk" and the "body" is a vast round cave which resembles a full moon on water hence the name Moon-over-Water Cave. When the waters wave and the moonlight gleams, the scene is exceedingly enchanting. This cave intoxicated innumerous poets through ages. Many lines can be found giving high honor of the cave.

On the top of the hill stands a pagoda - Puxian Pagoda. Built in Ming Dynasty, it has a long history. At the foot of the hill is Yunfeng Temple, inside which is now the exhibition of The Revolution of the Taiping Heavenly Kindow in Guilin.