Three Travelers' Cave (San You Dong)
The Sanyou Dong, Three Travelers' Cave, is located on the Xiling Mountain of Nanjin Pass, facing the Xialao Stream. It is a magical limestone cave, some 33 yards long, 25 yards wide and 30 feet high. Picturesque scenery and historic scenes can be admired both in and around the cave.
It is so-called because of three celebrities in Tang Dynasty: Bai Juyi, Bai Xingjian and Yuan Zhen. They visited here and composed poems to remember the occasion in 819. So it is named as 'Three Travelers' Cave'. 137 years later, in Northern Song Dynasty (960 - 1127), another three eminent writers - Su Xun, Su Shi and Su Zhe - toured here together and also inscribed poem in the cave. So, they are regarded as another three respected travelers who visited this important cave.
As the cave is located on a cliff, a board-walk was built for visitors, it is warm in winter and cool in summer. In the cave, three stalactites divide the cave. The front cave is bright, and with numerous poems and essays inscribed. The back cave is further down, with a hole from where can admire the outside landscape. The stone tablets and poems carved on the wall were created by Chinese historical celebrities such as Bai Juyi, Ouyang Xiu, Su Xun, and Lu You. Kai calligraphy, official script, zhuan script and xing calligraphy can all be appreciated from their works.
Surrounding the cave there are other historic sites: including some major ones such as the Zhixi Pavilion, Shusai Building, the Drum-beating Platform and the delightful Lu You Spring.
Zhixi Pavilion
This pavilion can be arrived by climbing the board-walk to its end. It is a three-storey structure built in the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279). It is so named because the river becomes broad for boat to cruise on easily, so long as the boat passes this place: that makes people feels happy when arriving. So, Zhixi Pavilion means: 'Zhi' to arrive and 'Xi' means happy Perfect! Shusai Building
Located at the peak, the Shusai Building is also a three-storey venerable building. On its first floor, visitors may have a chance to appreciate the music played on chime-bells. If you can climb to the top, there is a superb panorama of the Yangtze River. Drum-Beating Platform
South to the Shusai Building is the Drum-Beating Platform. On this platform, there is a statue of Zhangfei, general of Shu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms Period (220 - 280). The platform was once the place for beating drums by Zhang Fei when he commanded soldiers here. Lu You Spring
Lu You Spring is so called because Lu You (a man of literary in Southern Song Dynasty (1127 - 1279)) once used the water of this spring to infuse special teas.