Field Trails Library

Entrance to the cliff park at Dangtu, the county where Li Bai lived out his last two years after the amnesty of 759.

Inscription: 牛渚西江夜，青天无片云。

A memorial tower and hall holding stele inscriptions of Li Bai's verse, built to honour the poet who has been worshipped here since the Tang.

Inscription: 大鹏飞兮振八裔，中天摧兮力不济。

A narrow path cut into the cliff face above the main channel, with only a low rail between the walker and a very large river.

Inscription: 孤帆远影碧空尽，唯见长江天际流。

The outermost headland, where folklore sends the drunken poet off the cliff to embrace the moon's reflection. The truth is gentler and the view is enormous.

Inscription: 举杯邀明月，对影成三人。

The threshold of the only home Du Fu ever owned. He arrived in 760 fleeing the An Lushan rebellion, built a hut beside the Huanhua Brook, and stayed five years.

Inscription: 万里桥西一草堂，百花潭水即沧浪。

Bronze and stone portraits of the poet, plus the chronological gallery of his 1,400 surviving poems. This is where visitors first grasp how much of his life was spent in motion and loss.

Inscription: 读书破万卷，下笔如有神。

A thatched room standing in for the cottage whose roof was torn off by an autumn gale in 761—the night that produced the most generous housing poem ever written in Chinese.

Inscription: 安得广厦千万间，大庇天下寒士俱欢颜。

Reed beds and egrets at the edge of the memorial grounds—the landscape Du Fu could see from his door, still intact inside a city of twenty million.

Inscription: 两个黄鹂鸣翠柳，一行白鹭上青天。

The most intact preserved section of the original Qin-Han post road, featuring deep wagon grooves and ancient horse-barrier stones.

Inscription: 秦汉古道 · 拦马雄关

Legendary Three Kingdoms checkpoint where General Zhang Fei ordered cypress planting in 217 CE. Trunk requires four people to encircle.

Inscription: 张飞植柏 · 汉室遗荫

Seat of ancient Jiange County for over 600 years. Mossy alleys and traditional teahouses welcome tired wayfarers.

Inscription: 剑阁古治 · 普安重镇

The first and highest of the six bridges. Named 'Striding the Rainbow', this arch offers a panoramic vantage point where the northern hills meet the vast expanse of Outer West Lake in morning twilight.

Inscription: 六桥横绝天汉上，北山倒卷入波心。

The geographical center of the causeway. Stop here for 10 minutes of standing meditation. Listen for the morning bells of Nanping Hill traveling across the calm lake surface.

Inscription: 西湖苏堤春晓 · 乾隆御笔碑

Named for the framed view of Wu Mountain to the southeast. Here, Su Shi engineered hydraulic sluices to regulate water exchange between the inner and outer bays, saving thousands of acres of farmland.

Inscription: 欲把西湖比西子，淡妆浓抹总相宜。

The walk concludes at the edge of Flower Harbor and Nanshan Road. The nearby Su Dongpo Memorial Hall houses genuine archaeological stone fragments of the Song Dynasty causeway.

Inscription: 苏东坡纪念馆 · 居士行迹

Home to a towering 1,200-year-old ginkgo tree traditionally believed to have been planted by Wang Wei himself. The rustling golden leaves in autumn mark the threshold where secular court life ends and meditative mountain stillness begins.

Inscription: 文杏栽为梁，香茅结为宇。

The legendary setting of Wang Wei's most celebrated quartrain. A secluded hollow surrounded by deep mountain spurs where filtered evening sunlight pierces the dense tree canopy, illuminating patches of emerald moss.

Inscription: 空山不见人，但闻人语响。返景入深林，复照青苔上。

A dense grove of moso bamboo sheltering a natural stone clearing where the poet sat playing his seven-stringed zither late into the night, accompanied only by the soft glow of the moon.

Inscription: 独坐幽篁里，弹琴复长啸。深林人不知，明月来相照。

A serene ravine where wild magnolia trees bloom along the mountain stream every spring, blossoming in silent self-containment without seeking human admiration or applause.

Inscription: 木末芙蓉花，山中发红萼。涧户寂无人，纷纷开且落。