Because of my work, I stopped in Yulin twice on business. The first time I chatted with a local taxi driver, I knew that there was a scenic spot called Hongshixia, and the scenery was very good. So on these two business trips, I took time out and hitchhiked to visit in the evening.
Hongshixia, also known as Xiongshixia, is located 3 kilometers north of Yulin, close to the west side of Beitai, the first town of Wan Li Great Wall. Red rocks face each other in Hongshixia, willow trees are shaded, the Great Wall passes through the gorge, and Yuxi River flows slowly in the valley, which is known as the first scene of the Great Wall in Wan Li. It's amazing that there is such a quiet and cool place in the yellow sand-filled frontier fortress.
Regarding the origin of Hongshixia, Yulin's official records say this: Yulin was under the jurisdiction of Xixia State in Song Dynasty. At that time, a spring water flowed south from the cave in Hongshan. Li, the king of Xixia, took a fancy to this geomantic treasure-house, and sent people to stop the water, cut stones for holes, and bury his ancestors to divert water. So, at first, a monument was erected on the east side of Puji Bridge in Hongshixia Reservoir: "Xixia Wang Li was buried here." Now the monument has been destroyed.
Another way of saying it is that in 1472, Yu Zijun was appointed as the governor of Yansui, preparing to build the Great Wall. At that time, in the north of Hongshan, there was a sea in Qingshui River. In Shuicun village in the middle of Haizi, there lived a group of water thieves who robbed the cattle, sheep, food and clothes of Mongolians and Han people. In order to eliminate bandits, Yu Zijun sent people to dig stones here to make canals, and to divert Haizi's water from the southwest of Yulin City to the Wuding River. When the water receded, Yu Zijun sent an army to destroy the robbers. At that time, the Chishi Gorge was called Hongshi Gorge, the introduced canal water was called Yuxi River, and the irrigation on both sides was called Guangze Canal.
The most humanistic and historical value of Hongshixia is the stone carvings on the cliffs on both sides of the gorge. Think about the ancient civil servants and military commanders who guarded the border, and accidentally found this treasure in the border area surrounded by yellow sand. Their talent burst is inevitable, they will praise and express their feelings. Climbing the stone steps cut from the cliff, all kinds of magnificent and beautiful inscriptions can be seen everywhere.
There are some praises for the beautiful scenery of Hongshixia, such as "Yuji Cliff", "China Tianzhu", "Tianwai Qifeng", "Chaohai Penglai", "Kaiyuan Map" and "Tiancheng Xiongxiu". There is also the danger of describing military status, such as "Golden Soup in the Desert", "Iron Piles in the Sky", "Lock Keys on the Horizon", "Three Qins in Xiongzhen", "Guan Yu Xiongshan" and "Megatron Nine Realms". There are also expressions of national unity and national unity, such as "returning my mountains and rivers", "unification of China and foreign countries" and "Mongolian and Chinese family" and so on. In the Qing Dynasty, the calligrapher of Yulin wrote "Three Mountains Together with Cuisine" and left wrote "Yuxi Residence". There are even Mongolian stone carvings, which are a must of the cliff stone carvings in Hongshixia.
The sunset glow in Hongshixia is also a scene. On a sunny summer evening, standing at the entrance of Hongshixia Grottoes, looking towards the horizon in the west, the sunset glow reflects half the sky, and the colors of fiery red clouds are unpredictable, which is really fascinating.