Mural Hill
» Guilin, Guang Xi

九马画山 '自古山如画,而今画似山,马图呈九首,奇物在人间'

Mural Hill is located on the west bank of the Li River about 60 km (37 miles) from Guilin City. Standing 536.3 meters (333 miles) high, Mural Hill is a cliff rising abruptly above the water. Its full name is "Nine Horse Mural Hill" and is named because of the naturally shaped images of nine horses in different positions on the cliff.

Beautiful legend

As a punishment

According to legend, at one time the nine horses were raised in heaven and attended by Sun Wukong who was also known as Monkey King. However, Monkey King was not happy with his job and he often went back to Huaguoshan Mountain and left the heavenly horses unattended. On one of these occasions when the horses were not being attended to, nine of them escaped to the world to wander in the verdurous mountains where they enjoyed fresh clean water and blooming flowers and never came back. In time they were forced to hide in a cave to escape a god from the heaven, which was sent to look for them and return them to heaven after they were found. Unfortunately the horses were discovered by the god while bathing in Li River at dawn, and in a hurry to escape they ran into the cliff side where their images turned into stone as a punishment for not getting back.

Because of fear

There is another beautiful legend about the horse images. Once upon a time, a herdsman from the Heaven brought his horses to Li River. An artist happened to see those horses and wanted to draw a picture of them. Unfortunately, the horses were so scared of him that they ran into the cliff and never came out again. People say that it is hard to point out the exact image for each horse because the horses were from Heaven.

What to explore

Facing the banks of the Li River is a big stone cliff blazoned with yellow, white, black, grey and green colors. The precipice of the hill is even and straight as if cut by knife. From a distance the cliff face resembles a natural mural with images of what appears to be nine horses in various poses. The gestures of the horses differ from one to another. One image may be of a horse running wild, while another may be standing still, neighing, browsing or drinking water.

A folk ballad

It is not that easy to identify all of the nine horses, and most people can only recognize three or four images as horses. A folk ballad claims that the one who can identify all nine horses will be Number One Scholar, a title conferred to the one who came out first in the highest imperial examination in the Confucian era. To be able to identify the nine horses you need keen eyesight and a rich imagination.

Popularity among famous figures

Mural Hill has always been popular with poets, scholars, painters and travelers. For instance the famous scholar Ruan Yuan in the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911) visited the hill five times when he was the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi. Premier Zhou Enlai also visited Mural Hill and it is reported that he was able to recognize and identify all of the nine horses. Perhaps on your visit to Mural Hill you might also be able to identify all nine horses and be the next Number One Scholar.

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Facing the banks of the Li River is a big stone cliff blazoned with yellow, white, black, grey and green colors. The precipice of the hill is even and straight as if cut by knife. From a distance the cliff face resembles a natural mural with images of what appears to be nine horses in various poses.

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