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The Mountains of Stone Chimes

Su, Dong-po (1036-1101 CE)
    The Bible of Rivers 1 says, "The Mountains of Stone Chimes 2 are located at the mouth of Lake Peng-li 3." Dao-yuan Li 4 annotated this entry by adding the following note: “The foot of the mountain is facing a deep lake. When the rocks are struck by waves created by the breeze, the sound generated is like a large chime." People have problems understanding his interpretation: "Even if one puts a metallic chime into a lake and has it struck by a stormy waves, it will not jingle at all. Certainly a stone chime would be affected even less." Not until the Tang dynasty did Bo Li 5 start to visit the site. He found two rocks protruding out of the lake. He struck them and listened to the sound: The middle tone was clear, but the low tone was indistinct. After his drumstick stopped striking the rocks, the sound still soared and reverberated quite a while before dying out slowly. He thought he had found the right chimes. I was very suspicious about his findings because jingling chimes can be found everywhere. Why is this the only place named Stone Chimes?

    One day in June of 1084 6, my eldest son, Mai, and I took a boat from Qi-an City to Lin-ru City. Mai was on his way to De-xing City 7 of Rao-zhou County to assume his office as a lieutenant. I sent him off to Hu-kou City 8. Consequently, I had a chance to see the Stone Chimes. The monk in the temple asked a boy to carry an ax, choose a couple of stones from a disorderly pile, strike them and produce some noise. Although I smiled, I did not believe that they were the Stone Chimes.

    That evening the moon was bright. My son and I took a journey in a small boat to a location beneath the cliff. The huge stone beside us stood about a thousand feet tall and looked like a ferocious animal or a frightful ghost about to attack us. Falcons perched on the mountain, hearing the human sound, were startled and soared high in the sky. In addition, the honking in the valley sounded like old men coughing and laughing. Someone said that the sound was made by storks. I was somewhat scared and wanted to turn back. Suddenly there was a loud sound coming over the water as if chimes and drums were being struck continuously. The boatman was greatly frightened. After a careful examination, I discovered that the cliff bottom had many caves. It was impossible to discern their depth. When small waves came in, they flowed back and forth, building up momentum. They splashed around and then roared like billows. When the boat meandered between the two mountains, almost reaching the port, there was a huge rock blocking the middle of the stream. It could allow one hundred people to sit upon it. The rock was hollow and porous. When the wind and water flowed in and out through the holes in the rock, they produced a sound like another band of chimes and drums playing. It played together with the band beneath the cliff like an orchestra. I smiled and told my son: "Do you know why this place was named the Stone Chimes? The cliff base produces chime music like Wu-yi Chime that the Emperor Jing-wang had cast during the Zhou dynasty 9. The porous rock in the river produces a sound like Zhuang-zi Wei's musical chime 10. Our ancient forebears did not mislead us."

    It is impossible for anyone to determine a thing's existence simply by guessing, without actually seeing or hearing it. What Dao-yuan Li experienced might have been the same as what I heard, but he failed to describe the phenomenon in detail. After all, scholars are not willing to anchor a small boat at night alongside the cliff. Without doing so, they cannot possibly understand this marvelous scene. The fishermen and sailors are aware of this fact, but they cannot describe it well. This is the reason why people cannot visualize a real picture by reading Dao-yuan Li's interpretation. Ignorant people even tried to look for the chimes by striking stones with a hatchet. Occasionally, they have misled themselves into believing that they had found the right chimes. Therefore, I have written this essay to lament Dao-yuan Li's oversimplification and to laugh at Bo Li's foolishness.




1 The Bible of Rivers, a book of geography, was written by Qin Sang of the Han dynasty. Annotations of the Bible of Rivers, written by Dao-yuan Li during the Wei dynasty, contains forty chapters.

2 The Mountains of Stone Chimes (Shi-zhong Shan) are located in Hu-kou-xian City of Jiangxi Province. There are two mountains along the eastern shore at the mouth of Lake Po-yang: the southern one is called Mountain of Upper Chimes; the northern one is called Mountain of Lower Chimes. They are about five to six hundred feet tall and seven miles in circumference. They appear to be facing each other. There are many caves at the foot of the mountains. When wind and water flow in and out, the sound generated is like the ring of a chime.

3 Lake Peng-li is now called Lake Po-yang and is located in Jiangxi Province.

4 Dao-yuan Li was a native of Zhuo-lu City during the Northern Wei dynasty. He wrote Annotations of the Bible of Rives. Chinese scholars valued his book highly.

5 Bo Li was native of Lo-yang City during the Tang dynasty. He retired on Lu Mountain. During Emperor Shun-zong's reign, he was offered a position as junior counselor in the emperor's court. However, he declined the offer.

6 In 1084 Dong-po Su was forty-nine years old. He was transferred from Deputy Commissioner for Military Training at Huang-zhou City to Deputy Commissioner for Military Training at Ru-zhou City.

7 De-xing City is now called De-xing-xian City and is located in Jiangxi Province.

8 "Hu" means "lake"; "kou" means "mouth". Here "Hu" refers to Lake Po-yang. Hu-kou City is now called Hu-kou-xian City and is located at the mouth of Lake Po-yang in Jiangxi Province.

9 In 522 BCE, Emperor Jing-wang ordered the casting of Wu-yi Chime. Wu-yi was one of twelve Chinese musical tones.

10 Jiang was Zuang-zi Wei's alternate first name. He was an official in the emperor's court during the Jin dynasty.