Lankeshande Legend
01 · Historical Records
The Lanke Mountain legend is an ancient folk legend very widely current in China, first found in the Jin Yu Xi's Zhi Lin and the Liang Ren Fang's Shuyi Ji, which record that in the Jin, Wang Zhi entered the stone chamber on Xin'an mountain to cut wood, watched two boys at chess, and found his axe handle already rotted, and on returning to his village found none of his contemporaries left. Xin'an is present-day Quzhou, renamed in the first year of Taikang of the Western Jin; another earlier record is found in the Shangshu, Hongfan, on King Wu visiting Jizi, which, though it does not contain the Lanke episode or wording, has a purport similar to the Lanke story and may be the origin of the Qizi mountain version of the legend.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Lanke Mountain legend is an ancient folk legend very widely current in China, first found in the Jin Yu Xi's Zhi Lin and the Liang Ren Fang's Shuyi Ji, which record that in the Jin, Wang Zhi entered the stone chamber on Xin'an mountain to cut wood, watched two boys at chess, and found his axe handle already rotted, and on returning to his village found none of his contemporaries left; Xin'an is present-day Quzhou, renamed in the first year of Taikang of the Western Jin; another earlier record is found in the Shangshu, Hongfan, on King Wu visiting Jizi, which may be the origin of the Qizi mountain version. It is said that Jizi, originally named Xu Yu, uncle of King Zhou of Yin, opposed the king's extravagance and tyranny and, after several remonstrances, was imprisoned and enslaved; when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the king, Jizi fled to Lingchuan in Shanxi to live in seclusion. On Qizi mountain in Lingchuan Jizi arranged the natural black and white stones to divine and observe the cardinal directions, the heavens and the stars and to fix the calendar, and in so doing unknowingly created weiqi, frequently playing with others so that the game matured. The Qing Yongzheng edition of the Shanxi General Gazetteer, Mountains and Rivers, Wu Pengling's Examination of the Traces of Jizi on Mount Ji and the Guangxu edition of the Lingchuan County Gazetteer all record Jizi mountain and Jizi's seclusion at Lingchuan to play chess. The Lanke Mountain legend handed down by the people from generation to generation not only gradually formed a very large and varied series but became the intellectual and cultural symbol of one day in the mountains, a thousand years in the world. Explaining the philosophical thought of the harmony of heaven and man in traditional Chinese culture is the most striking cultural feature of the Lanke Mountain legend. Rooted in the people, it not only sketches a fairyland like the peach-blossom spring but, advocating the mutual harmony of heaven and man, the highest ideal of ancient Chinese philosophy, guides people to live with a positive and detached attitude.
Wang Zhi Watches Chess and His Axe Handle Rots
The core episode of the Lanke Mountain legend, found in the Liang Ren Fang's Shuyi Ji.
The Boys at Chess and the Date Stone
The episode in which Wang Zhi sucks what the boys give him, like a date stone, and feels no hunger.
The Stone Chamber Mountain
The stone chamber mountain of Xin'an commandery, present-day Lanke mountain in Quzhou.
The Cultural Symbol One Day in the Mountains, a Thousand Years in the World
The intellectual and cultural symbol formed from the Lanke Mountain legend.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The Lanke Mountain legend circulates in Lingchuan county of Shanxi and Quzhou city of Zhejiang and elsewhere, and has gradually formed a very large and varied series of Lanke Mountain legends, becoming the intellectual and cultural symbol of one day in the mountains, a thousand years in the world.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Lankeshande Legend.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Lanke Mountain legend, with the philosophy of the harmony of heaven and man, the positive and detached attitude to life and the cultural character it displays, is in the same line as the folk psychology and aesthetic pursuit of the Chinese working people and has positive cognitive and cultural value. These beautiful and moving legends were continually enriched in kind and connotation in transmission and are still transmitted today. Measures urgently need to be taken to protect them so that they may be transmitted.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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