More than half of the inscriptions documented during our survey are written by others than our 6th century authors, they are leftovers of the history of epigraphy.
The epigraphic record in in the four mountains inscribed by Zheng Daozhao is “silent” between the 6th and 11th centuries, but with the Song dynasty a new impulse for inscribing the landscape arises, so that the inscribed landscapes keep evolving with the addition of new inscriptions along the centuries. Most of these later inscriptions have no relationship at all with Zheng Daozhao’s oeuvre, but they deepen our understanding of the habit of inscribing the landscape and help us populating our reconstruction of how such landscapes were created over time. They also witness the evolving attitude to mountains, rock formations and moya inscriptions.
Later inscriptions found in our four mountains have been more or less studied by both antiquarians and modern scholars. Differring from the 6th century inscriptions, the later inscriptions have not circulated in the shape of rubbings, since early visitors did not consider them of calligraphic value. Even since the 1980s, calligraphy amateurs, epigraphists and scholars did not trigger the commercial production of rubbings around these. Without being “protected” – translate: “without access to the inscription having to be regulate to avoid excessive rubbing, or rubbing oustide of the authorized agents” – many of the later inscriptions are left in their original state.
Our project is collecting rubbings of these inscriptions in dialogue with the local authorities, who have produced them for documenting purposes. There are limits to this effort though, and, when confronted to the field, we had to give up on photographing and measuring each and every graffiti – some of them merely written in ink on the rock surface.
The Song dynasty impulse for inscribing the landscape produced several inscriptions in Yunfengshan, the most famous among Zheng Daozhao’s four mountains and also the most visited. The later inscriptions mention different kinds of activities, from building a tomb to sightseeing, the latter being the most frequently encountered. The engravings are quite anarchic, spread on the cliff face, mostly with no relationship to the geography designed by Zheng Daozhao, and also with regards to the modern paths and pavilions, which leavs part of these interventions in their original relationship to the mountain.
Two heads for one tiger? a Song dynasty picnic
The two inscriptions by Ji Lao 吉老題字 (YSF36-37) and the Tiger Head inscription 虎頭岩 (YFS25) provide us with an example of “assigning a name to a place” (timing 題名 or tipang 题榜) – an activity for which Ye Changchi 葉昌熾 (1849-1917), see Zheng Daozhao as a precursor:
In Mount Yunfeng, Laizhou, Zheng Daozhao inscribed the Temple of Azure Mist, the Hall of the White Clouds, and the Terrace of Vermilion Solarity (Here YE Yangchi is mistaken, not 朱明 but 朱陽, and these inscriptions are located in Mount Daji, not Yunfeng!), drawing inspiration from the deeds of past scholars and poets.
Though veiled in metaphors, these inscriptions truly mark the beginning of the habit of naming places in the landscape 题名. Climbing to the summit and looking around, one might feel as if they are soaring above the clouds.
萊州雲峰山，鄭道昭所題青煙寺、白雲堂、朱明台，以逮駕月棲玄之屬，雖託之寓言，實為題名之濫觴。登峰周覽，飄飄然有凌雲之想。
〔清〕叶昌炽撰 ，柯昌泗评 ，陈公柔 张明善点校，语石 语石异同评/卷五，〔M〕中华书局， 1994：350页
One could also use the expression "inscribing" 题榜. The characters inscribed by Zheng Daozhao on Mount Yunfeng, such as the Hall of the White Clouds and the Temple of Azure Mist, could be considered the beginnings of such practices.
一曰题榜。云峰山郑道昭所题字，如白云堂、青烟寺之类，庶几其滥觞也。
〔清〕叶昌炽撰 ，柯昌泗评 ，陈公柔 张明善点校，语石 语石异同评/卷五，〔M〕中华书局， 1994：374页
The Ji Lao inscription is repeated twice, with only one character differing. The inscription recounts how, on the day of Qingming in the year 1103 CE, Ji Lao and his friends traveled together to this location. They had a few drinks and, once drunk, they named the location “Tiger head” 虎头. As compared to the careful and discreet choice of location by Zheng Daozhao, one can say that the Song did not maintain a very solemn attitude to timing 題名, the habit of naming a place!
崇寧癸未清明/日，吉老希正居/仁景莊君寶敏/ 中同游。
酌酒岩/ 下，不覺霑醉，因/ 以虎頭名之。(YFS36)
崇寧癸未清明/日，吉老希正居/仁景莊君寶敏/ 中同游。
酌酒岩/ 下，不覺霑醉，因/ 以虎頭名岩。(YFS37)
Why did Ji Lao repeat the same content twice, with only one character differring?
Is this related to the second choice of a more tigerhead-looking rock formation on the same site?
Writing approximately the same text twice, is not an isolated case in Yunfengshan. The 石匠于仙/石匠于仙人 (shijiang yuxian / shijiang yuxianren) double “signature” by a stone mason is also repeating the same content twice with the addition of a single character. Since one of the occurrences is small and barely readable, the stonemason possibly decided to recarve his signature in a larger format, right next to his first trial. This inscription is treated in a dedicated post.
Ji Lao is mentioned again is a second inscription, where he also gives out the names of his companions, again on the day of Qingming.
魏纾敏中率刘/助吉老、聂侔希/ 正、徐宅居仁、刁/肅景庄、张珣君/ 宝同游。时崇宁/ 癸未二月廿三/ 清明日。(YFS29)
This was apparently a popular excursion for groups of literati friends, with eminent visitors such as and another inscription mentions that the famous literati Qin Xian 秦岘 came especially to read the Latter Stele of Zheng Wengong in 1113, while another group of friends climbed the mountain after sightseeing (lan 览) at the garden of the Liu clan 刘氏园 in Laizhou. Liu was an official on duty at the capital, Kaifeng, and he had the required status and facilities to host Song dynasty travellers on their visit to Mount Yunfeng.
高邮秦岘、西洛冯维秬/同游神山，读魏郑文/公摩崖碑，因刻其后。/政和三年十月晦日。(YFS30)
赵仲楫公济子/ 绥辉玉韓大受/ 虚中冯维租秀/ 实唐作求叔孝，/ 政和甲午四月/ 中擀發云峰观/ 叵浸，由东城览/ 刘氏园亭而归。(YFS37)
A last inscription materializes the act of naming: three characters “Riger Head Rock” 虎頭岩 (YFS25) are inscribed above the “Chamber of the Flying Immortal” 飛仙室, inscribed by Zheng Daozhao in the 6th century. Zheng Daozhao, with a very different mindset, compares the rock shelter to a celestial hall, with these verses:
詠飛仙室詩
巖堂隱星霄，遙檐架雲飛。
鄭公乘姻至，道士披霞歸。
“Singing of the Chamber of the Flying Immortal”
The cliff-side hall is hidden in stars and clouds,
The remote eaves are supported by clouds and wind.
The Honorable Zheng riding the mist arrives,
The Daoist master cloaked in rosy clouds returns.
Translation by Harrist 2008:134
Later viewers, rather than seeing a stone chamber in the recessed rock, saw an tiger’s head, and even directly inscribed the location with their interpretation. Such an explicit event of assigning a name to a place (timing) could also have happened after the Song, drawing inspiration by the two inscriptions by Ji Lao.
Replicating text and context : Ming-Qing dynasty poets
A second beautiful case of timing by later inscribers, inspired by the 6th century interventions is the inscription entitled “Copying the Poem on Viewing the Sea Elves” (摹觀海童詩 YFS39). The text of Zheng Daozhao’s poem on the sea elves, located halway up the mountain was transcribed here by poet Wei Qipeng in a peculiar setting (YFS39), behind the main peak, on the back of the mountain. The author managed to find a concave space to lodge his inscription, resembling the stone chamber in Tianzhushan, with sharp orthogonal edges and a “Y” shaped structure. The shape was possibly man-made, since the large stone block under this inscription bears traces of the quarrying pick. Right next to it a short inscriptions seems to refer to a purification ritual (明天启丙寅秋日。/ 欲界清都。/ 郢都李宗仪书。YFS38)
source: IMAG0032.jpg in Sakata 198?
Poet Wei Qipeng was very active on this site, he also had two other long inscriptions engraved on nearby rocks: in 魏起鵬集鄭文公碑字詩 (YFS40) he gives his interpretation of the Latter Stele, in 1891 and in 魏起鵬仿東坡居士集淵明歸去來辭字詩 (YFS41) he copies a poem by Su Shi on Tao Yuanming in 1892.
Modern stele forests
In thinking how an inscription can generates so many others on the same site, one cannot avoid the discussion around the idea of “Stele forest”.
During fieldwork, we paid special attention to the variations encountered on this theme:
- In Tianzhushan, a modern stele forest project was led by the local authorities in the early 2000s. Stones from the quarries at the foot of the mountain (at that time the quarries apparently stopped being exploited) were erected and a selection of calligraphies was made (copied by whom?) to be then engraved (by whom?). We need more details on this episode but the local official is reluctant because he considers this endeavor as destructive, or too close to the protected site. During survey we were allowed to train our interns to directly produce rubbings of the “steles”, since these carvings are not protected.
- In Linglongshan, a road was constructed by 14 nearby villages’ teams in 1986, each team being responsible of one section of the road. Carver Sun Qianyi was charged to carve reproductions of famous calligraphic works in the stone along the paved way. We interviewed Master Sun’s son-in-law who now own a tavern at the foot of the hill. Also, in Linglongshan, several later steles were erected in relation to the mountain top shrine dedicated to the Queen Mother (a report by Zhang Qiang will soon be available for the later steles located in Linglongshan).
- In Yunfengshan, two important events were the erection of a Japanese stele forest and a “New” (Chinese) stele forest (a report by Ashikari Kento will soon be available for this aspect of our survey).
- In Dajishan, local historian Li Honglin participated in the composition and design of a group of steles placed in the newly built temple complex (Mr. Yin was interviewed by Zhang Qiang, Xue Lei and Liu Xiaorong).
(Ink) graffitis
We noticed quite a few ink graffitis, especially in Linglongshan – probably because this is the only limestone mountain among the four, this type of stone offering a smooth and grey writing support where granite only proposes an abrasive, rough surface. These ink graffities led us to think about how moya inscriptions can be drafted directly on the rock, with brush and ink. Two among the ink graffitis even adopted Zheng Daozhao’s calligraphic style markers: one used its distinctive 此 character, while the other quoted both the style and content of the inscription (youpan 游槃). Both were located at the entrance or exit of one of the many tunnels, due to the limestone body of Linglongshan.
(request photograph from Marie-Françoise Plissart)
When looking closely at M. Sakata’s first images of the site in the 1980s, we found several ink graffitis in the cave of the 解易老 inscription (LLS?). These graffitis comment on the cave, using dedicated terms also present in Zheng Daozhao’s repertoire, such as the term “stone chamber” (shishi 石室), to describe the rocky formation or landmark.
Some inscriptions engraved earlier than the first reports and photographs of the sites were redacted also passed to posterity, such as the Henan 河南 inscription (YFS27), often associated with the adjacent Wan Zheng 萬政 inscription (YFS28). We plan to look at the rubbings that could have been kept at the office or that circulated from this kind of graffitis, that often state the name or place of origin of the visitor who “was here”.
Many inscriptions of this type are present in Dajishan too, especially on the western peak – Baiyuntang 白雲堂 – probably because it is an isolated place where one can carve in peace. Indeed, this is also where “madman” Ren Zuoguan produced two of his destructive pieces of epigraphy.
The following text is an excerpt from the diaries of the participants to the September 2024 Altergraphy survey, which were edited and displayed at the exhibition “Sculpter les nuages, la montagne enlacée”.
Lia Wei, Les autres1
Tracées à l’encre ou à la bombe, gravées mais avec d’autres armes que le burin, parfois – jusqu’aux années 1980 – rapportées par nos prédécesseurs, sans être étudiées, de manière générale, elles ne seront pas estampées (sauf par nous bien sûr), ou alors jamais collectionnées.
Elles guettent l’arpenteur. À notre tour – certaines surgissent dans les photographies d’archive – nous les avons photographiées ou scannées, sans pouvoir ni vouloir être exhaustifs, touchant à la limite, tentés de dire « non » à une inscription. Elles sont passées pour des nouvelles découvertes Xin faxian ! – l’occasion d’un triomphal cliché de « pêche au saumon » – alors que pour certaines elles sont là depuis des siècles. Ces nouvelles venues rendaient nerveux nos hôtes officiels, eux qui gèrent les sites sans les arpenter, et elles préoccupent les estampeurs sauvages du village, à l’affût de gravures laissées sans surveillance. Elles feraient mieux de demeurer cachées.
Incomplètes, maladroitement répétées, à peine visibles, elles ignorent ou oblitèrent les inscriptions du VIe siècle, celles que nous venons documenter sur les traces des antiquaires et chercheurs qui nous ont précédés ici.
Pariétales, elles imposent d’autres visions, moins subtiles, trop explicites, grossièrement thériomorphes : tête de tigre, patte de buffle, pif de dragon et j’en passe, nous les devons aux pique-niqueurs toutes générations confondues (du XIe au XXIe siècle).
Zénithales, elles découpent l’espace, signalent frontières administratives ou avant-postes militaires, semblables au vol du drone lancé par notre fauconnier, Gao Chao.
Elles insistent, changent d’avis, détournent les lieux et notre attention.
Elles sont aussi littérales et destructrices que ces cages et pavillons modernes, prétextes patrimoniaux venus matérialiser à tort les autels, terrasses ou chambres de pierre invisibles évoquées par Zheng Daozhao. Ce dernier s’était contenté de projections architecturales avec économie, poésie, mais en toute indécence il a fallu bâtir ces abris qui blessent la roche vive, éclaboussée de ciment. Des abris bâtards entre shanshui (paysage) et cabine d’estampage payante.
Je rêvais de faire revivre les autres inscriptions comme autant de phylactères aux typographies tour-à-tour discrètes ou violentes, chaque participant à ce long jeu de rôle ayant pour mission de laisser sa marque sur cette montagne, dans le sillage ou en dépit des autres. Je voudrais tamiser nos impressions des sites avec elles, mais au moment où je pense les embrasser toutes, inéluctablement le crachat du touriste en man-spreading sur l’inscription au sommet Yunfengshan et la crotte de pigeon s’immiscent dans le corpus.
Pourtant elles animent la surface rocheuse, ataviques.
Inclure ces autres inscriptions, composées par d’autres que le Calligraphe dont nous avons déclaré la mort, c’est aussi perdre Sa vision limpide, celle qui, la première, a conjuré l’angoisse d’une page blanche/montagne vierge. Sa poésie me manque.
Documenter les inscriptions, c’est les préserver. Pensant les documenter en l’état, nous en avons mesuré la fragilité, éprouvé les dégâts du temps et des contingences humaines. Elles prélèvent sur nous avec froideur, quelques larmes, un peu de sueur.
Protéger les paysages inscrits, oui… le pire ennemi est sans doute l’inscription compulsive et contemporaine de ce même paysage, et le meilleur moyen étant peut-être un silence minéral, avec la complicité des broussailles.
- Extrait de texte présenté dans l’exposition. ↩︎
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Lia Wei (October 15, 2024). The others’ (inscriptions). ALTERGRAPHY. Retrieved September 8, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/12eo6