Penglai, Land of Fairy Tales

Defiant spirit

East of the castle of Penglai is the Penglai water city, with dry docks and piers.

Construction of the fortress began in 1042. It was completed in 1696. The water fortress is the earliest man-made ancient military port in the country. Along with the castle of Penglai, it is a key historical relic under State protection.

National hero Qi Jiguang of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a native of Penglai, once trained his naval force here against foreign invasion.

Listening to the story of Qi, I felt as if I could almost see him leading thousands of soldiers on the fortress.

There we saw ancient warships found from the port of the fortress, which are left at the site to remind us of his defiant spirit.

In the past 600 years, the Qis have donated many cultural relics, such as the Qi Jiguang Statue and the Father-son Governor. The Former Residence of Qi Jiguang, which is under construction, will open to visitors next year.

Tianheng Hill

West of the castle is Tianheng Hill or Dengzhou Cape, the southern end of the border between the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea.

Legend has it that it used to be the fort for the Tianheng 500 heroic men, who built camps on top of the barracks overlooking the sea.

Tian Heng, a Qin Dynasty general, used to station troops there. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, cannons were placed here. In the 1940s, the People's Liberation Army used them to attack Japanese warships.

The relics are still there, but other aspects of the site have changed, with a new cultural park and a plank road along the cliff.

Walking on it with clouds surrounding me, I could not help but think that the new road would have made the sea crossing much easier for the Eight Immortals.

Travel tips

Five flights every day take off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport to Yantai Airport and the flight takes about one hour. Or tourists can take Train No. 2582 departing from Shanghai Railway Station at 9:40am and arriving at Yantai at 7:00am. There they can take buses to Penglai. The bus departs every 15 minutes.

(Source: enonline.sh.cn)

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