Guide · Local Culture
Searching for "Pengshan history", "Wuyang" or "Gongyi Town"? This page covers Pengshan's 2,300-year story, the sunken silver and cliff tombs along the Min River, the Peng Zu longevity culture, the "Land of Loyalty and Filial Piety" — and Gongyi Town, where our shop is.
Pengshan — today's Pengshan District of Meishan City, Sichuan — was anciently called Wuyang. It sits on the southwestern edge of the Chengdu Plain along the middle Min River, about 55 km from Chengdu. Founded as a county more than 2,300 years ago, it is the oldest administrative unit in the Meishan region. The Min and Jin rivers run through it between fertile plains and low western hills; long a waterway hub and trading center, it is known as a "Land of Longevity, Land of Loyalty and Filial Piety".
In 316 BCE, the state of Qin sent Zhang Yi and Sima Cuo to conquer Shu; the last Shu king of the Kaiming dynasty was defeated and died at Wuyang, and Qin founded Wuyang County on the spot, bringing the area into the imperial county system. In 135 BCE, Emperor Wu of the Han established Jianwei Commandery with Wuyang under it; in 107 CE the commandery seat itself moved to Wuyang, making it a regional political and economic center. The Han-dynasty essay Tong Yue by Wang Bao contains the line "buying tea at Wuyang" — evidence that tea was already traded here two millennia ago. In 712 CE, to avoid the personal name of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (Li Longji), the county was renamed Pengshan after Pengwang Mountain (today's Pengzu Mountain) within its borders — the name has lasted ever since. After centuries of administrative changes, Pengshan County became Pengshan District of Meishan City in 2014.
The Min River left Pengshan three heavyweight heritage sites. First, the Jiangkou Sunken Silver site: in 1646, rebel leader Zhang Xianzhong moved his treasure down the river and was defeated at Jiangkou by Ming-loyalist general Yang Zhan — ships sank and the treasure went down with them. Since 2017, cofferdam-based underwater archaeology has recovered 70,000+ artifacts, including the "Seal of the Hereditary Prince of Shu" gold seal and "Xi Wang Shang Gong" coins; the Jiangkou Sunken Silver Museum now stands on the site. Second, the Jiangkou cliff tombs on the eastern bank: a Han-dynasty cemetery of 4,580 cliff tombs; a red-sandstone carving of an embracing couple excavated here in 1941 was romantically dubbed the "First Kiss Under Heaven" by writer Guo Moruo and is now kept in the Palace Museum. Third, the Jiangkou Stone Dragon, carved in the Song dynasty: 17.4 meters long, coiled up a red-sandstone cliff, a Sichuan provincial cultural-relic protection site. The county also preserves the Ming-dynasty Zitong Palace and Li Bai's Reading Terrace from the Tang.
Legend says Peng Zu (given name Jian Keng) was a founding master of Chinese longevity arts; folklore holds that he lived over 800 years and spent his final days at Pengshan's Pengzu Mountain (anciently Pengwang Mountain or Xiannu Mountain). The mountain rises to 610 m in a natural taiji-like landform, with the Peng Zu Shrine, his tomb, and the rare cliff-carved "Twin Buddhas of Qishan". Around the legend lives a living longevity culture: local dishes such as changshou piaotang in the "food and medicine share one source" tradition, longevity allowances for the elderly, the third-day-of-third-month mountain fair and banquets honoring centenarians — the "Land of Longevity" is a brand and a way of life.
Pengshan has long been called the "Land of Loyalty and Filial Piety", after two of its sons. Zhang Gang of the Eastern Han: born to an eminent family and famously upright, when the emperor sent inspectors around the realm he alone buried his chariot wheel and impeached the all-powerful general Liang Ji — "jackals and wolves block the road; why bother asking about foxes?" Later, as governor of Guangling, he rode alone into the rebel Zhang Ying's camp and talked peace into the region. Li Mi of the Western Jin: born in today's Long'an Village in Gongyi Town, raised by his grandmother after his father died. Summoned to court by Emperor Wu of Jin, he wrote the celebrated Memorial Presenting My Sincerity to stay home and care for her — "with the heart of a bird that repays its mother, I beg to see her through her final years". Loyalty and filial piety became Pengshan's cultural DNA, and Li Mi's hometown remains a cultural landmark of Gongyi Town today.
Gongyi Town is also where Pengshan's modern revolutionary history began: in 1927 Pengshan's first CPC branch — the Gongyi Branch — was founded here, and in 1928 the first county-level committee in the Meishan area — the CPC Pengshan County Committee — was established at Gongyi market town. Guo Zhushan, Guo Zhulin and other early members kept the struggle going for decades. Today the Guo Zhushan Former Residence and the Xinghuo Gongyi Red Base stand in the town center as Meishan Municipal CPC-history education bases.
Gongyi Town lies in central-western Pengshan, where the Chengdu Plain meets its first low hills — a traditional western-Sichuan market town, with market days on even-numbered dates. In December 2019 neighboring Baosheng Township merged into Gongyi, adding forested hills to the town's flat fields: Pengshan District's highest point, Beipingguan at 711.6 m (near today's Shizhu Village), is inside the town's borders. Gongyi is one of the core areas of Pengshan Grapes, a national geographical-indication product; orange blossoms scent the spring, grapes ripen through summer and autumn, and Long'an Village — birthplace of Li Mi, author of the Memorial Presenting My Sincerity — lies in the mountains here.
Using our shop in Gongyi market town as a reference: the Jiangkou Sunken Silver Museum is about 13 km away, Pengzu Mountain scenic area about 15 km, Li Mi's hometown about 15 km (winding mountain road), and the Guo Zhushan Former Residence right in town. From Chengdu, exit the Chengdu–Leshan Expressway at the Pengshan tollgate and reach Gongyi Town in about 20 minutes; most of these spots line up on the way, and two or three fit comfortably into a day. See the guides below for details.
Related guides: Jiangkou Sunken Silver Museum · Gongyi Town & market days · Huanglongxi day trip