Lüèyáng

Lüeyang lies in the mountains along the upper Jialing River, where water routes and the old road to Sichuan meet. South of the town, Lingyan Temple occupies two natural caves on the eastern bank. Travellers and officials left inscriptions on its rock faces, making the temple a record of the people who passed through the valley.

The river was important enough for Tang officials to cut through rock and clear more than two hundred li of the Jialing for navigation; the writer Liu Zongyuan commemorated the work. In the Ming Jiajing reign, Li Yuchun compiled a county gazetteer, recording local history and monuments. Further editions followed under the Qing, preserving the stories of a district shaped by its mountain routes and river.