Elephant Trunk Hill


Situated majestically at the southeast of Guilin city and west bank of Li River, Elephant Trunk Hill is
regarded as the symbol of Guilin landscape. Originally named "Li Hill", "Yi Hill" and "Chenshui Hill", the
hill has a history of 3.6 hundred million years.

With an elevation of 200m, the hill towers 55m above the water, measuring 108m in length and 100m in
width. Resembling an elephant leisurely sucking water from the river with its long trunk, this hill is
famous as Elephant Trunk Hill for hundreds of years.

Legend says that an elephant which belonged to the Emperor of Heaven came down to earth to help the
people in their work. This angered the Emperor of Heaven, who stabbed the elephant as it was drinking
at the river's edge and turned it to stone.

The Elephant Hill has several features: - Water Moon Cave (Shuiyue dong), Elephant's Eye Stone, and Pagoda for Puxian and Yunfeng Temple.

Between the trunk and the legs of the elephant is a cave, in the shape of a full moon, penetrating the hill from side to side. People named it "Water
Moon Cave". When the waters wave and the moonlight gleams, the scene is exceedingly enchanting. On the walls in and around this cave, over 70
inscriptions from the Tang and Song dynasties were found, praising the beauty of hills and waters nearby. Halfway up the hill lies another cave,
which goes through the hill and serves as the eyes of the elephant, through which visitors can overlook the beautiful scene of Guilin city.

On top of the hill stands a pagoda named Puxian Pagoda. Built in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). In and
out of the cave are many carvings and inscriptions, the most well-known of which is a poem by Lu You
(1125-1210), one of the four great poets of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). From a distance, it
looks like a precious bottle and yet like a short sword too, so people called it the Precious Bottle Pagoda
or the Sword Hilt Pagoda.

In fact, the Elephant Trunk Hill a unique flavor in sunrise and sunset. Additionally, there is the Yunfeng
Temple at the southwest foot of this hill. Legend shows this temple was build in Tang Dynasty and it
was one of the four famous temples in Guilin.