A One-Day Tour Over 'Luling'

On the sixteenth day of the fifth month of the Jia Chen year in the lunar calendar, I arrived at Ji'an Railway Station during the hour of Mao. Today is the summer solstice. Ji'an, Jiangxi, anciently known as 'Luling' and 'Jizhou', is located in the south of the Yangtze River. Here, there are shared electric bicycles, which I am pleased to find. I went to the east bank of the Gan River, where the sky was tinged with a faint blue-green, giving a sense of freshness. The river is wide, but the current is also swift. On the riverbank, people were already exercising in the morning. I found a noodle shop that was open and had a bowl of scallion oil dry noodles to relieve the fatigue of the journey. It was still early, so I rode an electric bike around the old town, admiring Ji'an as the true south of the Yangtze River. At the hour of Chen, I took a bus to Qingqingyuan Mountain, which is located more than twenty li to the east of the city and was praised by the famous Southern Song poet Yang Wanli as 'the number one scenic spot in Jiangxi'. A short bus ride will get you there. At the foot of the mountain, there are some good fields where farmers are already busy. Walking another li, there is an ancient temple called 'Jingju Temple', which is the ancestral temple of the Buddhist Zen Qingyuan sect. That day, the temple was full of local believers. Not far away, there is a 'Yangming Academy', founded by Wang Yangming for teaching. Both places are worth visiting. Before the sun got too hot, I started climbing the mountain. The mountain is not high, but climbing it is enough to see the whole city of Ji'an. You can return the same way you came, or you can descend from the other side of the mountain. Along the way, I encountered people installing surveillance equipment, carrying heavy poles and panting, stopping to rest after not walking far, which was also hard work. Halfway up the mountain, the reservoir below came into view. Passing through the reservoir, the trail followed a stream, and at that moment, the sound of water and birdsong accompanied me, and I occasionally imitated the birds' calls in response. When I reached the foot of the mountain, I returned to the starting point of the climb, and a bowl of cold noodles by the roadside was truly refreshing. I took the bus back to the city center, and by noon, I was ravenous. I had a late breakfast of soy milk, fried dough sticks, and stir-fried rice noodles on the street, then went to 'Bailuzhou Academy', which was very worthwhile. After visiting the academy, I rode a small electric bike around the city for a while, then went to the train station and bid farewell to Luling. I heard that Ji'an also has Jizhou Kiln, and 'Jingdezhen Tao Lu' praised Jizhou Kiln with the phrase 'Jizhou Kiln existed before Jingdezhen', which shows its status. I hope to visit again next time.