Tao An's "Record of a Visit to Longming Mountain" and Wuxiang Mountain

The travel account and the mountain's name

Volume 17 of the Collected Works of Tao An contains "Record of a Visit to Longming Mountain", which tells how Tao An was invited by a friend to visit the mountain. The text says that Longming Mountain is Wuxiang Mountain:

即无想山也 — Collected Works of Tao An, 卷十七《游龙鸣山记》

Translated: That is Wuxiang Mountain.

It should be noted that this is the author's own identification, and that it comes from volume 17 of the Collected Works of Tao An. When it is cited here as documentary evidence, the volume and the title of the piece are given, and the mountain's history is not rewritten on the strength of it. The title of the piece uses a variant form of the character for "to visit"; the original character is retained, or a textual note is supplied.

The site recorded in the text

The piece records the site of Han Xizai's reading hall and notes that a juniper planted there still stood. Han Xizai's own historical career belongs to the character sub-site; this entry records only the mountain name and the site as given in the piece.

Later inscriptions

Wuxiang Mountain also has three cliff inscriptions, all in seal script, which are protected at the municipal level in Nanjing. The three are titled "Fengquan", "Danding" and the "Wuzun Inscription"; the third title uses a variant character, which is reproduced as it stands. A media report says the inscriptions are nearly 500 years old; their date should rest on the inscriptions themselves and on the published heritage-list material.

Uncertainties

First, the identification of Longming Mountain with Wuxiang Mountain is Tao An's own judgement in volume 17 of the Collected Works of Tao An. This site holds no corroborating evidence, and the identification is cited with its source rather than asserted.

Second, the figure of nearly 500 years is the report's own; the text of the inscriptions and the published protection documents have not been examined, and the date is not rewritten on that basis.