| 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. 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.
With an elevation of 200m, the hill towers 55m above the water, measuring 108m in length and 100m in width. 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 "Moon-over-Water 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), it looks like the handle of a sword. 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). |
