Meishan 眉山Méishān
The home town of Su Dongpo, the Song dynasty's celebrated poet and essayist

About Meishan
Meishan lies on the Min River just south of Chengdu, with plain to the east and hills to the west, and its pride is the Su family: the Song-dynasty writers Su Xun and his sons Su Shi, better known as Su Dongpo, and Su Zhe. Their old family home is now the Sansu Shrine, a garden of red walls, ponds and bamboo. In the south-west, flat-topped Mount Wawu offers cool forest walks, often paired with the riverside stilt houses of Liujiang Ancient Town.
What to eat in Meishan
- Dongpo pork knuckle (东坡肘子)
Listed sites in Meishan
17 sites in Meishan are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- China Pickle City, Meishan 中国泡菜城 4A scenic area · on the map
An industrial zone in Chongli, Dongpo District, where about a hundred companies in the Sichuan pickle (paocai) industry are clustered, run as a 4A industrial-tourism area. - Heilongtan Reservoir 黑龙滩 4A scenic area · on the map
A large reservoir in the hills of Renshou County, completed in 1972 and fed by the Dongfeng Canal, which carries water from the Dujiangyan irrigation system. - Liujiang Ancient Town 柳江古镇 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
An old market town in the hills of western Hongya County, with timber stilt houses along its river and lanes of older shops and homes. - Mount Wawu 瓦屋山 4A scenic area · on the map
A flat-topped mountain in south-western Hongya County whose long, roof-like summit plateau gives it its name, 'Tiled House Mountain'. - Pengzu Mountain 彭祖山 4A scenic area · on the map
A wooded hill in Pengshan District linked to Pengzu, a figure of Chinese legend said to have lived for about 800 years and revered as a symbol of long life. - Renshou City Wetland Park 仁寿城市湿地公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A public wetland park in Renshou county town, one link in a chain of waterways and parks the county has laid out through the town. - Sansu Shrine 三苏祠 4A scenic area · National heritage site
The former family home of the Song-dynasty writers Su Xun and his sons Su Shi (Su Dongpo) and Su Zhe, turned into a memorial shrine in the early Yuan and now run as a museum. - Bao'en Temple, Meishan 报恩寺 National heritage site · on the map
A village temple south of Meishan founded in the Tang, of which only the main hall survives, built in 1327 under the Yuan and extensively repaired in 1761. - Danling White Pagoda 丹棱白塔 National heritage site · on the map
A Song-dynasty pagoda in Danling town, known locally as the White Pagoda and protected as a national heritage site since 2013. - Ganquan Temple, Renshou 甘泉寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Ming-dynasty temple in the countryside of south-eastern Renshou County, protected as a national heritage site since 2013. - Jiangkou Cliff Tombs 江口崖墓 National heritage site · on the map
More than 4,500 Han-dynasty tombs cut into the cliffs and hillsides around Jiangkou, spread over some 30 km² beside the Min River. - Maoshui Village Cliff Carvings 冒水村摩崖造像 National heritage site · on the map
Six niches with 22 figures carved between the Song and Qing dynasties in a gully called Dafogou near Yucheng, Renshou County. - Nengren Temple Cliff Carvings 能仁寺摩崖造像 National heritage site · on the map
Buddhist cliff carvings from the Tang and Song dynasties at Nengren Temple in eastern Renshou County, protected as a national heritage site since 2013. - Renshou Giant Buddha 仁寿大佛 National heritage site · on the map
A large Tang-dynasty Buddha carved into the hillside at Niujiaozhai in northern Renshou County, surrounded by more than a hundred smaller niches. - Shuangbao Memorial Arches 双堡牌坊 National heritage site · on the map
Two stone memorial arches standing 44.5 m apart in the countryside of south-eastern Renshou County, erected in 1881 to honour two widowed women of the local Xu family for their chastity and filial devotion. - Zhengshan and Liuzui Cliff Carvings 郑山、刘嘴摩崖造像 National heritage site · on the map
Tang-dynasty Buddhist niches carved into large boulders at two neighbouring spots, Zhengshan and Liuzui, in the hills west of Danling town. - Zhongyan Temple Cliff Carvings 中岩寺摩崖造像 National heritage site
Buddhist cliff carvings dating from the Tang to the Qing, some 48 niches spread among the upper, middle and lower temples of Zhongyan, a wooded hill on the east bank of the Min River south of Qingshen town.
On the map
Open Meishan on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Meishan on the map