Tiger Hill虎丘英语导游词

Tiger Hill

概述——海涌桥——断梁殿——试剑石——枕石

The Tiger Hill is accepted as the most attractive place of historical interest in Suzhou.

Thirty-four meters above sea level, and some 20 hectares area, it used to be called the Hill of

Emergence from the Sea .It is the burial place of He Lv, kIng of State Wu, Who founded the city

of Suzhou in 514 BC and made it his capital. Historical records said that 496BC, When the king of

Yue passed away. King He Lv wanted to seize the chance and intended to attack State Yue. The

army of two states engaged at Zui Li of Jia Xing city. Because King He Lv’s underestimate, he

was injured then died in the way back. His son Fu Chai conscripted more than 100 thousand labors

to build the tomb in the Tiger Hill. Three days after his burial, it is said a tiger appeared on the top

of the hill to guard the tomb, hence it named tiger hill. The local people said the hill is in the shape

of a crouching tiger, the Broken Beam Hall is its head,( the gate is its mouth, two round windows

its eyes,) hill path its back, the pagoda on the top of the hill is its tail. In the hill are some

interesting stones such as Sword Testing Rock, Pillow Rock, Thousand Man Rock, Nodding Rock

and so on. Each of them has stories and legends. Then the most famous highlight is the pagoda on

the top. It is known as the leaning tower of “Pisa” in Chinese. Tiger hill is known as the No.1

famous hill in Wu aera. No wonder the prominent poet Su Dongpo in Song dynasty remarked, “To

visit Suzhou without seeing the tiger hill would be a thing for regret.”

Here is the Bridge of Emergence from the Sea. The bridge got its name because it is said that it

ancient china here is a sea, and this hill used to be one of the small islands, but with the time

passing, here becomes plain and only this island left that is nowadays Tiger Hill. The bridge is

made of the granite, produced of Suzhou. On the railings of both sides are 12 lions- the 6 males

their paws are embroidered balls which symbolize the power, other 6 females with baby lions

under their paws, which means the endless offspring one generation after another.

This entrance hall is named the Broken Beam Hall. It gets its name because the main beam of

the hall is made of 2 logs not joined in the middle. Under the eaves are bracket sets. Bracket sets

bear the weight of the roof, and scant the weight through the post in the walls, walls of the

building bear no weight, if the walls are removed, the build will not fall down. All the joints of the

wooden structure are fastened with the traditional tenons and mortises without a single metal nail.

So the building can kept so long years. Under the roof of the hall there are two wooden tablets, on

which are written four big characters each. Those facing south mean “the historical site famous in

Kingdom Wu” and those facing north mean “containing the real and hiding the ancient.”

The famous Sword-Testing Rock is a big oval rock. It is cleft in the middle as though by a

sword. Legend has it that this is the place where King He Lv tried out his precious sword. The

story goes that He Lv, King of State Wu employed hundreds of foundry men to cast several

thousand sharp swords for his army. Hearing that the couple, Ganjiang and Moye, were skillful

sword-smiths, he ordered them to cast a pair of swords for his personal use. The husband and wife

forged a pair of swords which were made of alloy that steel. One was called Ganjiang, the other

was named Moye. Ganjiang presented Moye sowrd to King Wu, and hid another one himself. One

day the King came to this hill and tested the sword on this rock. Down came the sword. The rock

split in two as if it were mud. This rock is said to be today’s Sword-Testing Rock on the Tiger Hill.

By the side of the Sword-Testing Rock there is an ancient poem engraved on a cliff, which

means:”While the sword was tested, the rock was cleft, the cliff fell and the brook was blocked.

Why, hundreds of years later, was it not used to decapitate the sinister eunuch Zhao Gao?”

A little further on the left is the Pillow Stone, which was said to have been used as the pillow by

the monk Sheng Gong. Shenggong was a learned Buddhist monk in the Jin Dynasty around the 3rd

and 4th centuries. He put new theory “those who have the sense of Buddhist can all become

buddhas. His theory was opposed by those old school. And then his travelled in China, finally he

settled down in the temple on SanTang street, he came to the hill to preach. Many believers

gathered the hill to listen to the preaching. What he said was so excellent that all the listeners kept

nodding to express their approval, even hard rock in the tomb was moved to nod. When tired of

preaching, he would come to this stone and lie down for a rest with the stone as his pillow.

千人石——生公讲台(点头石)——二仙亭——“虎丘剑池”石刻——剑池

Here is the Thousand-Man Rock, a huge rock resembling a terrace. It is said that Fu Chai made

labors build his father Helv’s grave, after the completion. He ordered to kill all the tomb builders

here to keep the tomb secret, the blood of these builders stained this huge rock. Today the blood

stains can still be seen on the rock, which looks reddish especially after rain.

However, another story has it that the monk Shenggong lectured here some 1600 years ago.

Shenggong was a learned Buddhist monk in the Jin Dynasty around the 3rd and 4th centuries. He

put new theory “those who have the sense of Buddhist can all become buddhas. His theory was

opposed by those old school. And then his travelled in China, finally he settled down in the temple

on SanTang street, he came to the hill to preach. No less than a thousand listener sit here to listen

to the preaching. So the Rock also called the Sheng Gong’s Rostrum.

On the northeast side of the Rock lies a pond, known as the White Lotus Pond. Located in the

middle of the pond is the Nodding Stone. It acquired this name because Monk Sheng Gong, who

has lectured persuasively enough to make the rocks nod in agreement. This rock in Pond is

supposed to be one of those nodding stones.

Here is the Two Immortals’ Pavilion. It is associated with two Taoist immortals, Lv Chunyang

and Chen Tuan. Its roof was nicely carved from one single piece of granite. Inside, there are 2

stone tablets showing their portraits.

Tourists like very much to have photo taken in front of the four big characters in red meaning

Tiger Hill’s Sword Pond. This marvelous handwriting was written by Yan Zhenqin the

calligrapher in Tang Dynasty. With the year goes by, the characters “Hu Qiu” means Tiger

Hill,were ruined. In Ming Dynasty, the local calligrapher Mr. “Zhang Zhongyu” rewrited the

characters “Hu Qiu”. Popular saying is like that:”real sword pond, pseudo tiger hill”.

Go through the circular gate called “Another Wonderland”, here is the Sword Pond. The pond is

in the shape of a sword without handle. On the left cliff are two Characters said to be handwriting

by Wang Xizhi. The 4 characters now facing us mean “Windy ravine and clouds spring” written

by Mi Fu. According to history, King He Lv liked collecting swords. When he was buried, 3000

swords were buried, too. In the following dynasty, people came here and tried to find his tomb to

get the treasure. In 221 BC when the first Emperor “Qin Shihuang” unified the China. He ordered

a lot of soldiers to dig the tomb here. But they failed because the water gushed out from spring

underground. In 1955 when the pagoda was repaired, the local government had Sword Pond

dredged. After digging, the workers found a triangular entrance at the bottom of the pool, enter 10

metres, one have to turn to the left, there the workers saw 4 huge rectangular stone slabs, one lay

on the ground as the base, the other 3 were piled up in a triangle. It is said it was the real entrance

to the tomb. But this place happened to be under the pagoda. In order to avoid affecting the

foundation of the pagoda, excavation of the tomb had to be stopped. Now the tomb is still a

mystery.

五十三参——云岩禅寺大殿——云岩寺塔

To the east of the White Lotus Pond are 53 steps, which are a neat flight of granite stone steps

leading up to the mahavira hall of Cloud Rock Temple. Their significance can be found in the

Buddhist saying:” Climb 53 steps to pay tribute to Buddha.” According to Buddhism, the Boy of

Treasures, who is the attendant for the Bodhisattva of Compassion, worshipped 53 Bodhisattvas as

his teachers. So sometimes you can see 53 steps near the Buddhist temples in hilly areas.

At the end of the 53 steps is the mahavira hall. In the hall, the Sakyamuni is face to us, and the

Kasyapa and Ananda stand each side by him. The picture of Eighteen Arhats are hung on the wall

around the hall.

Popularly known as Tiger Hill Pagoda, the Cloud Rock Temple Pagoda on top of the Hill is a

leaning pagoda with 7 stories and an octagonal base. The pagoda is 47.7 metres high. Because its

foundation ploblem, it began to lean toward Northeast in Yuan Dynasty. In 1956,when it was

repaired, workers found a lot of Culture relics. Among them is a stone casket. In the casket is a

scripture box, contain 7 volume Buddhist sutra. At the bottom of the box, they saw dates of the

construction, began to build from 959 AD and completed in 961AD. In 1982, lots of cracks

appeared on the wall of pagoda, the situation is very dangerous. The famous architects are called

to discuss the way of maintenance. Finally they decided to take 4 steps to repair it. First of all, 44

cement posts 1.1 metres in diameter each were made round the pagoda base, and a concrete ring

was constructed to link all 44 posts. Secondly, poured in ciment paste to fill in the gaps under and

round the pagoda. And 161 holes were dug around pagoda in order to fill the paste. Thirdly, A

special technique was used to make a huge cement plate base to support the pagoda’s bottom.

Fourthly, to replace those eroded bricks of the pagoda. Now the pagoda stops its leaning. The

central axis now is 2.34 meters away from its original central axis, form a lean angle of two

degrees 48 minutes. Now, being the symbol of Suzhou, Tiger Hill pagoda is a treasure not only in

Suzhou but also throughout China. The pagoda has been shown on a stamp of New China.