Guilin - Elephant Trunk Hill Xiangbi Shan

Elephant Trunk Hill can be found on the west bank of the Lijiang river, in the south of the town. Its shape is reminiscent of an elephant dipping its trunk in the river. Legend says that an elephant which belonged to the Emperor of Heaven came down to earth to help the people in their work. This angered the Emperor of Heaven, who stabbed the elephant as it was drinking at the river's edge and turned it to stone. The cave between the ''body'' and the ''trunk'' is of a particularly interesting shape and has inspired poets and writers old and new to engrave verses on its walls. The poems of Lo You, Fan Chengda and other poets of the Song dynasty (960-1279) are of inestimable literary and archaeological value. On the top of the hill stands the Puxian Ta Pagoda in the shape of the handle of the dagger with which the elephant was killed.