Nine Horse Painting Mountain，also known as 九马画山 ( Jiu Ma Hua Shan）in Chinese, is a large stone mountain with nine peaks connected. It is towering near Huashan Village on the east bank of the Li River , about 60 kilometers away from Guilin City. It is one of the classic landscapes of the Li River landscape.
The mountain is over 400 meters high and 200 meters wide. The cliff painting has nine heads, and the strange object is in the human world. The mountain is as sharp as a blade, with white, yellow, gray, black and other colors on the stone walls, presenting a colorful portrait of horses. It is known as the Nine Horse Painting Mountain, where up to nine horses can be seen. Closer looking at the stone patterns on the mountain wall, you can vaguely distinguish the image of a group of horses.
Standing on the opposite bank of the river or riding on bamboo rafts,tourists can see from afar that this mountain has a unique shape. Upon closer inspection, it seems that there are nine horses painted on the mountain wall, but it is said that very few people can see the nine horses.
Due to the vibrant colors on the stone walls of this mountain, resembling a giant mural, it is called Huashan. Upon closer inspection of this mountain, there are a total of nine horses on the top, bottom, left, right, and Yuwei Peak of the stone wall, hence the name Nine Horse Painting Mountain. At the foot of the mountain, there is a drinking horse spring, and the stone wall next to the spring is engraved with the words "Qingli Stone Wall Picture" by Ruan Yuan from the Qing Dynasty(1645-1911).
If visiting this mountain, you can take a cruise from the city center or take a bamboo raft from Xingping town or Yangdi town. And you can also walk there from Xingping town. But it takes 2-3 hours to walk from Xingping to the scenic area.
Legend has it that the nine horses were originally divine horses from the Heavenly Palace. They secretly descended to the mortal world and later went to drink water by the Li River.
A passing painter wanted to depict them, but the horses were frightened and panicked, mistakenly falling into the stone wall and remaining in the mortal world forever.
As they are all transformed by gods, their forms are unpredictable and difficult to distinguish. Therefore, a folk song has been passed down throughout history:
"Look at Ma Lang, look at Ma Lang, ask you how many pairs of divine horses are there? If you see seven horses in the top spot, you can see nine top scorers."
It is said that being able to quickly and completely identify nine "horses" is not an easy task.
Travel Tips
Address: By the Lijiang River in Xingping Town, Yangshuo County, Guilin City
Phone: 0773-2825502
Opening hours: All day open
Ticket: Free