A forested mountain above the plain
Xiqiao Mountain rises within Nanhai, in Foshan. Its highest peak, Dake, reaches 344 meters. Low hills, forest and exposed rock stand above a surrounding landscape that includes plains, giving this part of the city a different scale from a temple courtyard or a kiln district.
The mountain is an ancient volcanic landscape, now protected as a forest park and geopark. Its slopes also hold caves, springs and waterfalls. Rock and water give the wooded ground much of its varied form.
The stone of Shiyan Rock
Shiyan Rock (石燕岩) is a historic quarry site within the mountain landscape. Here the rock belongs to both natural history and the history of extraction. A place admired for its scenery was also a place where material was taken from the ground.
The named quarry adds a particular human use to Xiqiao's volcanic terrain. Alongside forest and water, it keeps the mountain's working history within the landscape.
A place associated with learning
From the Ming and Qing periods, Xiqiao attracted scholars and literary activity, acquiring associations with Neo-Confucian learning. This intellectual history adds another use of the mountain to its quarry heritage.
The same setting can hold several kinds of attention: to a wooded slope, to rock as material, or to a place for study. Xiqiao brings these histories into Foshan's wider landscape of making, gathering and learning.
