Xiheng Mountain

Overview

Xiheng Mountain stands out at the western end of Lishui District and runs on in a long sweep. The district's land spatial plan near-term implementation plan writes in its section on landforms that Fushan, Donglu Mountain, Huifeng Mountain, Fangshan, Qiuhu Mountain and Wuxiang Mountain guard the east and south in a continuous chain, while Xiheng Mountain stands out at the western end and runs on.

The Master Plan for the Wuxiang Mountain National Forest Park, Nanjing (2023-2035) writes in its section on physical geography that Xiheng Mountain stands out in the west and runs on for tens of kilometres, formed together with the mountains of Jiangning District and of Dangtu County in Anhui under the collective name Hengshan, and that most of these mountains are state forest land. Hengshan is thus the collective name for Xiheng Mountain together with the mountains of Jiangning District and Dangtu County, while Xiheng Mountain is the customary name for the part within Lishui; the entry must keep the collective name and the part apart.

The divide: the Shiqiu Subdistrict feature writes that the ridge of Xiheng Mountain sends the Hengshan waters north into the Qinhuai River and the streams south to Shijiu Lake, making it the divide between the Qinhuai River system and the Shijiu Lake system. The district's land spatial plan near-term implementation plan sets out the course of the divide between the two systems point by point, and its last stretch, running past Luojia into Anhui and then turning north-west into Xiheng Mountain, is where the divide folds into the mountain. The entry records the basin as the divide itself.

Elevation, main peak name and area: none is given by any official document. The forest park plan gives only the district totals and the count by grade, namely 237 hills and mountains in all, of which 192 rise above 50 m, 68 above 100 m and 14 above 200 m, without an elevation for each; the land spatial plan near-term implementation plan says only that Xiheng Mountain stands out at the western end. The entry declares elevation_m in gaps and fills in no guessed value.

Administrative division: the Shiqiu Subdistrict feature writes that the area south of Xiheng Mountain and north of Shijiu Lake forms the main body of the subdistrict; the district government's administrative divisions page records that Shiqiu Subdistrict has a villagers' committee named Hengshan, written there in abbreviated form. The entry records Shiqiu Subdistrict.

Formation and change

Xiheng Mountain lies in the Ningzhenyang hill country. The forest park plan records that the district has 237 hills and mountains in all and that its mountain areas lie mainly in the east, the south-east and the centre, with Xiheng Mountain standing out in the west. No first-tier source has been found for the age or structural setting of the massif, so nothing is written here.

Course of the divide: the forest park plan and the district's land spatial plan near-term implementation plan both give the course of the divide between the two river systems, running from Jiuligang in Jurong by way of Zhujiabian, the district tea plantation, Qiligang, Hejia Mountain, Guantang, Zhizigang and Luzi Mountain, through Qiuhu Mountain, Shuangjian Mountain, Ma'an Mountain and the main peak of Ping'an Mountain, to Tiansheng Bridge Sluice across the Tiansheng Bridge river, past Luojia into Anhui, and then turning north-west into Xiheng Mountain. The wording of the two documents is essentially the same and they corroborate each other; this site does not correct one by the other.

Old gazetteer waterway: volume 5 of the Lishui County Gazetteer (Kangxi edition), in its section on mountains and waters, records under the Hengshan waters that the waters lie thirty-five li to the west, have two sources, meet east of the foot of Wanghu Mountain, and reach Shiqiu Dam, where they enter the great Qinhuai river. That is a Qing gazetteer's account of a waterway and can be read alongside the present statement that Xiheng Mountain is the divide, but the old course, entering the great Qinhuai river, must not be equated with the flow after modern river regulation.

Soil: another edition of the Master Plan for the Wuxiang Mountain National Forest Park, of December 2023, records yellow sandy soil at Xiheng Mountain; the version cited by this entry is the March 2024 edition published on the Jiangsu Provincial Forestry Bureau website, and each edition stands on its own wording.

Landscape and visiting

The Shiqiu Subdistrict feature records that Xiheng Mountain has a waxberry orchard producing 150,000 jin of fresh fruit a year and receiving more than 100,000 visitors. That document is promotional writing on a subdistrict feature page, giving neither elevation nor area; the figures are its own and are reproduced here with their source.

The same feature calls Xiheng Mountain an ancient range recorded in the Jiankang Gazetteer of 1261. That is the article's second-hand report, and this site does not quote the gazetteer text from it; anyone quoting the gazetteer must find a verifiable edition, as set out under Open questions.

No first-tier source has been found for walking routes, viewing facilities, tickets or opening times on Xiheng Mountain, so no visiting detail is given; readers who need it should go to the district culture and tourism department, the Shiqiu Subdistrict authorities and the orchard. Opening information is current to September 2026.

Open questions

• Elevation gap: no official document gives Xiheng Mountain's elevation, main peak name or area; the forest park plan gives only the district totals and the count by grade, not an elevation for each. The entry declares elevation_m in gaps and fills in no guessed value.
• Collective name and part: Hengshan is the collective name for Xiheng Mountain together with the mountains of Jiangning District and Dangtu County in Anhui, while Xiheng Mountain is the customary name for the part within Lishui. The two must not be used interchangeably, and both the entry name and the body use Xiheng Mountain.
• Gazetteer report at second hand: the Shiqiu Subdistrict feature states that Xiheng Mountain is recorded in the Jiankang Gazetteer of 1261, but that is the article's report; this site does not quote the gazetteer text from it, and any quotation must rest on a verifiable edition.
• Old gazetteer waterway: the entry for the Hengshan waters in volume 5 of the Lishui County Gazetteer (Kangxi edition) records that the waters reach Shiqiu Dam and enter the great Qinhuai river, which is an old course and must not be equated with the flow after modern river regulation. The Hengshan waters is the subdistrict feature's name for the water coming off the northern slope of Xiheng Mountain, not a river name in the river registers, and must be qualified as such in the text.
• The soil description comes from another edition of the Master Plan for the Wuxiang Mountain National Forest Park, of December 2023, and not from the March 2024 edition cited by this entry; each edition stands on its own wording.
• The Lishui District Water Development Plan for the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan period lists Wuxiang Temple and Xiheng Mountain together in a sentence on the consolidation of 71 small reservoirs during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period, without saying whether Xiheng Mountain there means the massif or a reservoir named after it; this site does not infer which.