Angling City(diaoyu cheng), located on the Angling Mountain overlooking the Jialing River, is a city filled with legend.
The mountain here contains a gargantuan rock, where it is said that an immortal being once fished to relieve the local folks of famine. This tale gave rise to the name "Angling City". Due largely to its strategic geographical location, this town has long been a military stronghold.
Constructed from 1179 AD to 1249 AD by Tantric monk Zhao Zhifeng, the subjects of carvings here are mainly illustrations of Buddhist sutras, aiming at a representation of familiar and secular life in content, the depicting style of these grottoes is quite different from other grottoes, the thousands of statues here never repeat each other in subject matter.
In 1259, the Mongolian Khan conquered the city and after five months of warfare was only injured once by cannon. Remains of the battlefield can still be seen here.
How to get there:Take a long distance bus from Caiyuan Ba Bus Station to Hechuan and then take a minibus. The trip should take about 2 hours.