Relic Site of Longtoushan Village

The relic site is located halfway in the east of the Sunlight Rock on Gulangyu Island. The Sunlight Rock was also known as Longtoushan (Literally, Loong-headed Hill) and Huangyan (Literally, Dazzling Rock) in ancient times. Longtoushan Village is a fortified village built in 1647, the 4th year of the reign of Qing emperor Shunzhi, or the first year of Southern Ming emperor Yongli, by Zheng Chenggong and his soldiers. The village is not very well preserved and only the village gate and the walls on both sides of the gate have survived. The gate and walls are all made of long blocks of granite. They are all 2.9 meters high, with a combined length of 4.5 meters. The gate, excluding its frame, is 1.74 meters high and 0.8 meters wide, with a long flight of stone steps leading to the foot of the hill. Inside the village, there are many holes, 0.15 meters in diameter and 0.08 meters deep, in some rocks. Some of these holes form an inverted “V” while others form a straight line. They were chiseled by Zheng Chenggong’s soldiers to fit rafters and beams into when they were building their barracks, and represent physical evidence of the general’s military presence in the area. Near the village, there are cliff inscriptions in commemoration of the military leader, most notably those by Cai Yuanpei and Cai Tingkai, two personages of the Republic of China period.