Where Li Bai and Wang Lun Parted, Now a New Scenic Area: Visiting Taohuatan

After leaving Huangshan, our next stop was the former site of the New Fourth Army's Yunling Military Headquarters, which we had planned in our itinerary. However, the innkeeper suggested that we could visit Taohuatan on the way to Yunling, saying it would be rewarding. After breakfast, we left You Doufu Inn and drove towards Yunling in Jing County. We only took a short stretch of highway and got onto National Road 103 near Tanjiaqiao. From there, the car traveled through one mountain hollow after another, constantly climbing and descending. The mountain roads were winding, with many narrow sections and sharp hairpin turns. Fortunately, there were not many cars on the road, otherwise the drive would have been nerve-wracking.

This section of the road included the Maoling mountain area, which was the main battleground where the New Fourth Army fought during the breakout of the Wannan Incident. The mountains were high, the forests dense, and the terrain extremely rugged. It was in this environment that nine thousand New Fourth Army soldiers fought a desperate battle against an enemy ten times their number — truly a heroic and tragic story!

After more than two hours, we finally emerged from this vast mountain area. When the road began to flatten, a fork appeared before us. The road signs showed one direction leading to Yunling and the other to Taohuatan.

We decided to visit Taohuatan first. The Taohuatan scenic area is located right by the river where Wang Lun saw Li Bai off back then. The scenic area is spread across both banks of a small river. On the east bank is a typical ancient village of southern Anhui, while on the west bank are Wang Lun's tomb and ancestral hall. Bamboo rafts in the scenic area ferry tourists between the two banks. The combined ticket for vehicle and bamboo raft is 15 yuan per person.