Maofeng Mountain

This guide to Maofeng Mountain in Guangzhou follows Gu Chengzhi, a scholar said to have studied for over a decade in a straw hut on this slope before heading north for the imperial exam, in a court skeptical that southerners could rank among its best. He placed second in the written round, and the night before the spoken exam, at a banquet, someone slipped a muting drug into his wine. Hear the rival theories over who did it, and see the temple locals built up this stone stairway to honor him.