Jiuma Huashan Xiagu Drift Scenic Area

This guide to the Nine Horses Fresco Hill follows a 1960s riverboat argument between Premier Zhou Enlai and Marshal Chen Yi, squinting up at the streaked limestone cliff to count the horses an old folk rhyme says are hidden there. It traces the rival legends behind the shapes, from the Monkey King's runaway heavenly horses to a painter whose stare alone froze wild horses into the rock, and notes that even President Bill Clinton once stopped to look. Take your own count from the riverbank, close to the water.