郴州素有“五岭明珠”的美誉，是一座历史悠久的文化名城，早在司马迁的《史记•项羽本纪》中，就记载了公元前206年义帝徙郴州事。就从那时算起，郴州也已经有2200多年的历史了。
　　在郴州的水江畔，自古以来历代文人涉足郴州而留下的诗篇不计其数。如今，国家重点投资建设的郴州体育训练基地更令世人关注，当年中国女排就是从这里冲出亚洲，创造了夺取世界五连冠奇迹，2004年中国女排重回郴州训练基地进行训练，又再次夺得奥运会冠军。到郴州众多的自然景观和人文景观去走走，那些与景观相连的迷人故事，让人心神荡漾，浮想联翩……
　　
　　洞天福地苏仙观
　　
　　郴州是一座林中之城，森林的覆盖率达60%。境内的莽山森林公园被植物界称为“第二西双版纳”，五盖山则是我国南方唯一对外开放的国际狩猎场。由于郴州毗邻广东，靠近港澳，改革开放以来，港澳同胞都把这里视为后花园，特别是每年春节，闻名遐迩的苏仙观更成了他们迎春接福的胜地。
　　苏仙观坐落在风景优美的苏仙岭上，早在唐代它就被道教列为“七十二福地”之一。据嘉庆《郴州总志》载，唐开元十九年(公元731年)这里就建了苏仙观。苏仙观坐北朝南，建筑总面积2464平方米，是一座楼阁式三进庑殿道观。观内门额有汉白玉石盘龙御碑，为南宋景定五年(公元1264年)宋理宗皇帝所赐，上面御书：“敕封苏仙昭德真君”。苏仙观的来历自古就流传着一则美丽传说：西汉文帝年间郴州东门外住着一户姓潘的人家。有一天年方二八的潘家姑娘到郴江边洗衣服，从上游漂来的一根红丝线缠住了她的手指，潘姑娘想用牙齿咬脱红丝线，不料红丝线却溜进了她的肚子里。不久潘姑娘怀孕了，后来她躲到离家不远的牛脾山桃花洞里生下一个男孩取名苏耽。苏耽没有衣服，洞外水池边的白鹤用自己的双翼覆盖着他；没有奶吃,洞里的一只白鹿就用奶水哺育他。苏耽长大懂得孝敬母亲，尊敬呵护他的白鹤和白鹿，后来他得异人传授仙术，13岁时修道成仙，跨鹤飞去。
　　
　　人们为了纪念苏耽，把牛脾山改名为苏仙岭，把桃花洞改名为白鹿洞，并在苏仙岭顶上建造了苏仙观。在苏仙岭山顶上的“升仙石”上，还保留着苏耽登临太虚的最后一个脚印呢!如今人们一来到郴州就可看到广场上少年苏仙跨鹤而去的大型雕塑，它成了郴州古城的标志和象征。
　　
　　“屈将室”与桂花树
　　
　　苏仙观正殿的西北角上有两间普通的厢房，人称偏厅，但长期以来这偏厅一直被人们称作“屈将室”。因为当年抗日将领张学良被国民党军统局秘密关押在此。
　　据传张学良将军自1937年秋离开溪口后就居无定所，军统局特务怕在一处久留会走漏风声，故数度搬迁，东藏西躲，于是苏仙观正殿的偏厅就成了张学良被转移囚禁的第六处场所。
　　1938年5月至7月，张学良被囚禁在两间狭窄的厢房里，距窗外不远的地方有一棵枝叶茂繁的老桂树。有家难回、有国难报的张将军身陷囹圄，一日在墙上挥笔写下了“恨天低，大鹏有翅难展”的悲情诗句。每当他抑制不住满腔愤怒，就站在窗口拔枪射击，子弹频频射中老桂树，在它身上留下点点弹痕。笔者年轻时曾携同学到此一游，写下一首《屈将室——桂花树》诗歌：“北国的领土，正被列强的铁蹄滥踩；南国的道观，却锁着英勇善战的风流少帅。枪在手，弹在膛，却不能把满腔的仇恨消排；血在涌，火在冒，却无法展示英雄的气概。……”
　　
　　那棵老桂花树在将军离去之后，带着满身的弹痕顽强地坚持了50来年。说来也巧，直到张学良在台北结束软禁、重获自由之后，这棵桂树像已完成一项特殊使命似的终于默默地安然倒下。如今，在老桂花树倒下的地方，一棵新生的桂花树接踵而立，那情景，彷佛是它接了老桂花的班，由它代替老桂花向游人诉说当年张将军被关押于此的历历往事……
　　
　　盛世重现“三绝碑”
　　
　　从苏仙岭下的白鹿洞拾级而上，行约百米有一圆柱绿瓦、飞檐翘角的护碑亭。亭内四五米高的石壁上，有一块摩崖石碑，它就是闻名古今的“三绝碑”。“三绝”指的是：公元1097年北宋著名词人秦观被贬谪到郴州，在其贬所写下著名的《踏莎行•郴州旅舍》：“雾失楼台，月迷津渡，桃源望断知何处。可堪孤馆闭春寒，杜鹃声里残阳树。驿寄梅花，鱼传尺素，砌成此恨无重数。郴江本自绕郴山，为谁流下潇湘去?”此为一绝；大文豪苏轼很喜欢秦观这首词，把它写在扇面上。后来东坡听说少游含愤辞世悲痛不已，就在扇上的秦词后面题了两句跋：“少游已矣，虽万人何赎。”此为二绝；此后著名书法家米芾得到了少游词、东坡跋赞叹不已，他欣然挥毫又把这些诗句写了下来，此为三绝。后来郴州的能工巧匠把“三绝”刻于苏仙岭的一块山崖上，于是人们称它为“三绝碑”。
　　
　　由于种种历史原因,具有重要文物价值的“三绝碑”一度被人遗忘，渐渐地“三绝碑”被野藤荒草掩蔽了。但是日理万机的毛泽东主席却惦记着浸润了厚重古代文化信息的“三绝碑”。
　　那是1960年的3月9日，毛泽东乘专列从广州返回北京，途经郴州时专列因故作短暂停留，毛泽东于此间会见了当时的郴州地委书记陈洪新。谈话当中毛主席关切地问到苏仙岭上“三绝碑”的情况，当时由于陈书记不知“三绝碑”的具体所在，也不知“三绝碑”的近况如何，一时竟不知如何回答,看见他一脸尴尬，毛泽东笑着说：“‘三绝碑’是我们中华民族的艺术瑰宝，我们要保护好才对!”陈洪新立即邀请了郴州师专老师急匆匆赶往苏仙岭寻觅古迹,终于在离白鹿洞不远的一块小坪旁找到了。此后“三绝碑”得到了当地政府的重视与关爱，碑体四周的野藤、荒草、灌木被铲除了，碑身上的苔痕被刮干净了，碑体上的字被洗涮得更清晰了，并修建了护碑亭来保护它。1965年春陶铸来郴州检查工作，他游览了苏仙岭读了“三绝碑”上的秦词，因感其遭遇之不幸和生于社会主义之有幸，乃反其意作一阕：“翠滴田畴，绿漫溪渡，桃源今在寻觅处。英雄便是活神仙，高歌唱出花千树。桥跃飞虹，渠漂束素，山川新意无重数。郴江北向莫辞劳，风光载得京华去。”这首意境清新、辞情刚健的《踏莎行》，如今用白玉石镌刻，嵌在护碑亭的墙上。
　　
　　
　　A City Full of Ancient Charms
　　By Luo Yinghui
　　
　　Chenzhou, located in the southern Hunan Province, is a city of culture and history. The first written record of the city’s existence goes back to 206 B.C. when an emperor fled to the city and warlords fought for state power in a nationwide uprising.
　　The oral legend about the city dates back much earlier. Emperor Yan, one of the earliest legendary rulers ushered the Chinese nation into civilization, is supposed to have made his pharmaceutical experiments there by sampling all kinds of herbs. He was poisoned by one of the herbs he had taken. After his death he was buried in Chenzhou.
　　
　　The modern reputation Chenzhou enjoys is the national women’s volleyball team training base in Chenzhou. The national squad trained there and became world champions five times. In 2004, the national team came back to the lucky training base and went through an intensive training period before they set out to Athens. They won the Olympic gold in Athens.
　　Chenzhou is a city hugged by woods. Thick woods cover 60% of its land. The Mangshan Forest Park is a national botanical paradise second only to Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province. Wugai Mountain is the only international hunting ground in southern China. As Chenzhou is close to Hong Kong and Macao, people there regard Chenzhou as their backyard garden. During the Spring Festival they flock to the Suxian Temple there.
　　The temple sits in the picturesque Suxian Mountain. It was listed as one of the 72 Taoist Temples across the country in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). According to history, the Suxian Temple was built in 731. The three-courtyard temple has a white marble stele with an inscription by Lizong Emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279).
　　
　　The temple is traceable to a beautiful legend. One day, a sweet 16-year-old girl was washing clothes on the Chen River when she found her fingers entangled by a red silk thread. She tried to unravel it with her teeth. Unexpectedly, the thread slid into her belly. Before long she became pregnant. Later she gave birth to a baby boy in a cave whom she named Su Dan. The boy did not have cloths. A white crane took the boy under its wings to keep him warm. The boy did not have milk to suck. A white deer in the cave nursed him. When the boy grew up, he showed filial respect to his mother, and respected and cared for the deer and crane. Later he began to learn supernatural magic from a god. At 13 he became an immortal and flew into the sky on a crane.
　　The mountain where the boy became an immortal was later renamed after the child god and the cave was renamed as the White Deer Cave. And a temple was set up in memory of Su the immortal. Today, people can still see the last footprint of the boy before he stepped into the immortal emptiness from the mountain top. On the city square stands a large-scale sculpture that depicts the boy riding a crane. It is now the symbol of the ancient city.
　　The Suxian Temple has more to tell than just about the child immortal. General Zhang Xueliang, was under house arrest in the side hall of the temple by Kuomintang from May -July 1938.Angered by the prison life that prevented him from fighting the Japanese invaders, Zhang sometimes whipped out his pistol and shot at an osmanthus tree in the courtyard. The tree lived more than fifty years after the general left. When he was released at last in Taiwan decades later, the tree died, as if its historical mission had been completed.
　　About one hundred meters away from the White Deer Cave at the foot of the Suxian Mountain stands a cliff where three excellent things are engraved. It is known as Three Supers Stele. In 1097, a poet named Qin Guan of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) was demoted to Chenzhou. He wrote a poem about Chenzhou and his emotions at a hotel. Su Dongpo, the greatest poet of the dynasty, admired this excellent poem so much that he wrote the poem on his paper fan. After he learned that Qin had passed away, Su wrote a postscript to the poem expressing his condolence. Mi Fu (1051-1107), an excellent calligrapher, later wrote the poem and the script in calligraphy. Some sculptors carved Mi’s inscription of the poem and postscript on the cliff at the foot of the Suxian Mountain. It was known as the Three Supers Stele.
　　On March 9, 1960 Chairman Mao Zedong stopped over at Chenzhou on his train trip from Guangzhou to Beijing. The chairman asked about the stele, but the local party secretary knew nothing about the engraved inscription on the cliff. After Mao left, the secretary and a teacher from Chenzhou Teachers School went to the Suxian Mountain in search of the ancient masterpiece. They trudged along a narrow stone path flanked by thorns before they found the cliff by a small clearing near the White Deer Cave. Pretty soon, the government had the thick herbage cleared, the moss removed from the cliff and a pavilion built to protect the cliff.Today the site attracts tourists.
　　
　　(Translated by David)