Original Text
The Huan Mountain Market, one of the eight scenic wonders of Zichuan County, was often unseen for years at a time. Young Master Sun Yuenian was drinking with friends in a tower when suddenly they beheld a solitary pagoda rising atop the mountain peak, soaring into the azure sky. They stared at each other in astonishment and doubt, knowing no such temple existed nearby. Soon, dozens of palaces appeared, with green tiles and soaring eaves, and only then did they realize it was the mountain market. In a moment, a lofty city wall arose, complete with crenellated parapets, stretching for six or seven li—indeed, a full city. Within were structures like towers, halls, and market streets, all vividly clear, numbering in the tens of millions. Suddenly a great wind arose, dust and haze filled the air, and all became a vast blur, the city wall growing indistinct. After a while, the wind ceased, the sky cleared, and everything vanished into nothingness. Only a single tall tower remained, reaching to the heavens, with five windows and doors open on each story; on the first floor, five bright openings revealed the sky beyond. Counting upward, the higher the floor, the fewer the bright spots; at the eighth story, they became mere specks; beyond that, all was dim and hazy, the layers uncountable. Yet people moved to and fro within the tower, some leaning on railings, some standing still, their postures varied. After a time, the tower gradually shrank, its top becoming visible, then it grew like an ordinary pavilion, then like a tall house, then like a fist, then like a bean, until it vanished entirely. And those who rose early to travel said they saw smoke and market stalls on Huan Mountain, no different from the mortal world, so people also called it the "Ghost Market."
Commentary
This is an exceptionally fine piece of prose, depicting the phantom market of Mount Huan in Zichuan with such vivid shifts between reality and illusion, so wondrously ethereal and elusive. From the initial breathtaking appearance of the mountain market, to the rising crescendo of its ever-changing marvels, and then to its gradual fading and dissolution, the narrative flows with a graceful, undulating rhythm, as light and fleeting as the market itself, stirring boundless reverie. Dan Minglun remarked, "One may regard the depiction of the mountain market as a singularly wondrous essay." "The sheer beauty of its literary realm is a spectacle unparalleled under heaven."
Wang Yuyang also recorded the phenomenon of Huan Mountain's market mirage in his "Chibei Occasional Talks: On the Strange, Part Seven": "To the west of Zichuan, on Huan Mountain, there also appears a mountain market, which often manifests the shapes of city walls, watchtowers, forests, horses, and men, just like the Penglai mirage at sea. In the twenty-first year of the Jiajing reign, Magistrate Zhang Qixie, passing by the southern foothills of the mountain, saw it for the first time; the misty clouds were lush and beautiful, and after a while, it vanished. Since then, it has been frequently observed."