Changde Poem Wall is a 3-kilometer-long anti-flood dyke alongside the Yuanjiang River, which is engraved with poems, calligraphy works and paintings. Thus, it is listed as the longest wall with engraved arts in Guinness Book of World Records.
There are art works from many famous Chinese artists and outstanding figures such as Mao Zedong and Qi Baishi.
The Poem Wall is a large-scale cultural project with distinct artistic characteristics.
Facing the river, the Wall is grand and imposing with the embellishment of towers. A total of 1,267 poems about Changde or noted poems at home and abroad have been selected and engraved on the wall. They fall into six chapters, Changes in Changde over Centuries, Celebrities’ Inscriptions on Changde, Beautiful Natural Scenery in Changde, Outstanding Natives and Local Customs, Big Events of China, and Great Poems from Other Countries.
They are written in regular script, running hand, official script, seal character and cursive script in Chinese calligraphy by 948 calligraphers from mainland China, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, with 43 stone-wall carvings embedded.
The name of the Wall and the titles of chapters are inscribed by well-known modern calligraphers, Zhao Puchu, Shen Peng, Qi Gong, Yan Jialong, Sun Qifeng, Wang Xuezhong, Xiao Xian, Zhang Ding, Zang Kejia, Fang Yi and Chen Tianran. The late artists Cao Yu, Shu Tong and Wu Zuoren have also left their mark there.
With rich cultural meaning, positive ideological content and exquisite art, Changde Poem Wall draws visitors throughout the country. It is considered by the modern circles of poetry, calligraphy and painting to be unique in these fields and in China. It is regarded by Yu Guangzhong, a noted scholar from Taiwan, as “a Great Wall in the Poetry World”, and “a History Book of Literature”.