Situated at the southeast of Guilin city and west bank of Li River, it’s regarded as the symbol of Guilin landscape. The hill has a history of 3.6 hundred million years. Resembling an elephant sucking water from the river with its long trunk. Legend says that an elephant which belonged to the Emperor of Heaven came down to earth to help the people in their work. This angered the Emperor of Heaven, who stabbed the elephant as it was drinking at the river's edge and turned it to stone. Between the trunk and the legs of the elephant is a cave, in the shape of a full moon, penetrating the hill from side to side. People named it "Moon-over-Water Cave". Halfway up the hill lies another cave, which goes through the hill and serves as the eyes of the elephant, through which visitors can overlook the beautiful scene of Guilin city.
On top of the hill stands a pagoda named Puxian Pagoda. Built in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), it looks like the handle of a sword with which the elephant was killed. In and out of the cave are many carvings and inscriptions, the most well known of which is a poem by Lu You (1125-1210), one of the four great poets of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279).
