Legendary giants narrate moving epic of the eons

Pandas and poets, adventurers and ape men, soldiers and snow leopards, and a mountain god reborn as four supernatural sisters.

- By ERIK NILSSON

This cast of characters, literal and legendary, stars in the saga that unfolds on the undulating stone stage of the Siguniang Mountains.

Planetary forces authored an extravagant geology that, in turn, scripted an epic spanning epochs in what is today Aba Tibetan and Qiang prefecture, Sichuan province.

Every valley bears true tales and every peak legends.

The range's very names reiterate the lore of this land. First is the ancient Gyalrong Tibetan name, Skula Rouda — which hails the god of life, birthdays and birthplace — and later, the lyrical transliteration to standard Chinese, Siguniang — meaning four sisters, a reference to its four premier peaks. This was not merely a reconsideration of names but a reincarnation of identity.

This penchant for personification extends across the vast range.

The highest peak, Yaomei, 6,248 metres above sea level, is likened to the youngest sister of the quartet and monarch of the superordinate Qionglai range, whereas Mount Abi, 5,033 metres high, merges with neighbouring peaks to sculpt the natural effigy of a humble granny.