A place steeped in mist and mythology

Cuiping Mountain also has a connection with Ne Zha, a figure in Chinese mythology, with a famous temple on the mountain dedicated to him.

According to local chronicles, people have held activities to commemorate Ne Zha on the mountain since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), said Wang Qianbin, a researcher in the Ne Zha culture in Yibin.

Yibin has as many as 50 sites and remnants pertaining to Ne Zha. For example, it has a place named the Chentang Pass in the city's Nanguang town, and the temple of Ne Zha's mother, Lady Yin. The Chentang Pass is Ne Zha's birthplace, according to Chinese mythology.

In the early 1990s, a hotel named Ne Zha was built at the foot of Cuiping Mountain and Yibin produced liquor named Ne Zha. In 1991, the Yibin Municipal Bureau of Tourism commissioned the production of white porcelain plates printed with the image of Ne Zha Conquering the Dragon King, a household myth in China, as souvenirs for cross-Strait exchanges with Taiwan, Wang said.

China's biggest box-office sensation Ne Zha 2 — employing nearly 4,000 animators for the five-year production — has earned an astonishing 15.8 billion yuan ($2.19 billion) globally, since its Spring Festival debut.

Thanks to the popularity of the film, an increasing number of visitors go to Cuiping Mountain and the Ne Zha Temple, according to Huang Hao, deputy director of the Cuiping Mountain scenic area management center.

During the Labor Day holiday, a record 23,300 people visited the Ne Zha Temple, a 200 percent increase compared to last year.