For those who read Roman of the Three Kingdoms of Chinese classic literature, the Eight Elements Battle Formation can arouse maximal curiosity. According to the book, general Lu Xun of the Wu Kingdom chased after the defeated Shu army until the Fengjie County, when he stopped feeling something dangerous was ahead. But the sentinel returned reporting there was nothing but piles of stones and rocks.
Lu Xun laughed and marched ahead all the way to the stone formation. All of the sudden the stones and rocks began to move like approaching swords up and down, encircling the troops. At that moment, an old man appeared and said he could lead the troops out of the formation. When they finally got out of the formation, the old man told Lu that Zhuge Liang had already foreseen that a general of Wu Kingdom would be trapped in the formation. Lu Xun then realized the stratagem and the foresight of Zhuge Liang were unsurpassable.
Near the Fengjie County, a stone embankment measuring 600 meters (0.4 mile) wide, extending about 1,500 meters (0.9 mile) to the center of the Yangtze River is the formation abovementioned. Rocks and stones randomly rest on the embankment with a stream passing through. It is also the place where the above story had taken place. Locals called this site Eight Elements Battle Formation in water-- now about 60 meters (197 feet) under the surface, while the Eight Elements Battle Formations on land can be found near Baidi City.
According to experts, a convention had been developed from the site of formation form the Tang Dynasty (618-907) which is called 'Ta Qi'. That is, a get-together of people excurse here on 7th, January each year. Some celebrities such as Li Bai, Du Fu and Lu You were once here and crafted beautiful poetry. The mysterious formations have been catching great fancy of people from home and abroad. With one of the formations being submerged, the Eight Elements Battle Formation on land is likely to prove more popular than its underwater counterpart.