Yangshan Quarry

An ancient stone quarry near Nanjing that operated for many centuries, supplying stone for major buildings and monuments throughout the city [1]. The quarry is renowned for the gigantic unfinished stele, a monumental inscription project commissioned during the Yongle Emperor's reign in the early 15th century but abandoned on site [1]. In ambition and scale, this project has been compared to other Yongle-era megaprojects, including Zheng He's treasure fleet expeditions and the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing [1].