Ciqikou Ancient Town 磁器口古镇

Welcome, everyone! Welcome to Ciqikou, a town with over a thousand years of history. Today I'll be taking you through the following route: Huangjueping Archway → Zhong Family Courtyard → Baoshan Palace → Xin Ji General Store → Jusenmao Sauce Garden Site → Ciheng Street → Baolun Temple → Yinglong Gate Dock → Jiushigang Riverbank → Ciqikou Changgे Experience Hall — a journey through one of Bayu culture's greatest treasures, the town they call "Little Chongqing."

Let's start with a quick picture of Ciqikou. This is no ordinary place. It was founded in 998 AD during the Xianping reign of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song dynasty — over a thousand years of continuous history. It sits in the northeastern part of Chongqing's Shapingba District, bordered to the east by the Jialing River and backed to the west by Gele Mountain, all set within a landscape shaped by "one river, two creeks, three mountains, and four streets." Ciqikou was originally called Baiyan Market. Because Emperor Jianwen, Zhu Yunwen of the Ming dynasty, once sought refuge and lived in hiding here, it was also known as Longyin Town. During the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, the Jiang brothers from Fujian built the Shaping Kiln here to produce blue-and-white porcelain, which was then shipped out through this port — giving rise to the name Ciqikou, with ci meaning porcelain. In 2010 it was named one of China's Historic and Cultural Streets and is among the first batch of national Historic and Cultural Districts.

What you see before you now is the town's main entrance — Huangjueping Archway. Built during the Qing dynasty, this iconic gateway marks the beginning of Ciqikou. On either side of the columns, a couplet reads: "A thousand hands clasp in greeting through the day; ten thousand lanterns blaze as evening falls." These lines paint a vivid picture of the town's former prosperity. To the left of the archway stands the Ciqikou Prose Inscription stele, written by local calligrapher Zhu Mo. To the right is a natural river-worn stone — a Jialing boulder — engraved with the words "One bluestone path, a thousand years of Ciqikou." Step up to the archway, everyone — this is the perfect spot for a full panoramic shot, capturing the very first scene of this thousand-year-old town in your frame.

Through Huangjueping Archway and along the bluestone path, we soon arrive at Zhong Family Courtyard. The courtyard was built around 1890 for Zhong Yunting, an imperial purchasing agent for Empress Dowager Cixi. The compound covers roughly 738 square meters, with a floor area of about 537 square meters, and is a classic example of Qing-dynasty residential architecture. Combining the dignified symmetry of a northern courtyard house with the refined elegance of southern residential style, it has been called "an architectural gem among courtyard homes."

The central courtyard is bright and spacious, its layout following a strict axial symmetry that speaks to the northern courtyard tradition, while the grey-tile roof and timber-frame construction reflect the gentler sensibility of southern vernacular architecture. Inside, the rooms display antique beds, furniture, and everyday objects from the Ming and Qing dynasties, giving visitors a feel for the domestic life of a prosperous Bayu merchant family a hundred years ago. If you have an eye for historic architecture, take a close look at the carved gate tower and the latticed window panels — these are among the finest surviving examples of Qing-dynasty decorative craft.

Continuing along the stone-slab path, we arrive at Baoshan Palace. Baoshan Palace is the best-preserved Taoist temple among Ciqikou's celebrated "nine palaces and eighteen temples." Founded in the mid-Qing dynasty, it originally served as a place of worship and prayer for local devotees. The gate tower is richly carved, and above the entrance hangs a plaque bearing the characters "Baoshan Palace" in the hand of Zhao Puchu, flanked by a couplet: "Longyin Town smiles to welcome friends from all directions; Baoshan Palace intoxicates guests from every corner of the land."

What makes this place especially remarkable is a wartime story. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Baoshan Palace served as classrooms for the National College of Education and was also the alma mater of Nobel Laureate in Physics Ding Zhaozhong (Samuel C. C. Ting). Ding arrived in Ciqikou with his family in 1939 and attended Jialing Primary School, housed within Baoshan Palace, from 1942 to 1946. If you have an interest in science, step inside the Ding Zhaozhong Exhibition Hall, where photographs from his school years, personal study items, and a replica of his Nobel Prize certificate are on display.

Baoshan Palace has also become a hub for tea culture — you can sit down here and enjoy an authentic Chongqing lidded-bowl tea, soaking in the unhurried pace of Bayu life. A visit of about 30 minutes is suggested, with the ideal window being 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., when sunlight filters through the wooden window lattices and fills the courtyard with soft, photogenic light.

Our next stop is Xinji General Store. This shop at No. 169 Main Street, Ciqikou, was the contact point for Han Zidong, the real-life figure behind the character "Crazy Old Man" Hua Ziliang in the novel Red Crag. Han Zidong was held at Zhazidong and Bai Mansion prisons for 14 years, and during that time he used Xinji General Store as cover to pass intelligence to the underground Communist Party. The shop has retained its original layout from that era, and the old-style signboard — white characters on a black ground reading "Xinji General Store" in traditional script — still stands out clearly.

Perhaps the most striking feature here is an AR installation that re-enacts the scenes of Han Zidong outwitting secret agents. Scan the statue of Hua Ziliang at the shop entrance and watch a virtual Hua Ziliang come to life, recounting that gripping chapter of revolutionary history in his own words. If you would like a photograph with "Hua Ziliang," stand beside the banana tree in front of the shop — the light there is best, and the backdrop fits the scene perfectly.

We now arrive at the site of Jusenmao Sauce Garden. This sauce and condiment workshop was founded during the Tongzhi reign of the Qing dynasty (1862–1874) by Zhang Zhenggang, and was once one of the largest operations of its kind in Chongqing. At its peak, Jusenmao's soy sauce, wheat-bran vinegar, and doubanjiang accounted for 27 percent of the Chongqing market, making its products a staple in kitchens across the city.

The shop follows a classic "storefront and workshop" layout — grey brick, grey tile, and wooden windows and doors, with a hundred-drawer medicine-style cabinet, traditional account ledgers, and an abacus still on display inside from the late Qing and early Republican eras. You can see the signboard with the three characters "Jusenmao" hanging on the wall — the name carries the meaning "gathering wealth as abundant as a flourishing forest," reflecting the commercial ambitions of the merchants of that era.

The museum also displays historical photographs and production tools from Jusenmao's history, giving you a window into food culture and commercial ingenuity in Chongqing a century ago. If you are interested in traditional craft, take a closer look at the large fermentation vats inside — these were the core equipment used to produce soy sauce at the time.

Leaving Jusenmao Sauce Garden, we follow the stone-slab path to Ciheng Street. Ciheng Street is Ciqikou's celebrated "slow-life lane" — about 240 meters long and roughly 2.5 meters wide, it is one of the best-preserved Ming-and-Qing-dynasty alleyways in the entire town.

Unlike the main street with its bustle and commerce, Ciheng Street is quiet and unhurried, lined with traditional Bayu residences that retain their original character. There are few commercial shops here; the lane belongs mostly to local residents, with a scattering of characterful teahouses and cafes. If you want to catch a glimpse of genuine old-town life, this is the place to come.

Along both sides you will find beautifully carved wooden window lattices and decorated door lintels — slow down and let your eyes follow the detail. Deeper into the lane, small workshops keep traditional crafts alive — bamboo weaving, wood carving — passed down from one generation to the next.

Through Ciheng Street and up a steep flight of stone steps, we reach the highest point in Ciqikou — Baolun Temple. Baolun Temple was founded during the Western Wei dynasty and was originally called White Cliff Temple. It was later renamed Baolun Temple and has stood for over 1,500 years. According to the Baxian County Annals, in the fourth year of the Jianwen reign (1402), Emperor Jianwen — Zhu Yunwen — came here to live in hiding after his uncle Zhu Di seized the throne. This is why Baolun Temple is also called Longyin Temple, and why Ciqikou was known as Longyin Town.

Baolun Temple is one of the best-preserved ancient timber-structure complexes in Chongqing. The Mahavira Hall in particular was built entirely using mortise-and-tenon joinery with no nails, its roof supported by massive horse-sandalwood columns that take two people to embrace — and after more than a thousand years of wind and weather, the structure stands as firm as ever. Most remarkably, two of the hall's columns have bases set at unequal heights — one protrudes above the floor by nearly a chi, the other sits several cun below — yet together they hold the hall in perfect equilibrium, a feat considered one of the wonders of ancient Chinese architecture.

Inside the temple, a mid-Qing-dynasty statue of Shakyamuni Buddha survives, and above the entrance hangs a plaque bearing the characters "Mahavira Hall" in the vigorous brushwork of Zhao Puchu. Legend has it that a well inside the temple connects to the Jialing River, and fish released into the well will find their way back to the river. There is also the tale of the "Rice-Flowing Cave" — a rock cavity said to have once dispensed rice on its own, until greed brought the flow to a stop.

From the viewing platform behind the Mahavira Hall, the whole of Ciqikou unfolds before you: layer upon layer of grey-tile rooftops, stilted houses clinging to the hillside, bluestone lanes threading between them, and the Jialing River stretching into the distance — all of it in one view. Morning or evening is the best time to come: the light is softer, the contrast between the temple's stillness and the town's energy below is at its sharpest, and the photographs are exceptional.

Down the stone steps from Baolun Temple, we descend to the bank of the Jialing River and Yinglong Gate Dock. Yinglong Gate is one of Ciqikou's iconic structures, originally called Longyin Gate — its name tied to the legend of Emperor Jianwen. The gate tower is built in the "soaring-heavenward" pailou style, commanding in presence.

The dock area is a living testament to Ciqikou's role as a land-and-water hub. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, more than 300 cargo vessels each carrying around 10 tonnes passed through every single day, and over a thousand merchants, warehouses, and workshops lined the shore, making this one of the most important distribution points along the upper and middle Jialing River. The dock platform is paved with massive bluestone slabs, worn smooth by centuries of rain and river air. On the mooring posts, the deep grooves left by countless ropes over the years speak of that vanished busyness without a single word.

This is also one of the finest spots to take in the Jialing River. Come at dusk — the sun sinks in the west, the river surface ripples with light, and the silhouette of the ancient town reflects on the water like an ink-wash painting. For a photograph with depth and composition, frame Yinglong Gate in the foreground, the old town buildings in the middle, and the Jialing River as the backdrop — three distinct layers in a single shot.

Through Yinglong Gate Dock, we arrive at Jiushigang Riverbank. This stretch of riverbank on the Jialing River is said to be the spot where the late-Ming peasant rebel leader Zhang Xianzhong buried his treasure. A folk rhyme has passed down through the generations: "Stone jars face stone drums; golden wealth beyond count — whoever knows the secret can buy all of Chongqing."

The riverbank holds far more than folk legend: it also contains Neolithic stone tools and archaeological remains from Han-dynasty cliff tombs. In 1939, researchers from Central University excavated cliff tombs near this bank and found inscriptions on the walls recording "the fourth year of Yongshou" (158 AD) and "the fifth year of Yanxi" (162 AD); the dig yielded a large number of pottery figurines and ceramic vessels.

While the folk tales of Zhang Xianzhong's buried gold have long captured the imagination, what is truly precious here is the accumulated depth of history — layer upon layer running from the Neolithic through the Han dynasty, the Ming and Qing periods, and into modern times, each stratum telling a different story. The smooth river cobbles and worn bluestone slabs scattered across the bank are witnesses to all of it. If you have an interest in archaeology, look for the stone tablet beside the bank — it records the findings from the excavations here.

Our final stop is Ciqikou Changge Experience Hall, the newest cultural experience attraction in Ciqikou. The hall is located at No. 23 South Street, Ciqikou, with a total building area of roughly 5,000 square meters and a usable floor area of about 8,000 square meters. Using VR, AR, 4D, and other advanced technologies, it takes you across time to experience a thousand years of Ciqikou's history.

The hall is organized into six chapters spanning "Past Lives," "Present Day," and "The Future," including:

1. "The Ancient World of Ciqikou" — through virtual environments, this section traces the geological formation of Ciqikou and the earliest human activity here.
2. "The Golden Age of Shaping Kiln" — you take part in the full porcelain-making process yourself: selecting clay, shaping vessels, painting designs, and firing the kiln, experiencing firsthand a craft that has been passed down for over 300 years.
3. "The Legend of Emperor Jianwen" — AR technology reconstructs the scenes of Emperor Jianwen's flight to Ciqikou and his years of hiding within Baolun Temple.
4. "Dock Culture" — you are immersed in a Ming-and-Qing-dynasty dock scene, with the calls of trackers echoing around you and cargo vessels being loaded and unloaded in full view.
5. "Cultural Flowering During the War of Resistance" — this chapter brings you into the cultural vitality that followed the establishment of the Sha-Ci Cultural Zone in 1938, when one-eighth of all university faculty and students in China converged on this area.
6. "Food Culture" — explore the origins and evolution of Chongqing hot pot, Chen's fried dough twists, and pepper-salted peanuts.

Inside, there is also a "Tracker's Chant" soundscape interaction area where you control the audio environment and physically feel the rhythm and effort of hauling a towline. There is also an "Old Teahouse" scene where you can enjoy a virtual cup of lidded-bowl tea while watching a Sichuan opera performance.

Ciqikou Changge Experience Hall is open daily from 10:00 to 19:00, with adult tickets starting at 69 yuan. Booking online a day in advance is recommended to avoid queues at the door. The lighting inside is outstanding and very photogenic, so bring a power bank — you are likely to drain your phone battery quickly.

The best time to visit is between 3 and 5 p.m., when the lighting conditions are ideal for the historical displays. If you have children with you, this is also a wonderful spot for hands-on, interactive family learning about Ciqikou's history and culture.

That brings our tour of Ciqikou to a close. We hope you leave with a sense of the weight and richness of this thousand-year-old town, and a feeling for the distinctive character of Bayu culture. If you still have time, head back to the main street and try some of Ciqikou's signature flavors — Chen's fried dough twists, maoxuewang, and qianzhang strips — to round off a memorable visit.

Enjoy the rest of your time in Chongqing!