Mountain City Trail (Shancheng Buda) 山城步道

Welcome, everyone! You have arrived at the place that best captures the bones and soul of old Chongqing — Shancheng Walkway. Today I will take you along the official standard route: Trail Entrance Archway $\rightarrow$ Houlu $\rightarrow$ Suspended Boardwalk $\rightarrow$ Ren'ai Wilderness Theater. We will measure the roots of this 3D city on foot, tracing a hundred years of history carved into cliff and stone.

We are standing at the starting point: the Trail Entrance Archway on Zhongxing Road. For first-time visitors to Chongqing, this is the best place to start understanding the "climbing and stepping" way of life that defines the mountain city. Take a look at the archway in front of you — it is built entirely from local blue stone and grey brick, plain and solid. Chongqing is a city built on rock. In the days before modern transport, residents made their way through the city and porters hauled their goods on nothing but these stone steps, rising one tier at a time. Look up the flagstone path and you will see staircase after staircase disappearing into the trees and old houses above — this is the most authentic grain of Chongqing's urban fabric. Take a breath, and let's begin this remarkable climb through history.

After climbing the blue-stone steps and passing through several old residential courtyards, you will see a striking grey-brick building on your right — that is Houlu.

For anyone interested in China's modern history, this building is well worth your attention. It was built in the 1930s as the private residence of Shi Qingyang, a Sichuan warlord, and later served as the personal estate of senior officials during the wartime capital period of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Look closely at the exterior: the design blends Chinese and Western elements. The entrance is a semicircular stone arch in the Western classical tradition, while the walls are built in the Chinese manner with high-quality grey brick laid in a running bond. Because of the hillside terrain, the entire residence follows the slope of the mountain, giving the interior spaces a compact and varied character. The dark timber doors worn by time and the weathered brick walls speak silently of that turbulent era. This is also an excellent spot for photography with a vintage, Republican-era feel — take your time here.

Leaving Houlu behind, we continue along the walkway and the path opens up — we have stepped onto the Suspended Boardwalk, hanging in mid-air.

This is the most breathtaking and visually striking section of the entire Shancheng Walkway. Standing here, you will understand exactly why Chongqing is called a "magical 3D city." Look to your left: those rough stone walls running right alongside you are remnants of the city walls, originally built during the Ming and Qing dynasties — they are several hundred years old. Now look to your right: a sheer cliff drops tens of meters straight down to the broad, rushing waters of the Yangtze River below. The key sight ahead of you is the enormous red double-deck bridge — Caiyuanba Yangtze River Bridge. Vehicles travel on the upper deck; urban rail trains run on the lower deck. Add the ships crossing the river below, and you have a three-dimensional transport spectacle that spans the river and connects the skyline. In the early morning or at dusk — when the river fills with mist or the sky blazes with the last light — looking out from this spot, the layered depth of the whole city reaches its absolute peak.

Follow the suspended boardwalk to its end, then turn left and climb the stone steps — and you arrive at our final stop: Ren'ai Wilderness Theater.

The moment you step inside, you may be stopped in your tracks by the remarkable sight of architecture and nature growing together. This was originally the site of the Ren'ai Hospital and the Holy Family School, built here in 1902 by the French Catholic mission. Look at the row of tall, ornate Roman arches and the ruined bell tower standing before you. After more than a century, what remains of the original Western buildings are broken walls and foundations — yet the historical skeleton still stands with real presence. Modern designers made the inspired choice to keep the weathered red brick and moss-covered stone bases exactly as they found them, then planted a layered landscape of wild vegetation within the ruins and shaped it all into an open-air public theater. In this place, the classical Western architectural aesthetic and the untamed plant life of the mountain city find a perfect balance, embodying the quiet layering of time and the renewal of a living city. Here, in this wilderness theater that holds both history and a certain romance, our walk along Shancheng Walkway comes to a close. We hope this journey of climbing and listening has given you a genuine sense of Chongqing's soul. Enjoy the rest of your time in the city!