Castle in the Sky (Part 2): Walking Through the Three-Thousand-Year Beauty of Yuzhong, Centered on the Clouds
Between heaven and earth, there is ultimately affection. Standing on those cloud-high buildings, overlooking this unique Yuzhong Peninsula, seeing all this, you can better experience the richness and grandeur of the world.
In the clouds, Chongqing’s mountains, waters, and buildings combine into countless intriguing details. The cutting-edge has its avant-garde, the old has its tranquil beauty. Adding a bit too much, or subtracting a bit too little, the splendor of the mountains and rivers and the robustness of Yuzhong are just right.
All this ensures that walking in Yuzhong, it’s hard to be disappointed—many wonderful check-in spots are scattered across the Yuzhong Peninsula.
What’s even more beautiful is that they are connected to the cloud-high buildings described in our previous article, like a string of gemstones. Besides the most dazzling few, there are various other gems set among them, shimmering brightly.
The threads that string these gems together are the streets and alleys densely spread across Yuzhong. Just walking among them is enough to make you feel its inclusiveness—peaceful yet active, noisy yet quiet, profound yet not cold.
Photo by Hu Haiyang
This is the inherent temperament of Yuzhong, better highlighted by these gem-like check-in spots and attractions.
In the name of walking on the clouds, stepping into this city’s three thousand years of profound history and splendor is the correct way to embark on this journey.
This is also the most beautiful urban vision of Yuzhong.
Around the Eye of the Clouds
The Beauty of Three-Dimensional Terrain
01. Eighteen Stairs (Shibati)
The essential life staircase and road of time for mountain city dwellers
Bound by the nine open and eight closed gates and city walls, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Chongqing’s mother city was dotted at the head of the Yuzhong Peninsula. The area was not large, but due to the Huaying Mountain range stretching across, with a height difference of tens of meters, the city was divided into the upper and lower halves. The lower half included areas like Nanjimen and Jinzimen, while the upper half included today’s Jiaochangkou and Jiefangbei.
The top of Eighteen Stairs connects to Jiaochangkou in the upper half, and the bottom connects to Chuqimen in the lower half.
Before Zhongxing Road and Kaixuan Road were built, Eighteen Stairs was the core road connecting the upper and lower halves of the city.
The mountain city form and spatial characteristics of “natural Chongqing” are displayed by Eighteen Stairs. The road structure of “horizontal streets and vertical alleys” and the street space of “going up and down slopes, winding and turning” together form the traditional mountain city living space.
The former Eighteen Stairs, image from the internet
According to legend, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was an old well here, exactly eighteen steps away from the residents’ homes. Hence, the place gradually became known as “Eighteen Stairs.” Years ago, media interviewed a centenarian living in the old Houci Street area. She recalled hearing from her elders that there was indeed an old well near No. 160 of the original Eighteen Stairs, where people fetched water for drinking, washing clothes, and bustling with activity.
Another theory holds that during the Ming and Qing dynasties, people built a stone staircase path here to facilitate travel between the upper and lower halves of Yuzhong District. Due to the steep slopes at both ends, the staircase was divided into eighteen sections, each with a platform for pedestrians to rest, hence the name “Eighteen Stairs.”
One name originates from water, the other from mountains—this is the Eighteen Stairs of Chongqing, the city of mountains and waters.
Photo by Zhang Kunkun
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Chongqing was the gateway to Sichuan, with convenient land and water transportation. Many merchants stopped here for transfer, making the area from the lower half to Chaotianmen the most prosperous in Chongqing.
After the start of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chongqing became China’s wartime capital, and Japanese artillery targeted the city. Japanese planes frequently bombed Chongqing from February 1938 to August 1943, known as the Chongqing Bombing.
Photo by Fan Xiaodong
The Jiaochangkou Eighteen Stairs air-raid shelter was the major shelter in Chongqing at the time. It was 10 meters deep, 2 kilometers long, with 3 exits, 2 meters high, equipped with wooden benches and oil lamps at intervals for lighting. However, conditions were简陋; it lacked water intake, ventilation, fire prevention, and anti-toxin facilities.
On June 5, 1941, during more than five hours of “fatigue” bombing by Japanese planes, a tragedy of suffocation and stampede occurred in the Eighteen Stairs, Yanwuting, and Shihuishi air-raid shelters, killing about 2,500 people. It shocked the nation and the world.
As we know, since 1998, Chongqing sounds air-raid sirens every June 5 to commemorate the victims of these shelters and those who died in the Chongqing Bombing, remembering the departed and warning the living.
Photo by Chen Yunyuan
02. Baixiang Street
“The Wall Street of the East” during the Port Opening Period
“Without visiting Baixiang Street, you don’t know Chongqing City.” Baixiang Street, a short street on Kaixuan Road in the lower half of Yuzhong District, Chongqing’s mother city, is one of the most important streets in Yuzhong District.
It witnessed the opening of Chongqing’s port, the process of Chongqing’s modernization, and the rise of Chongqing’s national capitalists.
Baixiang Street is one of the traditional style areas designated by the municipal government. The planned protection area is bounded by Sifang Street to the east, Changbin Road to the south, Chuqimen to the west, and Jiefang East Road to the north.
According to legend, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was a white marble stone elephant at Taipingmen, facing a pair of green stone lions at Xuantan Temple on the south bank. This is the folk saying “Green Lion and White Elephant Lock the River,” which became the origin of Baixiang Street’s name. Another theory is that there was a Baixiang Pool (White Elephant Pool) there for washing elephants, so the street was named Baixiang Street.
Photo by You Like
After the signing of a series of unequal treaties, notably the Chefoo Convention in September 1876 and especially the Additional Article to the Chefoo Convention in March 1890, Chongqing was forced to open its port. According to a memorial from Sichuan Governor Liu Bingzhang, on the 21st day of the first month of the 17th year of Guangxu (1891), Chongqing Customs was established, with its headquarters at present-day Baixiang Street, Yuzhong District (now at No. 16 Kaixuan Road).
“Opening additional trading ports requires setting up customs and levying taxes.” However, on Chongqing’s land, the head of the Customs Service was the Briton Robert Hart, while the superior agency, the Customs Superintendent, was a figurehead. The collected taxes were used to pay indemnities of the unequal treaties.
Subsequently, foreign capital entered, foreign merchants poured in, foreign troops were stationed, consulates were established, and concessions were divided. Chongqing gradually began contact and exchange with the outside world. And the center of it all was Baixiang Street.
Since the Customs House and customs brokerages were located on Baixiang Street, involving many commodity inspections and tax collections, major foreign firms, financial institutions, post offices, and mansions mostly clustered here. This clustering brought a certain density and rapid prosperity; it can be said that during the port opening period, Baixiang Street was the “Wall Street” of the East.
Later, the Qing government sent Song Yuren to Chongqing to revitalize industry, attempting to use domestic goods to “resist foreign goods and recover rights.” After arriving in Chongqing, he founded the Yu Newspaper in 1897, actively spreading reformist ideas. The Yu Newspaper, as Sichuan’s first patriotic newspaper and a completely private one, was based on Baixiang Street.
The richest man in Southwest China, Li Yaoting, also lived in Bufengju on Baixiang Street. On November 25, 1906, his 70th birthday, Chongqing merchant Liu Peigao celebrated by starting a 100-kilowatt generator he had installed in a room at Taipingmen. The 50 electric lights in Li’s Bufengju courtyard suddenly lit up, illuminating the entire courtyard and rooms like daylight, becoming a sensational news event in Chongqing. Li Yaoting thus became the first person in Chongqing to use electric lights.
Photo by Zhang Kunkun
Today’s countless internet-famous check-ins of the mountain city night view start right here.
The old buildings on Baixiang Street, whether standing like giants, silent brick walls, or presenting richer states in the present… these silent buildings narrate, across Chongqing’s complex emotions and long time.
Now, as the core cultural tourism area of Chongqing’s mother city, Baixiang Street has entered a new era, attracting a large number of tourists and even multiple film crews for location shooting.
03. Yangtze River Cableway
A mode of transport immersed in mountains and waters
In a city like Chongqing, with high mountains and deep waters, life must be tough and resilient to survive.
Thus, Chongqing people cut through mountains, build bridges over water, and over the Yangtze River, they even built a cableway.
The Yangtze River Cableway, one of Chongqing’s most famous symbols, starts on Xinhua Road in the lower half of Yuzhong. It is the first large-scale cross-river passenger cableway independently designed in China, with a total length of 1,116 meters, a speed of 6 meters per second, a full journey of over 4 minutes, and a daily passenger capacity of 10,500. It is hailed as the first air corridor over the Yangtze River and the “mountain city air bus.”
Photo by Lei Qingsong
The cableway adopts a double-carrying, double-towing reciprocating design. With four carrying cables and simple, lightweight double-towing cable guides, the Yangtze River Cableway does not affect the daily life of nearby residents during normal operation, and its safety is assured.
The cableway was completed in October 1987. At that time, transportation in Chongqing’s main urban areas mainly relied on ferries, requiring people to climb slopes and stairs to board boats. During flood seasons and heavy fog, ferry services would be suspended. The completion of this cableway made travel between Yuzhong District and Shangxin Street in Nan’an District safe and quick; previously, buses took nearly an hour for the round trip.
Even after becoming an internet-famous spot, the Yangtze River Cableway remains one of the main modes of transport for Chongqing residents commuting between Shangxin Street and Yuzhong.
Chongqing’s beauty lies in its form. Built against mountains, standing by water, surrounded by two rivers, the city is within mountains, and mountains are within water.
Photo by Zhang Kunkun
Riding the Yangtze River Cableway, shuttling between high-rise buildings, you can truly immerse yourself in these mountains and waters. Watching skyscrapers grow on the mountains along the Yangtze River, layer upon layer, reaching into the clouds; bridges on the river and overpasses on land crisscross and spiral upward, dizzying yet forming a unique scene.
When the cableway reaches the river surface, you can look west at the rolling Yangtze River. Especially at night, the brightly lit Yuzhong Peninsula, the dazzling riverside roads, and the flowing lights of the Yangtze reflect each other, connecting the stars above and the river below. The stars in the sky, the moon in the water, and the lights on earth merge into one, as if in a fairyland.
Among various film and TV crews, whenever they shoot in Chongqing, the Yangtze River Cableway is a must-visit location. Films like Zhou Yu’s Train, Crazy Stone, The Bombing, The Unbearable Lightness of Inspector Fan, and TV shows like Go Fighting and The Amazing Race have all used shots from the cableway.
Photo by Chen Yunyuan
Sitting in that giant “box” that holds 50 people, with the surging river below, the magnificent bridge beside, and the towering buildings ahead, in just over a thousand meters and nearly five minutes, you can glimpse the infinite charm of the mountain city.
This may be the attraction that best represents the lifestyle of Chongqing, best reflects its terrain, and best showcases the unyielding spirit of its people.
04. People’s Park
The charm of an old park
Chongqing People’s Park, also known as the Central Park site, is located in Yuzhong District, about 200 meters from Jiefangbei, covering an area of 1.2 hectares. It is the first park in Chongqing’s history.
During the Qing Dynasty, the predecessor of Central Park was one of the three peaks in Chongqing city—the summit of Bashan, the location of Jinshan Mountain, the first of the old Bayu Twelve Sceneries. At the foot of the mountain was the Chongqing Prefectural Office, with the Chuandong Circuit Office to the left and the Ba County Magistrate’s Office to the right, concentrating the three levels of government at that time.
In 1922, Yang Sen, then Chongqing Commercial Affairs Superintendent (mayor), planned to develop the Housi Slope area between the upper and lower cities into a park, but construction halted due to war.
Photo by Zhang Kunkun
In 1929, Pan Wenhua, then Chongqing Commercial Affairs Superintendent, decided to break ground and rebuild the park. Trees and flowers were planted, and landscapes such as Jinshan Hall, Jiangtian Yanyu Pavilion, Zhangqiushan Hall, fountain pool, and Youran Pavilion were built. Leisure facilities including reading rooms, tennis courts, children’s playgrounds, and tea houses were also established, and a statue of Sun Yat-sen was erected at the main entrance. The park was named Central Park.
The park had four gates: the east gate was at present-day Park Alley, the west gate west of Xisan Rear Street, the north gate at the start of Zourong Road, and the south gate facing Xisan Middle Street, which was the main gate, located in the bustling area of Chongqing at the time. A stone-paved path on Housi Slope wound up through the park, serving as the main road connecting the upper half.
In the 1940s, two new features were added. One was the “Sichuan Revolutionary Martyrs Monument” built in 1946 to commemorate three Sichuanese who died in the Huanghuagang Uprising. The other was the “Chongqing Firefighters Monument” built in 1947 to commemorate 81 firefighters who sacrificed their lives to protect citizens during the Chongqing Bombing.
After liberation, the park was taken over by the People’s Government and renamed Chongqing People’s Park in July 1950.
In the 1950s and 1960s, the government funded the construction and renovation of the park, making it a favorite leisure spot for Chongqing residents.
The Beauty of Historical Accumulation
01. Chaotianmen Dock
The first stop at Chongqing’s docks
For everyone visiting Chongqing, Chaotianmen is a must-see.
It is where the Jialing River and the Yangtze River converge, and it is also the earliest ancient dock in Chongqing’s history.
Chaotianmen was built on the foundation of earthen forts guarded by Zhang Yi, a famous diplomat of the Warring States period, and Li Yan, a general under Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms period. It was later expanded and named by Dai Ding, a general under Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty, in the fourth year of the Hongwu reign (1371). At that time, the city wall had seventeen gates (nine open, eight closed), and only eight developed into commercial docks, with Chaotianmen being the most prosperous.
According to Qing Dynasty maps and records, Chaotianmen was built on a high river cliff, with a long slope outside the gate descending to the dock, appearing very majestic from afar. The gate had a double-layer structure, with a barbican outside the main gate. The barbican gate faced north, and after entering, a right turn led to the main gate of Chaotianmen, which faced east, forming a right angle with the outer gate. Outside Chaotianmen, the barbican gate bore the inscription “Chaotianmen,” while the main gate had the four characters “Gu Yu Xiong Guan” (Ancient Yu Strong Pass).
The “zero kilometer” marker for Chongqing’s highways is also set at Chaotianmen Square. “Zero kilometer” is the starting point of a national or urban arterial highway and a symbol of the city center.
Photo by Cao Huaizhi
Viewed from afar, Chaotianmen Square looks like a giant ship sailing forward, magnificent. Hence, Chaotianmen Square is also called Chongqing’s Titanic.
To the left of Chaotianmen, the Jialing River, gathering small streams, joins the Yangtze River. In early summer and mid-autumn, the green Jialing River water clashes with the brownish-yellow Yangtze River, creating swirling eddies, clearly distinct in color, forming the “Jiamashui” (Horse-Clamping Water) scene, known as the “Golden Water Section” of the Yangtze River and one of the most famous images of Chongqing on the internet: the “Mandarin Duck Pot.”
Photo by Jiang Jihang
Chongqing’s prosperity is, to some extent, concentrated at Chaotianmen.
Whether at sunrise, sunset, or when the lights come on, it reflects the brilliance of all Chongqing, indescribably beautiful.
02. Huguang Guild Hall
The cultural charm of ancient architecture
Chongqing Huguang Guild Hall is a historical witness to Chongqing’s prosperity as a commercial hub during the Qing Dynasty and an important symbol of Chongqing’s immigrant culture, commercial culture, and architectural culture from the early Qing to the early Republic.
At the end of the Ming and beginning of the Qing dynasties, Sichuan experienced war, leading to a sharp population decline. According to population statistics in the 24th year of the Kangxi reign (1685), after large-scale warfare, Sichuan Province had only over 90,000 people left. The original inhabitants of Chongqing were almost entirely killed in the wars. Various historical records note that wild animals like tigers roamed within Chongqing city, and the population was extremely sparse.
To revive Sichuan, the Qing government initiated the “Huguang Fill Sichuan” immigration policy, lasting over a hundred years. Immigrants from Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Guangdong, and other places poured into Sichuan.
Photo by Zhang Kunkun
The Chongqing Huguang Guild Hall complex is a historical product of the “Huguang Fill Sichuan” immigration wave. Construction began in the 24th year of the Qianlong reign (1759) and expanded in the 26th year of the Daoguang reign (1846). It was built by immigrants from Huguang.
Covering an area of 18,400 square meters, the Huguang Guild Hall complex includes the Yuwang Palace, Qi’an Guild Hall, Guangdong Guild Hall, and other ancient Qing buildings and imitation ancient structures. Most guild hall buildings follow the Ming and Qing courtyard layout, with different roof structures such as overhanging, round ridge, and saddle roofs. They inherit typical architectural styles from Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangnan while integrating Chongqing’s traditional architectural features.
The area around Dongshuimen, where the Huguang Guild Hall is located, was considered a “lucky place” according to Feng Shui, as the inner side of a curved river is auspicious. Dongshuimen was a place where the Vermilion Bird danced, with good Feng Shui, so the guild hall was sited here.
Yuwang Palace was built with donations from wealthy merchants and gentry from Hunan and Hubei among the early immigrants. The dragon heads on the corbel brackets of Yuwang Palace all face the Yangtze River, symbolizing a dragon locking the river.
The preserved three-sided protruding stage in Yuwang Palace has side buildings for honored guests, while the ground floor is for general audiences. Yuwang Palace originally had 13 stages, the most among guild halls, with a saying “nine layers of stages, none facing each other.” Unfortunately, only one floor remains today.
Qi’an Guild Hall was built by immigrants from Huangzhou Prefecture, Hubei. Unlike traditional guild halls whose main gates are on the central axis, its gate is on the side, angled toward the east, facing the immigrants’ hometown of Huangzhou Prefecture, Hubei, expressing homesickness. Guangdong Guild Hall, also known as Nanhua Palace, was built with donations from Guangdong immigrants.
Photo courtesy of Yuzhong District Culture and Tourism Committee, by Tang Anbing
The most notable feature of Qi’an Guild Hall and Guangdong Guild Hall is their stages. The carvings on Qi’an Guild Hall’s stage depict stories ranging from ghost tales to the Twenty-Four Filial Pieties, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Investiture of the Gods, and Fisherman and Woodcutter, each with auspicious bats, flowers, and mythical beasts. Guangdong Guild Hall’s stage is the best-preserved and most magnificent of the four.
Chongqing Huguang Guild Hall has structural features of Hui-style architecture. In garden landscaping, it often uses techniques of Jiangnan gardens. Additionally, the fire wall of Qi’an Guild Hall is the most distinctive: curved bow-shaped walls in an arc, combined with continuous wall structure, visually resembling the back of a soaring dragon. The dragon ridge follows the mountain slope, naturally imposing.
03. Dongshui Post
A post station through time
Dongshui Post is located at Dongshuimen in Chongqing.
Dongshuimen is also one of Chongqing’s old city gates, built in the Ming Dynasty. It was the main east gate of old Chongqing, but the gate faces north. It is one of the only two remaining ancient city gates of old Chongqing.
The gate tower no longer exists. The gate is about 230 meters, with a width of 3.1 meters, height of 4.5 meters, and thickness of 6.6 meters. It has a stone arch gate tunnel, with a section of stone wall nearby. Perhaps due to its strategic location, difficult to attack and easy to defend, it has no barbican.
This was once the main passage for people crossing the Yangtze River to the south bank and a place where merchants gathered, prosperous and densely populated.
Photo by Zhang Kunkun
Dongshui Post Traditional Commercial Street features a winding stone-paved street, flanked by one-to-three-story black-tiled, gray-walled buildings. The window lattices and floorboards are made of wood, with bright red lanterns hanging under the eaves, presenting Ming and Qing styles. The street is about 100 meters long, built as a Bayu cultural corridor, where various folk arts and crafts from Chongqing, dozens of types, are gathered.
Visitors can see live performances of Shu embroidery and stone carving, and buy folk crafts such as Liangping bamboo curtain paintings and Rongchang ceramics.
04. Nineteen Turns
Playful and lively snake game character
Take Metro Line 1 or 6 to Xiaoshizi Station, exit from Exit 8, and walk dozens of meters to reach the Dongshuimen Bridge landscape trail. Construction of the trail began in early 2020 and took over a year. The trail is built along the bridge, winding down the steep slope, about 300 meters long, connecting Shaanxi Road and Changbin Road.
This is Nineteen Turns.
The trail is set within a garden, where planted greenery is lush. It is a slope and cliff landscape characteristic of the mountain city. Starting from the north side of the bridge, walking down the trail requires turning nineteen times, hence the name Nineteen Turns.
Photo courtesy of Yuzhong District Culture and Tourism Committee
The trail uses barrier-free ramps, which alleviate fatigue from climbing slopes. The Nineteen Turns trail is even more dazzling at night, with lights changing colors, gorgeous and romantic, beautifying the riverbank.
It is worth mentioning that shortly after the trail opened, People’s Daily’s official Weibo posted a message with the topic #Chongqing300metersteepslopewith19turns#, comparing the Dongshuimen Bridge landscape trail to a winding snake (like the game Snake).
The Beauty of Urban Renewal
01. Hongya Cave
From an ancient city gate to “Spirited Away”
Hongya Cave, originally named Hongya Gate, is one of the ancient city gates of Chongqing. Located on Cangbai Road, Jiefangbei, Yuzhong District, at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers, it is a tourist area combining sightseeing, leisure, and vacation functions.
Hongya Cave is a key landscape project of Chongqing, with a building area of 46,000 square meters. Its main attractions include stilted buildings and an antique commercial street. The lights at Hongya Cave are on from 6 PM to 10 PM. Visitors can view the stilted buildings and the “Hongya Cuicui” waterfall, stroll along the mountain city old street to appreciate Bayu culture, enjoy a hot pot by the river, and taste global cuisine. It has formed a business model of “one state, three unique, four streets, eight scenes,” reflecting Bayu cultural leisure.
Photo by Sun Yiwen
Construction began in 2004. Over a dozen stilted floors rose from a 79-meter-high cliff, completed in 2006.
The stilted buildings climb up the mountain, with unique construction techniques like layered platforms, staggered stacking, and cliff-facing designs. They recreate the most distinctive stilted houses, ancient archways, wooden pendants, overhanging beams, carved corridors, hillside streets, and bluestone paths of old Chongqing, forming a unique “three-dimensional aerial pedestrian street.” At night, with brilliant lights, it resembles the bathhouse in Hayao Miyazaki’s anime Spirited Away.
From Hongya Cave, you can take a cruise on the two rivers to enjoy the night view of Chongqing. Chongqing’s night view has been famous for a hundred years. Cruising on the two rivers is like wandering in a galaxy, with flowing lights on both banks reflecting in the water, the river leisurely stirring thoughts.
In November 2007, the Hongya Cave Folk Custom Area was rated as a national AAAA-level tourist attraction. On November 18, 2020, it was listed among the “Top Ten New Cultural Tourism Landmarks in Chengdu-Chongqing.” In December 2021, it was included in the “Second Batch of Chongqing Historical Place Names Protection List.”
02. Arhat Temple (Luohan Temple)
The sound of Buddhist chants in the city
In Chongqing, turning a corner may reveal a cliff, a river, or a temple. Jiefangbei has both fashionable scenes of handsome men and beautiful women and meditation halls with ever-burning candles. Avant-garde and classical, hustle and solemnity blend wonderfully without discord.
Chongqing Arhat Temple, located on Minzu Road, Yuzhong District, is one of the key Buddhist temples in China’s Han areas. The Chongqing Buddhist Association is based here. Arhat Temple was first built during the Zhiping period of the Northern Song Dynasty (1064-1067), originally named Zhiping Temple. The temple was built because of the Arhat Cave. “Records of Famous Sites in Shu” states: “Zhiping Temple… has two ancient caves: Arhat Cave and Xiantian Cave.”
Photo by Zhu Luxiang
Inside the temple, the Ancient Buddha Cliff, over 20 meters long, contains more than 400 Song Dynasty cliffside Buddha carvings, including a reclining Buddha (commonly called the “Sleeping Buddha”), Guanyin, and donor figures, with styles similar to those at Dazu Baodingshan.
The Mahavira Hall houses many Buddhist art treasures, including sixteen statues of Arhats (the sixteen best students of Shakyamuni), Ming Dynasty bronze statues of the “Three Saints of the West,” a jade Buddha from Myanmar (Shakyamuni’s Enlightenment), and a copy of the Indian mural “Shakyamuni Leaving the Palace to Seek Enlightenment.”
The sutra repository holds Tripitaka, Sanskrit and Tibetan classics, and ancient books and paintings, mostly treasures from the Tang and Ming dynasties. The Arhat Hall contains 524 clay statues. They are exquisitely detailed and lifelike, and devotees often come to count arhats to predict fortune.
During the War of Resistance, in July 1940, Arhat Temple was bombed by Japanese planes, reduced to ashes except for the main gate and the Ancient Buddha Cliff carvings. Immediately, over twenty monks braved Japanese artillery to rebuild the temple and Arhat Hall. By 1947, under Master Zongxian, the main hall, sutra repository, Arhat Hall, and gate arch were restored.
In 1984, the government allocated funds for restoration. The original garden and pond are now lost, only the “Ming Stele Pavilion” with the “West Lake Relics” stele, inscribed by Yu Xinmin, Chongqing prefect in the third year of the Tianqi reign (1623), and calligraphied by Ni Sihui, Vice Minister of the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, still shows faint traces of characters.
After the movie Crazy Stone was filmed here, Arhat Temple became famous and a must-visit for tourists.
Photo by Tang Bintong
03. Daijia Alley
A new park growing out of the ancient city wall
Most of Chongqing’s ancient city walls are built on cliffs, and the most perilous is this section. The mountain shape of Daijia Alley, with a section of city wall, was easy to defend and hard to attack, as intended by the city rulers.
Over a hundred years ago, Daijia Alley overlooked the Dongjiazui and Yan docks on the Jialing River. The surrounding area was a goldmine for small vendors, with mountain products, Guangdong goods, Jiangsu goods, and miscellaneous items, making it one of the most prosperous areas in old Chongqing.
Today, Daijia Alley preserves its historical charm. From the old street, you can see Jiangbeizui, with the Huanghuayuan Bridge and Qiansimen Bridge flanking both sides. Below is the road with traffic, and beyond that, the river reflecting the city, surrounded by the daily life of residents.
The entire Daijia Alley is now divided into four areas: the urban nostalgic old street, the city wall resting area, the cliffside trail sightseeing area, and the Chongqing-style life experience area.
Bounded by the old city wall to the north and the ancient salt dock to the south, covering 10,000 square meters, it consists of a cliffside plank road about 750 meters long and a mid-section stilt observation deck, with a height difference of 60 meters. Located by the Jialing River, adjacent to Hongya Cave, facing the Jiangbeizui financial center, connecting Linjiang Road and Jiabin Road from top to bottom.
The arrow battlements at the top of the cliff trail slope eastward in a Z-shape, while the west connects with a suspended plank road parallel to the city wall to the western trail. The scenery along the way is unique and beautiful.
Photo by Zhang Kunkun
This is a paradise: outsiders cannot see it, but those inside see the whole world. Everything outside the trees passes by your whole world.
Prosperity and obscurity do not affect the landscape seen from Daijia Alley.
Gray brick old houses, smoke-stained city walls, ancient salt paths—after shedding its splendor, Daijia Alley reveals a different sense of time. This atmosphere attracts independent attitudes and unique aesthetics.
04. Guotai Art Center
Eighty-five years of witnessing art
Chongqing Guotai Grand Theater was built in January 1937. It could show films and stage plays, with 1,780 seats—1,280 downstairs and 500 upstairs—all iron-backed chairs with velvet spring cushions. The ceiling had six frosted chandeliers, and light emitted from slits in the surrounding walls. The neon sign “Guotai Grand Theater” at the entrance shone brightly.
Today, it still occupies the geographical C position of Yuzhong, with a unique artistic architectural appearance. Now named Chongqing Guotai Art Center, its entrance facing Hongya Cave is the entrance of the old Guotai Grand Theater.
Image provided by Yuzhong District Culture and Tourism Committee
Recent performances at Guotai Art Center:
February 20, 2022: “Chongqing · 99 Sunsets · Love for the Mountain City — Music Storytelling Concert”
February 25, 2022: “Chongyan Theater Production · Hilarious ‘YYDS Situational Comedy & Improv Theater’”
February 26, 2022: “Mahua FunAge Hilarious Stage Play ‘Not Only Moonlight in Front of the Window’”
February 26, 2022: “Whispers of the Wind — Zhou Xin and the Dongfeng Children’s Choir New Year Concert”
05. Dagui Alley
French-style secret garden
On June 19, 2021, the romantic French-style secret garden designed by post-80s artist Gao Yu—Dagui Alley—officially opened in Jiefangbei.
In recent years, Yuzhong District has integrated the development of the Jiefangbei-Chaotianmen pedestrian avenue, vigorously developing backstreet economies and clusters. As an important node connecting Wuyi Road and Xinhua Road, Dagui Alley absorbs the spillover of commercial foot traffic, supplements surrounding cultural and artistic services, and enhances the continuity from Jiefangbei to Chaotianmen.
After renovation, Dagui Alley also formed links with nearby commercial projects like Yalan, Westin, and Xiexin, boosting hot touristy consumption along the backstreet economic line, forming a complementary development pattern between main streets and backstreets.
Since its debut in May, Dagui Alley has attracted attention. Its garden design has a strong French flair: glass sunrooms are fresh and romantic, giant rabbit fountains are cute, and the business mix is refined and diverse. The project gathers cultural, entertainment, leisure, and fashion brands such as O!what, O!cafe, Dr. Picky, Yanchu, FANCYFANCY, Glass Flower House, and Dagui Noodles.
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Text by Lian Erye
Text by Hua Er
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