Ciqikou Ancient Town

Historic Porcelain Trading Port On The Jialing River, Once Known As Little Chongqing · Chongqing, Chongqing

A steep old port town on the Jialing River in the western suburbs of Chongqing, once so busy with boats and traders that it was nicknamed Little Chongqing. Settled since the Song dynasty, it took its present name - Porcelain Port - from the kilns that shipped blue-and-white wares downriver in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and its stone-stepped lanes still climb between wooden shophouses with tiled roofs and carved balconies. At the top of the hill sits Baolun Temple, founded in the Tang dynasty, whose halls and old camphor trees look out over the river. Today the lanes are packed with snack stalls and small shops, and the smells of the town are as much the attraction as the architecture: twisted mahua dough sticks fried in vats, chilli-red bowls of maoxuewang stew said to have been invented here by river boatmen, sweet-water noodles, and teahouses where old men play cards while a Sichuan opera singer performs. Ciqikou is free to enter and unashamedly touristy - crushingly busy on weekends and holidays - but early mornings, back lanes and the riverside walk below the town show why generations of Chongqing families have come here.

Ciqikou Ancient Town, Shapingba District, Chongqing, Chongqing, China

Old town open 24 hours and free to enter; shops and stalls roughly 9:00-21:00, and Baolun Temple keeps daytime hours (check).

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