Shibaozhai
Twelve Storey Red Pavilion Built Against A River Rock, Now Moated After The Three Gorges Dam · Chongqing, Chongqing
A twelve-storey wooden pavilion built flat against a great red rock on the north bank of the Yangtze, and one of the most photographed sights on the river. The rock, about thirty metres of sheer sandstone, has a temple on top that was reached for centuries only by chains; in 1819 a local magistrate had a pavilion built against the cliff, its floors climbing the rock face like a ladder so that pilgrims could walk up under cover. The building is a feat of joinery - twelve roofs stacked and cantilevered without nails - and inside, a stair winds up past shrines to the temple at the summit, with river views widening at each level. When the Three Gorges dam raised the water in the 2000s, Shibaozhai was expected to be lost; instead engineers built a cofferdam wall around the rock and the pavilion, turning it into an island reached by a footbridge, so it now stands in its own lagoon with the river beyond. Most visitors arrive on Yangtze cruises, which stop here for a couple of hours.
Shibaozhai, Zhongxian County, Chongqing, Chongqing, Chongqing, China
Daily, with hours given variously as about 8:00-16:30 or 8:30-17:30 (check); busiest when Yangtze cruise ships are docked.