Zhenyuan Ancient Town

Historic Garrison And River Port On The Wuyang River; National Famous Historical And Cultural Town · Zhenyuan, Guizhou

A river town wrapped in an S-bend of the green Wuyang River in eastern Guizhou, where limestone hills rise straight from the water and old houses climb the banks on both sides. Zhenyuan was a garrison and customs post for two thousand years, guarding the road between the central plains and the southwest, and the traffic of soldiers, officials and merchants left it unusually cosmopolitan for a mountain town: temples of three religions share the cliffs, and the lanes behind the waterfront are threaded with narrow stone alleys called the Eight Great Lanes, where family compounds have doorways angled by geomancy so that no two face the same way. Its set piece is Qinglong Dong, a complex of halls, pavilions and caves stacked against the cliff across the river, with Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian buildings side by side and wooden galleries hanging over the water. At night the riverfront and its arched bridges are lit, and boats drift under the lights. The town is a stop on the fast trains between Guiyang and Hunan and makes a good pause on the way to the Dong and Miao villages.

Zhenyuan Ancient Town, Zhenyuan County, Qiandongnan, Zhenyuan, Guizhou, China

Town streets open at all hours and free; Qinglong Dong and other ticketed sites keep daytime hours, roughly 8:00-17:30 (check).

Zhenyuan Ancient Town on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos