Atlas of China
White Emperor City (Baidicheng) & Qutang Gorge 白帝城·瞿塘峡Báidìchéng · Qútáng Xiá
5A scenic area · National heritage site · Chongqing, Chongqing
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Days to budget
- Half a day
- City
- Chongqing
- Region
- Chongqing
- Type
- Heritage
- Listed as
- 5A scenic area, National heritage site
About White Emperor City (Baidicheng) & Qutang Gorge
A hilltop temple complex at the western mouth of Qutang Gorge, named after the warlord Gongsun Shu, who proclaimed himself the White Emperor in AD 25; since 1533 its halls have honoured Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms, and Tang poets including Li Bai and Du Fu wrote famous verses here. Since the Three Gorges reservoir filled, the hill has become an island joined to the north bank by a bridge, with Southern Song walls and the beacon tower of the Qutang Pass among its ruins and a direct view of Kuimen, the gate of the gorge pictured on the 10-yuan note. Boats run into the 8 km gorge, whose south-bank cliffs carry inscriptions from the Song dynasty to the Republican era, part of them now under water and part cut out and moved.
How to get to White Emperor City (Baidicheng) & Qutang Gorge
On the north bank of the Yangtze in Fengjie County, a little over 10 km east of the county town by taxi; Fengjie is about 90 minutes by high-speed train from central Chongqing.
Nearby
- Yangtze Three Gorges 长江三峡 under 10 km
Cliffs closing in on the Yangtze along China's most storied river passage
Also within 20 km: Kuizhou Museum 夔州博物馆 (under 10 km), Three Gorges Summit (Sanxia Zhidian) 三峡之巅 (under 10 km).
On the map
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Open White Emperor City (Baidicheng) & Qutang Gorge on the map