Yibin 宜宾Yíbīn
Bamboo forests, cliff-hung coffins and burning noodles in Sichuan's deep south

About Yibin
Yibin stands where the Min River joins the Jinsha to become the Chang Jiang, the Yangtze, and so calls itself the first city on the river. It is the home of Wuliangye baijiu, and its riverside town of Lizhuang sheltered universities and research institutes in the war against Japan. Farther south lie the Shunan Bamboo Sea, the limestone pinnacles and sinkholes of Xingwen Stone Sea, and the cliff-hung coffins of Gong County, attributed to the Bo people.
What to eat in Yibin
- Yibin burning noodles (燃面)
- Lizhuang white meat (李庄白肉)
- Wuliangye baijiu (五粮液)
Featured places in Yibin
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Shunan Bamboo Sea 蜀南竹海
Ridge upon ridge of feathery bamboo, laced with misty trails, waterfalls and cliff shrines
Listed sites in Yibin
19 sites in Yibin are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Bowang Mountain 僰王山 4A scenic area · on the map
A forested mountain area in Xingwen County named after the ancient Bo people, whose stone gateway and wall remains survive on the mountain; it is a provincial scenic area and part of the Xingwen UNESCO Global Geopark. - Cuiping and Zhenwu Mountains 翠屏山与真武山 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Two linked wooded hills on the west side of central Yibin, south of the Min River, laid out as a large city forest park. - Folai Mountain, Changning 佛来山 4A scenic area · on the map
A pear-growing hill area near Changning town, centred on Foli village, part of a belt of some 12,000 mu of pear orchards. - Hengjiang Ancient Town 横江古镇 4A scenic area · on the map
An old river town at the southern tip of Yibin's Xuzhou District, on the Hengjiang River near the Yunnan border, long known as a gateway between Sichuan and Yunnan. - Liubeichi Park 流杯池公园 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A small park on the north bank of the Min River in Yibin, built around the rock channel where the Song poet and calligrapher Huang Tingjian, exiled here from 1098 to 1100, is said to have floated wine cups during poetry gatherings. - Lizhuang Ancient Town 李庄古镇 4A scenic area · National heritage site
A riverside town on the south bank of the Yangtze east of Yibin, with stone-paved lanes, Qing-dynasty guild halls and temples, and the Zhang family ancestral hall with its windows carved with a hundred cranes. - Longhua Old Town and Baxian Mountain 龙华古镇与八仙山 4A scenic area · on the map
Longhua is an old town in Pingshan County with stone-paved lanes and the Liang Bridge over the clear Xiaolong stream, shaded by old huangjue fig trees. - Nanxi Old Town and City Wall 南溪古街 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
The riverside heart of Nanxi, a former county town on the Yangtze downstream of Yibin, where more than a kilometre of city wall survives with three gates, among them the Wenming Gate facing the river. - Qidonggou Gorge 七洞沟 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A wooded gorge of the Mianxi River in Changning County, hemmed in by red sandstone cliffs with waterfalls and springs, and popular in summer for its 3 km rafting run. - Wuliangye Distillery and Old Cellars 五粮液 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Yibin is the home of Wuliangye, one of China's best-known baijiu spirits, and the company's tourism area presents the history and making of the liquor through its Liquor Culture Museum and distillery grounds. - Xijiashan Manor 夕佳山民居 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A large country manor in Jiang'an County, begun in 1612 under the Ming and extended and repaired over the following centuries. - Xingwen Stone Sea 兴文石海 4A scenic area
A karst landscape on the southern rim of the Sichuan Basin, where fields of limestone pinnacles (the 'stone sea'), large caves such as Tianquan Cave and giant collapsed sinkholes, or tiankeng, form the core of the Xingwen UNESCO Global Geopark, designated in 2005. - Aikou Stone Archway 隘口石牌坊 National heritage site · on the map
A 17-metre carved stone archway (paifang) in Aikou village, Yuhe, in the hills of southern Gong County, raised in 1848 by a local scholar in honour of his widowed mother and listed as a national heritage site in 2006. - Daguan Tower, Yibin 大观楼 National heritage site
A gate tower in the centre of Yibin's old town, first built in the Jiajing reign of the Ming as the city's drum tower. - Hanging Coffins of the Bo, Gong County 珙县僰人悬棺 National heritage site · on the map
Wooden coffins lodged in niches and on wooden stakes driven into sheer limestone cliffs at Matangba, near Luobiao, and Sumawan, near Caoying, in southern Gong County, placed there over several centuries from around the Song dynasty. - Jiuzhou Pagoda 旧州塔 National heritage site · on the map
A Song-dynasty pagoda, repaired in the Ming, standing on the Jiuzhou flats on the north-western side of Yibin near the Wuliangye distillery grounds. - Lengyan Temple, Pingshan 楞严寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Buddhist temple at Zhongdu, in the mountains of western Pingshan County, with buildings dating from the Ming dynasty. - Long Family Manor, Pingshan 龙氏山庄 National heritage site · on the map
A late-Qing manor of six courtyards stepped up a tea hill at Yanmen village, begun in the early 19th century for an official family named Long, rebuilt in the 1850s and enlarged in 1870. - Nanguang River Cliff Tombs, Kejiu 南广河流域崖墓群 National heritage site · on the map
Rows of rock-cut tomb chambers in the red cliffs of Hongyan Mountain near Kejiu in Gao County, part of a group of cliff tombs and carvings along the Nanguang River that is listed as a national heritage site.
On the map
Open Yibin on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Yibin on the map