Wanzhou

Wanzhou is situated to the north the Yangtze River, 327 kilometers from the central part of Chongqing. This place belonged to Quren county during the Western Han Dynasty, and was named Yangqu County in the year 216 in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Later it was known by different names: Nanpu, Yuquan, Wanxiang and was named Wanzhou in the Tang Dynasty. In 1373 during the Ming Dynasty, it was reduced to Wanxian county. In 1928, it was named the city of Wanxian, and gradually became the gate to east Sichuan. Now it is under the jurisdiction of Chongqing.

Wanzhou - Taibaiyan (Taibai Rock)

Wanzhou is at once a riverside city and a mountain city. Taibaiyan Mountain and Tiancheng Mountain stand at its back as two screens, while the Yangtze River runs in front of it. Taibaiyan got its name because, as the legend goes, Li Bai (also known as Li Taibai) once stayed on this mountain reading, chanting poems and meeting friends. Now on this mountain there is the tomb and tablet for He Qifang, a famous contemporary poet, and some inscriptions of poems and essays. Tiancheng Mountain, also known as Tianzicheng, or city of the emperor, used to be the camping site of Liu Bei, emperor of state Shu, and traces of stockade gates and walls of the ancient stronghold still remain.

Wanzhou - West Mountain Pavilion

In the center of the city of Wanzhou there stands an ancient terraced pavilion – West Mountain Pavilion. In this three-storied hexagon pavilion there is a tablet, on which is inscribed Xishanji, or Travel Notes of a Tour to West Mountain, written in 1101 by Huang Tingjian, a noted poet of the Northern Song Dynasty. On the tablet are 173 Chinese characters in 21 columns, each character about 12 centimeters across, written by Huang the poet himself in the running style.

Wanzhou - West Mountain Park

The West Mountain Park to the west of the city was built in the early 1900s. The clock tower is very tall and can be seen far away on the Yangtze River. What is strange about the tower is that the lower part of the structure is not solid.

Through dozens of years' development, Wanzhou has become a famous tourist destination of Yangtze River and Chongqing.