Shangli Ancient Town

Summary

As one of the top ten ancient towns in Sichuan province, Shangli Ancient Town once served as an important post on the South Silk Road and the Ancient Tea-Horse Trail in history. Besides, it witnessed the Long March (1934–1936) of the Red Army in modern times.

Overview

Nestling among hills and surrounded by rivers, the town is noted for its evergreen trees, delicate hillocks, wooden resident houses, stone-paved streets, towers, ancient archways, caves, the Tang dynasty’s spring (The White Horse Spring), and historical stone bridges. Two streams with distinctive scenery on the banks flow gently around the town.

The stone-paved streets are flanked with various styles of residential houses and courtyards in a layout of the Chinese character "well", which remains intact. The ancient bridges, ancient pagodas, ancient trees, ancient caves and ancient memorial archways are distributed in or near the town, contrasting finely with each other.

The perfect combination of history, culture and tradition with natural beauty makes the town all of mystery and vitality.

Ancient bridges

There are more than ten ancient stone bridges inside the town with long history and distinguished styles. They not only serve as a critical passageway, but also reflect the long history of the town and the flawless workmanship of the masters. Among them, the Liangxian Bridge built in 1776 features the culture of water towns in Jiangnan (regions south of the Yangtze River) and enjoys the most fame. Besides, two bridges, one upper and one lower, are striding across the Longxi River and serve as the key passageway to the town. They form a “modern” flyover.

Ancient Towers

There are four ancient towers, Wenfeng Tower, Jianqiao Tower, Yaowang Tower and Sheli Tower, which all together reflect and symbolize the political, economic, historical, cultural and artistic prosperity.

Ancient Memorial Archways

These ancient memorial archways are the historical remains of Feudal etiquette, which have witnessed the old restrictions on women at that time, yet displayed the essence of Chinese carving art. There preserve three huge and elegant archways with stories of dramatic characters curved on.

Ancient Springs

There exist two springs inside the town, Baima Spring and Pengzhu Spring. The former, also named as Longyuan Spring, is a geyser of equal or constant temperature. The spring water flowing out from the month of a stone dragon keeps 15 degree or so all year around. Pengzhu Spring, only 100 meters from Baima Spring, never dries, and you can always see pearl-like bubbles springing with the clean water.

The Han Garden Mansion

In Shangli Ancient Town sit many building complexes fashionable in design and superb in workmanship. The Han Garden Mansion, one of the most famous, was built during the reign of Jiaqin Emperor (1796–1820) of Qing Dynasty (1616–1911). All gates, windows, and eaves were decorated by exquisite relieves, piercing carve and inlaid and carved work. It took three generations to finish the whole carving work, with a theme of excerpts from Cantonese opera and historical legends.

Location

Shangli Ancient Town is located on the north of Ya'an City, 27 kilometers (14.6 miles) from the downtown. It only takes half an hour by car.

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