zhongxian

the city got its name by moving stories about two patriots. in the warring states period (475-221 bc), ba manzi, a native of zhongxian, became a general to the army of the kingdom of ba. later in a civil war of the kingdom, he was sent to the kingdom of chu to beg military assistance to put down the rebellion. chu demanded three ba cities as the forfeit. once chu's troops had helped restore stability to ba, the king of chu demanded the payoff. ba manzi, however, said: 'though i promised chu the cities you will take my head in thanks to the king of chu, for the cities of ba cannot be given away'. the king of chu was moved and sighed: 'cities would count as nothing had i loyal ministers like ba manzi'. he then ordered that ba manzi's head be buried with full honors.

the second tale is of another valiant general yan yan, who served the minor han dynasty (ad 221-63). captured by the shu general zhang fei, he refused to surrender, saying boldly: 'in my country we had a general who cut off his own head rather than surrendered'. enraged, zhang fei ordered yan's beheading. the doomed general remained perfectly calm as he asked simply, 'why are you so angry? if you want to cut off my head then give the order, but there is no point in getting angry.' zhang fei was so deeply moved by yan's loyalty and bravery that he personally treated him as an honored soldier.

traditionally, the thick bamboo hawsers used to haul junks over the rapids were made in this area, as the local bamboo is especially tenacious. today, bamboo handicrafts are a thriving industry, while the local food speciality is zhongxian beancurd milk.

shibaozhai (precious stone stronghold)

on the downstream journey of the yangtze, shibaozhai represents the first gem of chinese architecture to be encountered. a distance view of a protruding 220-meter hill resembles a jade seal.

on the south bank of the yangtze river, it was firstly built in the qing dynasty in 1650. as one of the most spectacular sites along the river, this 12-storied wooden red pavilion with a height of 56 meters, hugs a sheer rectangular cliff. it consists of three parts: the entrance gate, a nine-storied wooden pavilion and a small temple at the top.

on its yellow glazed entrance gate is an inscription inviting the visitor to climb the ladder and ascend into a 'little fairyland' (the top temple). the top temple was built during the reign of emperor qianlong. originally, the top temple is inaccessible for its elevation and later an iron access chain to it was attached to the cliff. in 1819, the nine-storied red wooden pavilion was add so that monks and visitors to the temple would not have to suffer the discomforts of the chain ascent and designers also build interior cockle stairs to make the climbing more convenient.