Qingjiang Ancient City

Qingjiang Ancient City

The Qingjiang Ancient City Cultural Tourism Resort is located in Hejiaping Village, Longzhouping Town, Changyang County, nestled in a picturesque landscape. Just a bridge away from downtown Changyang, it lies against the Qinglong Ridge, faces the Phoenix Mountain, embraces the waters of the Qingjiang River, cradles the Carp Island, and neighbors the Guanyin Temple. Surrounded by mountains and rivers, the area is blessed with a rich cultural heritage.

The planning and layout of Qingjiang Ancient City is summarized as "One-Two-Three-Four-Five," which stands for one city, two courtyards (the Cultural Courtyard and the Eco Courtyard), three buildings (the Restaurant Building, the Opera Building, and the Stilted Building), four streets (the Cultural Street, the Stone Street, the Leisure Street, and the Food Street), and five museums (the Wang Guoxin Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting Academy, the Peng Qiutan Memorial Hall, the Ba People Museum, the Three Gorges Stone Museum, and the Ba-Tu Academy). On December 29, 2012, China’s first Tujia ethnic group creation epic song and dance drama, “Jiangshan Meiren” (Rivers and Mountains, Beauties), was spectacularly staged at the Qingjiang Ancient City Theater, marking the official opening of the resort. Qingjiang Ancient City has been included in key projects such as the China Three Gorges Tourism Destination Project, the Hubei Western Ecological and Cultural Tourism Circle Project, the Hubei Minority Areas "616" Project, the core project of the Qingjiang Gallery National 5A-level Scenic Area, and has been listed as a provincial cultural industry park, provincial tourism resort, and provincial cultural industry demonstration base.

Located at the Qingjiang Bridgehead in Changyang Tujia Autonomous County, Hubei Province, Qingjiang Ancient City is just a bridge away from downtown Changyang. It lies against the Qinglong Ridge, faces the Phoenix Mountain, embraces the waters of the Qingjiang River, cradles the Carp Island, and neighbors the Guanyin Temple. The ancient city is 320 kilometers east of Wuhan, the provincial capital, a mere 2-hour drive via the Hankou-Yichang High-Speed Railway; 56 kilometers north of Yichang City, just a 50-minute drive; 32 kilometers from the Three Gorges Airport, and 28 kilometers from the Yangtze River Port Terminal, both about a half-hour drive away.

The “Ancient-Style Three Buildings” of Qingjiang Ancient City

A Taste of Tradition at the Restaurant Building. The Qingjiang Ancient City Hotel is a comprehensive hotel dedicated to serving the public. Invested by Qingjiang Ancient City Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd. with over 40 million yuan, the hotel was designed and built to four-star standards. It is the iconic building of Qingjiang Ancient City, featuring a classic and dignified exterior, a fully functional interior with unique design that showcases the Ba-Tu cultural charm. Covering a construction area of 11,000 square meters, the hotel can accommodate 300 guests and serve 600 diners at once. With fashionable and elegant décor, complete facilities, and a comfortable environment, the hotel offers various room types including business single rooms, deluxe standard rooms, and executive suites. It also features luxurious private dining rooms, an upscale buffet restaurant, a spacious banquet hall, a multifunctional conference room, and a charming lounge bar, providing comprehensive services and entertainment amenities.

Song and Dance at the Opera Building. The Qingjiang Ancient City Theater, designed with a modern Tujia and Chinese style, covers a construction area of 5,000 square meters. With its varied heights, novel shape, and unique concept, the theater houses two performance halls that can accommodate 600 spectators at once. On December 29, 2012, China’s first Tujia ethnic group creation epic song and dance drama, “Jiangshan Meiren,” jointly developed over nearly two years and with an investment of more than 13 million yuan by Qingjiang Ancient City Cultural Tourism Co., Ltd., was stunningly premiered here.

Ba Flavor and Local Charm at the Stilted Building. Along the Qingjiang River, there is a 1,200-meter-long cluster of stilted buildings. These buildings exhibit the structural beauty of “white walls, gray tiles, and horse-head walls,” the decorative beauty of “corridors, lattice windows, and flower-patterned panels,” the layered beauty of “varying heights and staggered arrangements,” and the living charm of “spending a night in a stilted house, dreaming gloriously for ten years.” They leave visitors enchanted and immersed in the rich Ba cultural atmosphere.

The “Five Featured Museums” of Qingjiang Ancient City

The Wang Guoxin Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting Academy. This square-shaped courtyard building will house and exhibit artworks by Mr. Wang Guoxin, a renowned contemporary painter and calligrapher, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. These include his 10-volume comic series “The Three Chapters of the Yangtze River,” the 158-meter silk scroll painting “Scenes Along the Yangtze River,” “Qingjiang Riverside Painting,” and 240 traditional Chinese paintings depicting “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.”

The Peng Qiutan Memorial Hall. Peng Qiutan was a famous Tujia poet of the Qing Dynasty in China, equally renowned as Yang Shoujing of Yidu, and hailing from Gaoyayan, Changyang. Born into a scholarly family, he passed the imperial examination in the 35th year of the Qianlong Emperor’s reign and only began his official career at age 41, serving as a county magistrate in places like Jishui, Jiangxi. He produced a large body of literary works, mainly poetry, including over 100 bamboo-branch poems. His “Collected Works of Peng Qiutan” is housed in the National Library. The memorial hall is divided into three exhibition zones: his childhood, youth and middle age, and later years.

The Ba People Museum. Changyang is the homeland of the “Changyang Man” from 190,000 years ago and the birthplace of the Ba people from 4,000 years ago. To unravel the mysteries of the Ba people, this museum was established following a directive from Li Hongzhong, then Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee. The exhibition includes four sections: Ancient Civilization, Historical Traces, The Capital of Yi City, and Legacy of the Ba People. The Tujia people, descendants of the Ba, are characterized by “a great birth, a carefree life, genuine love, and a liberated death.”

The Three Gorges Stone Museum. Changyang is honored as the “Hometown of Ornamental Stones in China.” Hejiaping Village, where Qingjiang Ancient City is located, is a well-known stone village throughout the province. The Qingjiang stones processed here are sold to 26 provinces, municipalities, and some Southeast Asian countries, generating annual sales exceeding 60 million yuan. To support the growth of the local stone industry, Qingjiang Ancient City has not only built a Stone Street but also constructed this museum. It includes a stone exhibition and sales area and a premium stone display area, showcasing top-quality stones from the Three Gorges region and beyond. The goal is to develop Hejiaping Village into the largest stone processing and trading market in Hubei Province.

The Ba-Tu Academy. The Ba-Tu Academy features sections such as the Ba-Tu Library, the Ba-Tu Audiovisual Archive, and the Writers’ Room. It gathers all research achievements on Ba-Tu history and culture by descendants of the Ba people from Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Chongqing. It also establishes the China Ba Studies and China Ba-Tu Literature Repository, and compiles and publishes the “Chinese Ba Culture Dictionary.”

Changyang Qingjiang Gallery

Machi Ancient Stockade

Ancient Capital of the Ba State

North Latitude 30 Degrees Island

Immortal Stockade

Reflection Gorge

Wuluo Zhongli Mountain