Fangdouping

Fangdouping

Fangdouping is located in Gaonan Township, Chengkou County — one of the most remote areas of Chongqing — bordering Shaanxi Province. The region features expansive mountain ranges, crisscrossing valleys, and peaks mostly over 2,000 meters above sea level. The valleys are deeply incised, with elevation differences between gullies and ridges ranging from 800 to 1,200 meters. The area includes peak clusters, underground rivers, trough valleys, and remnants of ancient glaciers.

The flatlands are dotted with neat houses and well-tilled fields, surrounded by dense primeval forests, with a clear, winding stream running through them. The area earned the name “Fangdou” (meaning “square grain measure”) because it lies in a broad valley at the foot of towering mountains, resembling a giant grain measure filled with crops.

Stone slab houses, blue stone-tiled roofs, wooden pigsties with stacked timber, and garden fences made of timber railings offer a glimpse into an agricultural society where men farmed and women wove.

As an exceptionally pristine “cool paradise and dreamlike ancient village,” Fangdouping preserves well-maintained, traditional, simple, and elegant dwellings. Its honest and unpretentious local customs, the image of elderly men wearing white cloth headwraps and smoking long, dry tobacco pipes, along with folk songs like “The first dam is wide, the second dam is long, the third and fourth dams have pretty girls…” that linger in the air, all make it a truly enchanting destination.

Tourism information hotline: 023-59500000; Daba Mountain Forest Homestay address: Group 4, Tuanjie Village, Gaonan Township, phone: 15923453472

Source: Chengkou Tourism Website