Zhenwu Ancient Town

Zhenwu Ancient Town

Zhenwu Ancient Town is located in the southeastern part of Zhiping Subdistrict Office, Jiangjin District, Chongqing. The town boasts significant geographical advantages and abundant tourism resources. In particular, the Zhenwu Community features a highly valuable cultural landmark—the Hakka Migrants’ Guild Hall.

Originally a wild grassy marshland, after the mid-Kangxi period, Hakka people from provinces such as Huguang, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong continuously came here to reclaim and cultivate the land. As their livelihoods flourished, they began constructing ancestral temples and fellow-province guild halls, leaving behind a collection of outstanding architecture: the TianShang Palace, NanHua Palace, and WanShou Palace—guild halls of Hakka migrants from Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong; the Wu Zejun Residence, a European-style residential building built in the 20th century; and the Ma Family Western-style House, a colonial-style residence from the Republican era. The “Three Palaces” were all built in the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty and feature traditional quadrangle layouts. These structures are grand in scale and majestic in structure, especially the Ma Family Western-style House, which boasts an exquisitely ingenious layout and uniquely captivating composition. Approaching them, you can sense the timeless simplicity hidden within their deep courtyards. Through these guild halls and residences, one can imagine how lively and bustling this small town, once filled with diverse dialects, must have been in its heyday.

Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, there have been two main transportation routes between Sichuan and Guizhou: one was the Boxi (Qijiang) Route, which went south from Jiangjin through Qijiang County into Guizhou’s Tongzi and on to Zunyi. The Boxi is the Qijiang River that flows past Zhenwu Wharf. This was a transfer dock for Sichuan merchant ships entering Guizhou and Guizhou ships entering Sichuan, serving as a distribution hub for goods such as Sichuan salt, citrus fruits, and Guizhou cookware. Every evening, the area would be dotted with lanterns on sails and masts, with people coming and going at the docks.

In the early Qing Dynasty, this place was merely a wild bamboo raft crossing on an untamed riverbank, desolate and uninhabited for miles. It was not until the mid-Kangxi period, amid the surging wave of the Hakka people’s “settling in Sichuan” migration movement, that it became a feng shui treasure land where one could “claim land and make a living,” turning into a center for multi-province Hakka migrant settlements. There were two main migration routes the Hakka people took to enter Sichuan: one was through the Three Gorges into Sichuan, arriving first at their stronghold of Chongqing for a brief rest, then continuing westward along the Yangtze River toward the Chengdu Plain. The first stop on the westward journey from Chongqing was Jiangjin. After entering the region, some Hakka migrants discovered the major tributary Qijiang River and the Sunxi River, prompting some of them to settle here. The second route was through northern Guizhou via Zunyi into Sichuan. The first major river upon entering Sichuan was the Qijiang River, which originates in northern Guizhou. Following the Qijiang River downstream in search of an ideal place, they eventually arrived at the convergence of the Sunxi River with the Qijiang and the Qijiang with the Yangtze River—this very feng shui treasure land. The two groups of migrants unintentionally converged here. Together with the local indigenous people, the Hakka cultivated this fertile land. Zhenwu Town rose because of the Hakka, and the Hakka prospered because of Zhenwu Town.

Scenic Area Address: Zhenwu Town, Zhiping Subdistrict, Jiangjin District, Chongqing

Transportation: From Chongqing, take a bus from Longtousi, Caiyuanba, or Chenjiaping to Jiangjin Passenger Transport Center, then transfer to a bus heading to Zhenwu Town.