The Ancient Tea and Salt Road of Wanyuan

The Ancient Tea and Salt Road of Wanyuan

The Ancient Tea and Salt Road was one of the main transportation routes in Wanyuan’s history. Centered around the county town of Wanyuan, this ancient thoroughfare extended eastward to Chengkou, Xuanhan, and down to Kai County; southward through Xuanhan to Dazhou, Kaijiang, and Kai County; westward to Tongjiang and Bazhou; and northward into Shaanxi and onward to Gansu. Merchants trading in tea and salt had to pass through these key routes, hence the road came to be known as the “Ancient Tea and Salt Road.”

The ancient road winds through towering mountains and steep ridges, crisscrossed with ravines and layered peaks. Its perilous passes are as tightly locked as keys, and its rugged paths twist like mountain trails—no one knows exactly when or by whom it was built. Just the section in Shitang Township: stretching approximately 40 li from Heitanzi to Tongtian Guan, it was paved entirely with bluestone slabs measuring 1.3 to 1.5 meters wide, leaving behind many beautiful and moving legends. Over time, ravaged by floods and altered by human hands, the stone path below the dam has vanished. However, the stretch from Wan changou to Tongtian Guan remains well-preserved to this day. It is the most intact section of the entire Sichuan-Shaanxi Salt and Tea Ancient Road and is still in use, making it an awe-inspiring highlight of the historic route.

“The road to Shu is harder than scaling the blue sky”—a line from Li Bai’s poetry that vividly captures the treacherousness of the roads in ancient Shu. Yet the people of Shu have always been innovators, never lacking in those willing to “move mountains” to build pathways, as proven by the salt and tea roads carved along sheer cliffs.

At the Shitang to Tongtian Guan section of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Salt and Tea Ancient Road in Dazhou’s Wanyuan City, an on-site exploration revealed a stone carving of the character “Kui” (魁) at the summit of Tongtian Guan. The carving is located on a bluestone cliff face about 5 meters above the ground, facing west. The character is engraved within a flat-roofed niche measuring 1.8 meters in height, 1.6 meters in width, and 7 centimeters in depth. Local lore says that this road was once steep and eerie, with frequent mishaps such as people getting injured or lost. To ward off evil spirits, locals commissioned a craftsman to carve this character and painted it red, symbolizing “fighting ghosts.”

Later, another Ming Dynasty stone carving was discovered on the same cliff face as the “Kui” character. Though weathered by time, the cloud patterns surrounding the carving and the inscribed text remain clearly visible. According to the carving, it was created in the autumn of the eighth year of the Wanli era during the Ming Dynasty (i.e., 1580 AD, over 434 years ago). The inscription describes the benevolent act of a man named Yang Qi and his wife, who, together with their son and two daughters-in-law, compassionately carved out a stone staircase measuring “three zhang and four chi” (approximately 11 meters) along the steep rocks.

Twelve meters below the “Kui” character carving lies a small temple. On both sides of the inner walls are three tablet-shaped steles, with faded inscriptions. Faintly visible are inscriptions dated “the ninth year of the Jiaqing era (1804),” “the twenty-first year of the Jiaqing era (1816),” and “the Republican Era · · · year.” Additionally, another tablet-shaped stele was found along the ancient road. It stands 1.67 meters tall and 0.7 meters wide, and features vertically carved regular-script characters reading “The Benevolent Governance of Lord Zhang” (referring to Zhang Yongxi, a Guangxi-born scholar-official from Linchuan who served as magistrate of Taiping County in the fifth year of the Guangxu era [1879]). Next to it is an impromptu poem he composed while riding past Tongtian Guan: *Today my horse arrives at Tongtian’s height,* *Cloud-shrouded cliffs lie spread before my sight.* *The spring reflects my soul so pure and bright,* *Its clear, rippling waters gleam in light.*

This ancient road stretches endlessly, emerging from the depths of history, inspiring awe for its grandeur and weightiness. People may ponder its past prosperity and decline, yet no one knows its exact date of construction. “Based on the cultural relics discovered so far, this road was likely first carved during the mid-Ming Dynasty, with origins traceable back to the Tang Dynasty, making it nearly a thousand years old.”