Pingchang Hanzhong Ancient Road

Pingchang Hanzhong Ancient Road

The Pingchang Hanzhong Ancient Road is a cultural relic protection unit of Sichuan Province.

The so-called Hanzhong Ancient Road, as the name suggests, was an ancient route from Hanzhong in Shaanxi Province to Sichuan. This road stretched from Hanzhong through Tongjiang and passed by Pingchang (known in ancient times as Jiangkou), reaching Suiding (present-day Dazhou City) via both water and land routes before continuing on to Chongqing.

In ancient times, the journey from the Central Plains into Shu (Sichuan) was rugged and perilous, involving climbing cliffs and chiseling through mountains, as the poet Li Bai once wrote: "The road to Shu is hard, harder than ascending to the blue sky." Today, remnants of the ancient road are still clearly visible, and numerous inscriptions bear witness to the remarkable achievements of the ancients in carving roads and building bridges through the mountains. Within Pingchang County, there are especially many ancient inscriptions: for example, 1.5 kilometers north of Tian Tang Village in Xixing Township, there is the "Chang’an Ancient Road" inscription, carved in the 43rd year of the Wanli reign during the Ming Dynasty (1615) by Yuan Xue’an of Xian’an. It stands 1.18 meters tall, 0.7 meters wide, and the strokes themselves are 0.9 meters wide. There is also the phrase "The mountains part to let people pass" inscribed in the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty (1883) by Liao Lun in Jiangkou Town, as well as the "Stone Gorge Ode": "Heaven unveils its marvels: overlapping ridges and ranges embrace double loops, the road opens to a single thread. Ancient trees hang above the rocks, bamboos rise tall amid hazy mist. Birds roost at night and take flight at dawn, while fireflies glow in the evening light. Waters converge into the Min River, clouds connect to the Qin paths. Jiange and Kuimen stand apart east and west; Jade Rampart and Copper Beam divide their beauty. Step by step one ascends, as if reaching the heavens." These attest to the presence of ancient roads connecting the Central Plains to Shu that once passed through what is now Pingchang County.

Protected area: Stretching from Guwangjiatuo Wharf in Jiangkou Town → Hanzhong Road → Guibeiwan → Pharmaceutical Company → Baidingzhai, the total length is 11,000 meters. The boundary is set 5 meters outside the edge of the ancient bluestone roads and stairways, varying in width from 0.6 to 1 meter. The outer edges of two cliff inscriptions on both sides of Hanzhong Road are extended 15 meters; the stone inscriptions at Huayan Temple are extended 10 meters; the walls of Baidingzhai are extended 10 meters.

Construction control zone: Extending 15 meters beyond the protected area.

Further reading:

· Eighth Batch of Cultural Relic Protection Units of Sichuan Province