Mingyue Gorge Scenic Area (Chaotian Gorge)

Mingyue Gorge Scenic Area (Chaotian Gorge)

The Mingyue Gorge Scenic Area (Chaotian Gorge) is a national AAAA-level tourist attraction.

The Mingyue Gorge Scenic Area is located in Mingyue Gorge, about 1 kilometer south of Chaotian Town and 23 kilometers north of Guangyuan City, along the Jialing River. It sits at the strategic throat of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway, flanked by sheer cliffs on both sides and the river waves crashing against the shores. On the eastern cliff, remnants of ancient plank road holes—stretching nearly half a kilometer—can still be seen. The plank road was first carved during the pre-Qin period and was maintained and repaired by successive dynasties. As recorded in *Records of the Grand Historian*, there is an account stating that “plank roads spanned a thousand *li* connecting to Shu and Han.”

In the autumn of 316 BC, King Hui of Qin adopted the strategy of Sima Cuo and ordered Zhang Yi, Sima Cuo, and Commandant Mo to lead troops along this route to conquer Shu. Liu Bang of the Western Han, then reigning as the King of Han, dispatched Xiao He to repair the plank roads. Hundreds of thousands of *dan* of military rations from northern Sichuan and countless commoners' sons were transported through this area to support the front lines, hence the saying, “The rise of Han originated from Shu and Han.” During the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang repaired and expanded the plank roads while campaigning north against Cao Wei, turning them into vital routes for deploying troops and transporting supplies. The Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai wrote the timeless masterpiece *Difficulty of the Shu Road*. Today, this gorge uniquely combines six types of ancient and modern transportation routes—waterways, towpaths, plank roads, courier roads, highways, and railways—earning it the title “China’s Museum of Transportation History.” Nowadays, the Shu Road is no longer difficult.

Chaotian Gorge. The origin of Mingyue Gorge’s name: Chaotian derives its name from when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang sought refuge in Shu during the An Lushan Rebellion, where local officials welcomed and paid homage to the emperor here. Mingyue Gorge, since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, has been admired by many literati and scholars for its natural beauty, leading them to name it after Li Bai’s poetic lines “Cool breeze, clear skies, autumn moon shines bright.”

The mystery behind the ancient plank road’s construction: Like the Great Wall and the Grand Canal, the ancient plank road stands as one of humanity’s great engineering feats—its scientifically sound structure and the immense labor involved in its construction. The ancient myth of the “Five strong men opening the road” has circulated for millennia, casting a mystical aura over the road’s creation. *Difficulty of the Shu Road* contains the verse, “The earth split and mountains crumbled, brave men died, only then could the ladder of heaven and rocky plank road be linked.” Whether the plank road was built by hanging baskets from ropes halfway up cliffs, constructing scaffolds in the river, or first drilling holes horizontally, laying planks, then boring more holes in sequence—it remains a mystery to this day. Only the hundreds of surviving plank road holes on the eastern cliff can truly tell the tale.

Xiao He’s extraordinary voyage through Mingyue Gorge:

The ruins of the Xiao He Stele are now located below the Tiger’s Mouth of Mingyue Gorge. The inscription reads: “... When King Pei of Han became the King of Hanzhong, he governed 41 counties in Ba, Shu, and Hanzhong, with his capital at Nanzheng. ... The king kept Xiao He in Nanzheng to collect taxes and rents from Ba and Shu to support the military provisions...”

This passage supports the historical fact that Emperor Gaozu (Liu Bang) sent Xiao He to repair the plank roads of Mingyue Gorge. During Zhuge Liang’s Northern Expeditions against Cao Wei, there was often the dilemma of “retreating due to lack of grain.” He once dispatched Fei Yi to renovate this road, turning it into a channel for troop deployment and supply transport. The “wooden ox and flowing horse,” a type of transportation, was also created to suit Shu Road conditions. However, the expeditions ultimately failed due to the extreme difficulty of the Shu Road and the limitations of the Shu Kingdom.

Lu You’s tragic end at Mingyue Gorge: Faced with the Southern Song government’s unwillingness to fight and its abandonment of resisting the Jin invaders in the northwest, the poet Lu You was deeply saddened. While traveling from Nanzheng in Hanzhong to take up his post in Chengdu, he—like a gravely ill man out of his mind—sailed in a small boat through Wangyun Beach and accidentally dropped over a hundred of his *Shannan Miscellaneous Poems*, written in Nanzheng, into the river. Historical records show that the ancient Wangyun Beach is not far from the exit of Mingyue Gorge.

Zhang Xianzhong’s dominance over Mingyue Gorge: In the year 1644, Guangyuan and Zhaohua were under the territory of Zhang Xianzhong’s Daxi regime. At the time, Yan Tianhan, a scholar from Chengdu, attempted to travel north to Shaanxi to ask Li Zicheng to enter Shu. On his way through Mingyue Gorge, he was captured by patrol soldiers of Zhang Xianzhong’s forces, and later executed in Chengdu. From this incident arose the historically renowned event of the Daxi regime’s “scholar massacre.”

For a thousand *li*, the Shu Road, during the Han and Tang Dynasties, served as a critical courier road connecting the national political center of Chang’an with the southwestern regions, serving as a bond between the politics, economy, and culture of Qin and Shu.

It is China’s oldest “national highway.”

Address: Mingyue Gorge Scenic Area, Chaotian District, Guangyuan City

Type: Historical Site / Ancient Road

Rating: AAAA

Recommended Visit Duration: About 3 hours

Phone: 0839-8623838

Official Website: http://www.gymyx.com/

Opening Hours:

8:30-18:00

Ticket Price: 80 RMB