Luozhen Ancient Town

Luozhen Ancient Town

Nestled in the rolling hills where Sichuan’s Renshou, Weiyuan, and Zhongjiang counties meet, Luozhen Ancient Town lies quietly beside the Zhuxi River, a tributary of the Tuojiang. It rose to fame in the mid-Qing Dynasty following the discovery of salt wells. Back then, the town was bustling with merchants and teeming with life. Today, only the well-preserved Salt God Temple remains, exuding an ancient desolation.

Wandering through the town’s ancient streets and temples, you’ll find a sense of leisure winding through the winding alleys of black-tiled wooden houses. The long-suffering yet hardworking and honest people of Luozhen are simple, kind-hearted, and generous. Women busy themselves with needlework while chatting intimately, elderly locals sip tea and listen to opera with contented smiles on their faces as the warm sunlight shines down. Just on the five-li-long old street, there are over ten teahouses doing brisk business. Step into a teahouse with a courtyard by the bridge, order a covered bowl tea, and listen to the elders recount the town’s glorious past. Luozhen, famed throughout the world for its salt production, has a long history that dates back to the Qin Dynasty. By the Qing Dynasty, its salt industry had reached its peak. During the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, Luozhen had over 1,500 salt wells, and its well salt won a gold medal at the 1925 Paris World Expo. In those days, the town was thronged with merchants, the sounds of horse hooves and mule bells filled the air, and the bustle was lively — best attested to by the Salt God Temple across the river. Built in the seventh year of the Tongzhi reign in the Qing Dynasty (1868), the Salt God Temple stands as an important emblem of the town’s former glory. Inside, Guan Zhong is worshipped as the god of salt, accompanied by Guan Yu and the Fire God as his aides. The temple features triple-layered eaves and upturned corners, with a central hall roof adorned with vivid carvings of dragons jostling for a treasure—a scene still strikingly lifelike despite a century of wind and rain.

Today, the Salt God Temple serves as a gathering place for locals. People sit lazily on the stone steps of its main hall, basking in the sun. Passing through the old theater stage at the entrance and into the expansive open-air square in front of the temple, the surrounding side rooms, corridors, and wing rooms have faded with time. Climbing the steps to the main hall, you can clearly see a cloud drifting across the blue sky through the open skylight. Over a dozen thick wooden pillars support the ancient structure, and wild grasses swaying on the eaves whisper of the town’s distant past.