Ciqikou Ancient Town

Ciqikou sits above the Jialing River in Shapingba District, on a site that has been a river port since at least the Song dynasty and grew into a major porcelain-shipping town during the Ming and Qing periods, when its kilns and wharves gave the settlement its name (literally 'porcelain-mouth'). The town's stone-paved lanes climb the hillside from the old dock in a layout largely unchanged since the Qing dynasty, lined with wood-and-tile courtyard houses that once belonged to merchant families and porcelain traders. Zhong's Courtyard (Zhongjia Yuan), a preserved Qing-dynasty merchant residence open to visitors for a small fee, and Baolun Temple, an active Buddhist monastery dating to the Ming dynasty with a bell tower and hillside cliff halls, are the two ticketed sites within the free-to-enter old town. Much of Ciqikou was in decline by the mid-20th century as river shipping gave way to rail and road transport, and large sections were restored and reconstructed from the 1990s onward as a heritage tourism district, so the buildings that line the main streets today are a mix of original Qing-dynasty structures and later reconstructions built in the same stone-and-timber style. The old town's steep, narrow lanes and riverside teahouses are presented with minimal formal interpretation, functioning as a lived commercial district selling local snacks and crafts rather than a curated museum, with the historic character conveyed mainly through the preserved street layout and the two ticketed heritage buildings.