Chaoyang Tower
The east gate tower of Jianshui Ancient Town, built in the 22nd year of the Ming Hongwu era (1389) — 28 years before Beijing's Tiananmen. Its triple-eaved hip-and-gable tower and gate platform resemble Tiananmen, earning it the nickname 'Little Tiananmen'
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- 08:00-18:00
- Ticket
- approx. CNY 15
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
The east gate tower of Jianshui Ancient Town, built in the 22nd year of the Ming Hongwu era (1389) — 28 years before Beijing's Tiananmen — its triple-eaved hip-and-gable tower and gate platform so resemble Tiananmen that it is nicknamed 'Little Tiananmen'. The great 'Xiongzhen Dongnan' (Majestic Guardian of the Southeast) plaque atop the tower is Qing-dynasty calligraphy, and the climb up commands views over the old town's rooftops and distant farmland. The tower's bricks and stones are original Ming-era materials, standing firm through 600 years of weather and several earthquakes; swallows swirling beneath the gate are a spring-and-summer spectacle.
Getting there: East Gate of the old town
Photos
More in Jianshui
- Jianshui Ancient Town
Jianshui County was established in the Nanzhao period; in the Ming Hongwu era Lin'an Prefecture was set up and the present town built. Its 600-plus-year-old layout survives intact — known as the 'Zou-Lu of southern Yunnan', a famed land of culture and literature
- Zhu Family Garden
A residence-and-garden complex built by the wealthy Zhu brothers of Jianshui over more than twenty years in the Qing Guangxu era: covering over 20,000 square meters with 214 rooms, it is the largest and most complete surviving private garden in southern Yunnan, hailed as the 'Grand View Garden of the southwest frontier'
- Jianshui Confucian Temple
First built in the 22nd year of the Zhiyuan reign of the Yuan dynasty (1285), it is one of the largest regional Confucian temples extant in China, second in scale only to the Temple of Confucius in Qufu
- Shuanglong Bridge
Commonly known as the Seventeen-Arch Bridge, built during the Qianlong and Daoguang reigns of the Qing dynasty: a 17-arch stone bridge 148 m long, named for the Lujiang and Tachong rivers converging here like a pair of dragons, and hailed as the 'No. 1 Bridge of Yunnan'
- Tuanshan Tourist Train · Xianghuiqiao Station
The oldest still-operating meter-gauge sightseeing line in Yunnan: the vintage train from Lin'an Station to Tuanshan passes century-old stations such as Shuanglongqiao and Xianghuiqiao
- Tuanshan Village
An ancient clan village of the Zhang family west of Jianshui with 600 years of history: 19 Qing-dynasty residential courtyards survive, and their fine preservation earned it a place on the World Monuments Watch (endangered architectural heritage) list, earning it the nickname 'the Loulan of Yunnan'