Walking into Dazu - Summit Guests Experience Cultural Heritage of Chongqing

The day after the closing of the 2016 World Tourism Cities Federation Chongqing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit, part of the guests traveled from the urban city to the 700 year old ancient battlefield. They walked into the ruins of ancient Hechuan Fishing Castle in Chongqing, and started their cultural heritage route trip to experience the beauty of the mountains and rivers. 

Guests started off from the Ancient Military Camp Villa in Fishing Castle. Following the lead of the guide, they visited the exhibition room and learned about the War of Fishing Castle through pictures and videos. The courage of the army during the Southern Song Dynasty inspired the guest. At last, guests visited the Great Wagon Road recovered from ancient ruins.

Walking along the wagon road, guests reached the Jialing River. The ancient city walls and magnificent Huguomen are still telling the story from the olden days, a brutal war and the innocent people. Guests were attracted by the blessing ceremony at Huguomen and snapped photos, while some of them were luckily honored with blessing ties by Abbot.

Jean Baptiste Diouf, Deputy Mayor of Dakar, took a lot of nice photos during the trip and he said that he will share these photos with his friends and suggest them to come to China to experience the history and culture here when goes back to Senegal.

"It’s very interesting and I really do like it!” Carrillo Cadavid Juan Pablo from Columbia was particularly interested in Chinese culture. He said that the historical story that the army and the people in Southern Song put up strong resistance to Mongol armies impressed him and the historical sites here were well-preserved, which he hoped that can be maintained continuously.

Mr. Yoon, Manager of Busan Tourism Development Organization also said that it was an interesting place which made him comfortable and he would recommend his friends to travel here.

In the afternoon, the guests visited the Laitan Ancient Town, one of the most famous historical and cultural towns in China, and enjoyed the Sichuan Opera Changing Faces performance and admired the beautiful landscapes surrounded by mountains and rivers. Many guests indicated that the Fishing Castle had a great influence on European history; they would recommend it to friends and hoped that more and more people would come and experience it.

On September 22nd, the guests visited to Baodingshan Rock Carving, the largest and best-preserved one in Dazu. They listened patiently to the stories behind each statue all the way and marveled at the exquisite carving technique and profound Chinese culture. Dazu Rock Carvings, which represented the highest level of grotto art in the world from the ninth to thirteenth century with Baodingshan and Beishan Rock Carvings being the most famous ones, was inscribed on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1999.

"So fantastic, so interesting,” exclaimed Nora Dolanska, who comes from Prague. She was impressed by the rock carvings during the first time visit and kept marking down details all along the way. “The Buddhas here are very exquisite, which especially caught my attention, the carving technique of ancient Chinese is really great,” she said.

After visiting the Baodingshan Rock Carving, Wan Jiangli, Deputy Director-General of Beilin District, Xi'an, was amazed by the elegancy of the flying statue and was fascinated by the technique of people in Southern Song with their long history of civilization and the "three religions in one" ideology. She said that Xi'an had attractions similar to there as well and she would recommend it to Xi'an citizens and strengthen the cultural exchanges between the two cities.

Counselor of Embassy of the Republic of Cote d' Ivoire in China also recognized the artistic achievements here. “Everyone in the world should travel here,” He said.

At the end of the trip, the guests visited the Longshui Lake of Dazu and traversed through the beautiful and peaceful scene by boat.

View the natural scenery, taste the local specials and enjoy the local folk-custom, the trip with beautiful mountains and rivers is a perfect end to the 2016 Chongqing Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit. We will gather strength to seek common development, so, let’s meet at the 2017 Los Angeles Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit.