Dachang Ancient Town

Dachang Ancient Town is located 10 kilometers north of the mouth of Dicui Gorge in the Small Three Gorges Scenic Area (National 5A Scenic Area) in Wushan County, Chongqing. The ancient town was built in Jin Dynasty and has a history of more than 1,700 years. It is the only well-preserved ancient city in the Three Gorges area. The ancient town covers an area of about 10 hectares, the east-west main street is about 350 meters long, and the north-south length is about 200 meters. They are all prefectures and counties, and it was also an important dock and a distribution center for medicinal materials and mountain goods in the Ninghe River. Dachang was called Taichang in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and it was a territory of the Ba State; later in the Zhou Dynasty, it was changed to Dachang, and the abandoned county was merged into Wushan County during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. The terrain in Dachang is complex, the mountains are as steep as a city wall, and the canyons are as narrow as corridors. From the battle of Chu, Kui, Bashu and Shu in the Spring and Autumn Period to the Battle of Yiling in the Three Kingdoms Period, from the Zhang Xianzhong uprising army in the late Ming Dynasty to Dachang three times, to the early Qing Dynasty "Kuidong Thirteen Schools" insurgents resisting the Qing Dynasty, Dachang could not escape the wars and disputes. Although the ancient town has undergone several wars in modern times, it has miraculously retained its original appearance. There are three city gates in the ancient town: east, south and west, Chaoyang Gate in the east, Yongfeng Gate in the west, and Tongji Gate in the south, all of which are well preserved. There are also several well-preserved streets built in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The arches and ancient buildings on the street are carved with beams and painted buildings, and the corners and cornices are full of ancient style. The town has only two main streets, the north-south street is more than 150 meters long, and the east-west street is more than 240 meters long, covering an area of less than 10 hectares. There are thirty-seven ancient residential buildings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties with ancient cornices and cornices in the town, and there are complete ancient city walls. Most of the houses were built in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, with blue bricks and black tiles, double-pipe eaves, cornices, carved beams and painted buildings, and wooden facades, showing a simple beauty. Since the Three Gorges Project began to store water in May 2003, the original site of the ancient town will be completely silent under the surging Daning River. The overall relocation project of Dachang Ancient Town was officially launched on February 21, 2002. The whole town was rebuilt by Dachang Lake under Xibaoling, 8 kilometers away from the old site, according to its original appearance. This is a miracle in the history of the protection of ancient dwellings in the world. The reconstruction of Dachang Ancient Town is carried out in strict accordance with the principle of repairing the old as the old. When the buildings are demolished, they are numbered one by one, transported to the reconstruction site and assembled one by one according to the number. At present, the basic reconstruction of the buildings has been completed, forming the pictures of the ancient towns with thousands of years such as the South Gate, the Wen Family Courtyard, and the Ming Dynasty Academy. The new ancient town will continue the original folk customs, and will also reproduce the life scene of the ancient town through folk craft performances such as winemaking and weaving.