Chongqing - A media delegation participating in the "Cultural China Tour · Yangtze River Cultural Exploration" visited a series of heritage sites in Yuzhong District, Chongqing, on Wednesday, examining the city's efforts in cultural preservation and adaptive reuse.

A street scene in Yuzhong District, Chongqing. (Photo/Deng Nan)

The morning itinerary featured the Huguang Guild Hall and the General Ba Manzi Exhibition Hall. The Huguang Guild Hall, originally built in 1759 during the Qing Dynasty and expanded in the 1840s, is the largest surviving complex of Qing-era guild halls in any Chinese city center. Spanning a core area of 18,418 square meters and a building area of 7,653 square meters, the complex emerged from the "Huguang Filling Sichuan" migration movement and served as a cultural, commercial, and social hub for migrants from Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong, and other provinces. Its main structures, the Yuwang Palace, Qi'an Guild Hall, and Guangdong Guild Hall, remain intact today. The guild hall's annual Yuwang Temple Fair is listed as a municipal-level intangible cultural heritage item and was featured in a UNESCO Spring Festival inscription video in December 2024.

Huguang Guild Hall in Chongqing. (Photo/Deng Nan)

The General Ba Manzi Exhibition Hall, located within the Ba Manzi Tomb heritage site in Qixinggang, opened to the public in 2024. With approximately 900 square meters of exhibition space, it is dedicated to Ba Manzi, a military general of the ancient Ba Kingdom during the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), known for the legendary act of beheading himself to save his city. The hall features multimedia interactive exhibits, including a "Migrating Along the Waters" feature that lets visitors explore ancient Ba migration routes and settlement patterns through touch-screen displays.

The General Ba Manzi Exhibition Hall. (Photo/Deng Nan)

In the afternoon, the delegation visited the Former Site of the Sino-British Liaison Office and the Luzumiao Traditional Style Area. The Sino-British Liaison Office site, first built in 1910 and a national key cultural relic protection unit, reopened in October 2025 as a non-standard commercial landmark following a partnership between the Yuzhong District Government, Chongqing Real Estate Group, and Hong Kong Sun Wah Group. The site now hosts boutique retail, art exhibitions, and performing arts venues, drawing approximately 3,000 visitors daily and 5,000 on holidays.

Chongqing specialty products are showcased at the renovated Sino-British Liaison Office site. (Photo/Deng Nan)

The Luzumiao Traditional Style Area, covering 0.84 hectares, preserves over 70 percent of buildings dating from the 1920s to the 1970s. Originally developed around a temple dedicated to Lu Ban, the patron saint of carpenters, built in 1911, the area later became a hub for the publishing industry during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and has more recently been known for its flower market. Its redevelopment introduced Chongqing's first "land transfer with existing leases" model, creating distinctive retail and cultural consumption spaces. 

Luzumiao has become a popular internet-famous check-in spot. (Photo/Deng Nan)

Yuzhong District, known as Chongqing's "mother city," has completed more than 70 cultural relic protection and restoration projects in recent years. Moving forward, the district plans to accelerate 10 key projects, including the Old Drum Tower Government Office Site, upgrading war-themed heritage sites such as Liziba, and developing 10 themed museums as part of its goal to build a "city of museums."