Situated in Chongqing, Wuxi County is well known for the wu culture and thriving with salt. Witnessing the founding of the Wu State and ancient Ba State, it was a paradise during the remote ages of China.

Ningchang Ancient Town, a cradle of ancient human civilization in the Three Gorges Area

The brine spring on Baoyuan Mountain, Ningchang Ancient Town of Wuxi, has nurtured the wu and salt culture of that region for five thousand years.

An artesian ground spring, discovered and exploited by the ancient people, has been well preserved. It also hosts the Ancient Salt-trading Road, one of the world’s most extensive and most precipitous plank road historic sites for the salt industry of the bygone days.

The Ancient Salt-trading Road stretches on the core geographical location of China, functions as one of the corridors linking the Yangtze River Civilization and Yellow River Civilization, and a vital communication line for the central government of the Qin and Han Dynasties to govern the southwestern regions.

The Baoyuan-Mountain-situated brine spring, already exploited by the ancient people, is an artesian ground spring still with flowing water today.

Thanks to the abundance of salt brine that is easy to be collected, the large Wushan Mountain region with Ningchang as the core became a habitation of the ancient people.

The Ancient Salt-trading Road developed for over five thousand years. Daning saltern of Wuxi being the center, stretches northward to Hanzhong Plain in Shaanxi, eastward to Shennongjia and Shiyan in Hubei on the road, southward along Daning River to the Yangtze River, and reaches Yichang, Enshi, Jingzhou, and other regions of Hubei.

Yintiao Ridge, the fascinating peak of Chongqing

The 30th parallel north is a mysterious circle of the latitude of the earth’s equatorial plane. Wuxi is blessed to situate on this circle and endowed with two fascinating and unique landmarks.

Yintiao Ridge, the national nature reserve, is an extending range of the old-growth forest of the Shennongjia, with the average elevation of 1,900 meters. The peak, 2796.8 meters high, is the highest top of Chongqing and ranks first in Chongqing’s mountains.

This national nature reserve is home to over 1,500 kinds of plants and animals, with a lot of rare and endangered species. It also has 15 Grade-I wild plants under the state protection, such as gingko, gongtong tree (Davidia involucrata), wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), Sichuan thuja (Thuja sutchuenensis), Chinese yew (Taxus Chinensis), etc., over 300 key wild animals under national protection, including golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), white bear, white fox, leopard, Ailurus fulgens, etc.

The second unique landmark is Jixin Ridge.

It is 1,890 meters high and rests at the intersection of Chongqing, Shaanxi, and Hubei, serving as a meeting point of Southwest, Northwest, and Central China in China’s territorial map. Besides, it happens to locate at the heart position of the Chinese map, with a similar profile of a crowing cock, so that Jixin Ridge (or the Ridge of Cock Heart) has been regarded as the “heart of China.”

From Yintiao Ridge, Jixin Ridge, to Hongchiba, the largest alpine meadow in South China, Wuxi is appealing for the well-preserved natural ecosystem and profound and mysterious history.

At a new historical starting point, Wuxi will play an important role in remembering and inheriting the ancient civilization, and an attractive destination for people living in modern cities to relax in the beautiful nature.