Baidicheng or Baidi Fortress is an ancient fortress and

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

complex on a hill on the northern shore of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

in China, 8 km east of the present day

Fengjie County Fengjie County () is a county of Chongqing Municipality, China. It is on the Yangtze River; located within a couple hundreds kilometers upstream from the Three Gorges Dam, it is within the dam's affected area. The county's most famous geograp ...

seat in Chongqing municipality.

Overview

The name ''Baidicheng'' literally means White Emperor City. It has been said that the area was once surrounded with a white mist, giving it a look which was rather mysterious, yet serene—much as what an emperor should be like. It has also been said that someone saw a white dragon, the symbol of the Emperor appear there, that the warlord

Gongsun Shu Gongsun Shu (, died 24 December 36 AD) was the founder and only emperor of Chengjia, a state that controlled China's Sichuan Basin from 25 to 36. A successful official of the Western Han and short-lived Xin dynasties, Gongsun was the Administr ...

thought this was a fortuitous sign, and so declared himself Emperor of

Chengjia Chengjia (; 25–36 AD), also called the Cheng dynasty or Great Cheng, was a self-proclaimed empire established by Gongsun Shu in 25 AD after the collapse of the Xin dynasty of Chinese history, rivalling the Eastern Han dynasty founded by ...

. Thus Gongsun was said to have founded the city, and so called himself "the White Emperor". The temple complex is now on an island, due to raised water levels following the construction of the

Three Gorges Dam The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world' ...

. Many older structures were submerged, and new buildings have been built higher up. The temple complex island is linked to the north bank of the Yangtze, by a bridge. The island continues to be a tourist attraction, with many cruise ships halting for tours at Fengjie. Baidi is also known as the "City of Poems", because so many poets such as

Li Bai Li Bai (, 701–762), also pronounced as Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai (), was a Chinese poet, acclaimed from his own time to the present as a brilliant and romantic figure who took traditional poetic forms to new heights. He and his friend Du F ...

wrote about it (see: " Departing from Baidi in the Morning"). Another famous and talented poet, Du Fu, resided in Baidi for 2 or 3 years.

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the ...

, the first emperor of the Shu Han during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...

era, is said to have died in Baidi, although, according to Records of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei died at his palace of Yong'angong. The site of Yong'angong was located in what is now inside of the Normal School of Fengjie County, a few miles away from the current Baidicheng. Thus, as in other cases, the location of an ancient place is not necessarily the same as the location of a modern town with the same name. In 2006, the Chinese government established Baidi Fortress as a national heritage site.

Gallery

File:Baidicheng 2014.jpg, Temple of the White Emperor. File:Baidi Mao.jpg, A bronze plaque of Li Bai poem,

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

calligraphy. File:白帝城岛.JPG, View of Baidicheng from cruise ship.

References

External links

* Religious buildings and structures in Chongqing Temples in China River islands of China Yangtze River Landforms of Chongqing Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Chongqing Traditional Chinese architecture {{Chongqing-geo-stub

Overview

Gallery

See also

References

External links