Xiaoxi Ancient Town

Open all day

5 RMB per person

0826-96930

Guang’an sits on the transitional terrain stretching from the basin floor to the peripheral hills of the Sichuan Basin, with landforms gradually rising from west to east. It features a subtropical humid monsoon climate marked by warm temperatures and high humidity. The annual average temperature stands at around 17°C, with annual precipitation of 1,208 millimeters. Its climate is characterized by warm, rain-sparse winters and springs, hot and rainy summers, and persistent drizzle throughout autumn.

0826-96927

Guang’an boasts an extensive highway network. Both the total mileage and average density of highways within its territory exceed the national average and the average level of Sichuan Province. The Guang’an–Linshui section of the Guang’an–Chongqing Expressway is open to traffic, and all remaining sections were fully completed before 2004. It takes merely one hour to drive from Guang’an to Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, enabling convenient air transport connections. After the Guang’an–Nanchong section of the Shanghai–Chengdu Expressway opened to traffic in 2004, the driving time from Guang’an to Chengdu was shortened to just 2.5 hours. The planned Nanchong–Chongqing Expressway will pass through Wusheng County. Upon completion, every county, city and district under Guang’an will be linked to the national expressway network, and Guang’an will be fully integrated into the Chengdu-Chongqing-Shanghai tourism economic belt.

Three national highways (G210, G212, G326) pass through Guang’an, alongside four provincial highways including the Shizhu–Nanchong Line, as well as two county-level highways: Yuechi–Wusheng Road and Guang’an–Wusheng Road. Interlaced national, provincial and county highways form a "three horizontal, four vertical" transportation framework centered on railways and highways. Nowadays, it takes a maximum of 30 minutes by car from downtown Guang’an to any subordinate county, city or district, a well-known local transport initiative named the "Half-Hour Access Project".

Xiaoxi Town lies in the northeastern part of Guang’an District, Guang’an City, bordering Qu County of Dazhou City. It is approximately 60 kilometers away from the Former Residence of Deng Xiaoping, covering an area of 64 square kilometers with a population of 45,000. In ancient times, Xiaoxi was known as "Dragon Phoenix Sandbar". During the large-scale migration from Hunan and Hubei to Sichuan in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, migrants surnamed Xiao settled here, hence the name Xiao Family Stream, from which Xiaoxi Town derives its title.

The drive from downtown Guang’an to Xiaoxi Ancient Town covers more than 60 kilometers, passing through ten towns and sub-districts including Guangfu, Beichen, Xiexing, Pengjia, Yuelai, Xingping, Yangping, Jinghe, Huaqiao and Longtai. Among them, Xiexing Town is the hometown of Comrade Deng Xiaoping, and Huaqiao Town has been an important strategic town in Guang’an through successive dynasties, known by the old saying "One Flower, Two Generals, Three Pavilion Views". Longtai Town is the hometown of General Yang Sen of the Kuomintang, and part of General Yang Sen’s former residence is still preserved.

Xiaoxi boasts countless historical cultural relics and natural landscapes, most notably the "Ten Ancient Sites and One River". The ten ancient sites refer to ancient road, ancient town, ancient street, ancient bridge, ancient horizontal inscribed boards, ancient temples, ancient cliff carvings, ancient cliff grottoes, ancient city walls and ancient tombs. The one river is the picturesque Qujiang River.

Board a boat at Guang’an Garden and cruise upstream along the river. As you marvel at the stunning scenery unfolding on both banks, an antique market town will come into view — Xiaoxi Ancient Town, a well-preserved water transport dock featuring distinct Ming and Qing architectural styles. Formerly called Xiao Family Market, it was recorded as Dragon Phoenix Sandbar in the New Records of Guang’an Prefecture, named after a legend of flying dragons and phoenixes.

During the "Huguang Migration to Sichuan", migrants surnamed Xiao built houses, settled down and opened shops here. As a vital Qujiang River dock and the only passage from Qu County to Guang’an, merchants, peddlers and travelers frequently stopped to rest, fueling thriving business. Shops multiplied and streets extended, forming a 300-meter-long bluestone road by the late Qing Dynasty. Widespread wars and rampant bandits later destroyed most original street buildings. In the 10th year of the Republic of China, local gentry Lin Gongting and Yang Qianshan took the lead in reconstructing buildings on the ruins, and after more than two decades, the town took shape.

The newly built streets are more than twice as wide as the original ones, fully paved with bluestones. Every building along the street extends a covered veranda 4 to 5 meters outward. The ground beneath the verandas stands 0.6 to 1 meter higher than the open central roadway, so all market transactions take place under the shelter. Shoppers stay shaded from the sun on hot days and dry during rain, as a local folk rhyme goes: "Market at Xiaoxi in rain, goods and clothes stay dry; Market at Xiaoxi in heat, cool as staying at home."

Paved with uneven bluestones, the narrow streets carry a rustic, unique charm. The Ming and Qing architectural styles lend the entire town an antique, elegant ambiance, making it one of the best-preserved ancient market towns in Bashu region.

Nestled between mountains and water, the town is backed by towering, precipitous Moyan Mountain and fronted by the clear green Qujiang River. The cliff carvings on the mountain feature diverse sculpted figures. The Ancient Dingguang Buddha sits atop the peak, overlooking the surging Qujiang River, watching countless white sailboats drift by and witnessing all the vicissitudes of human life. Dense bamboo groves and lush forests line both riverbanks. Fishing boats shuttle across the water, and fishermen’s folk songs echo back and forth, rendering the town exceptionally serene and ethereal, as if visitors have stepped into a hidden paradise.

The town is distinguished not only by its ancient streets, dwellings and Buddha statues, but also by its time-honored horizontal inscribed boards and stone inscriptions. Scattered amid bamboo groves and woods are stone slab bridges of varied shapes, embodying the poetic scene of "small bridges, flowing water and dwellings". Tourists may pay homage at ancient temples, admire Buddha statues, appreciate exquisite inscribed boards, and visit the grand stone chamber tomb of Yang Yining built during the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, all of which make visitors linger unwilling to leave.

If you crave liveliness after quiet sightseeing, take a river cruise on the Qujiang River. Drift along the water on a small boat, watch the banks rush past, roar lines of Sichuan opera, and sing folk songs of Sichuan — an unparalleled delightful experience awaits.