Jianshui is an ancient town with deep history and rich culture. You could find the traces of history flowing through in the city. Locals purely regard this city as a a place to live. Even though the local businessmen fully expect to make money. Compare to people from other places, the residence in Jianshui are more marketplace and rustic. You seldom see the crowdes of tourists in the town in addition to some great festivals, but the locals coming and going. Therefore, Jianshui Ancient Town is quite different from Dali and Lijiang with strong commercial atmosphere.
My trip goes Jianshui Confucian Temple, Zhu’s Garden, Shuanglong Bridge, Tuanshan Village and Swallow Cave, which are all the highlights in this ancient town.
Jianshui Confucian Temple
Admission: CNY60 per person
Opening time: 08:00-18:00
Jianshui Confucian Temple is located in the center of Jianshui Ancient Town, built in 1285 in Yuan Dynasty, with a history of more than 700 years. It was expanded for more than 50 times. It covers an area of 7.6 hectares. The existing size, building level and preservation are just second to the Confucian Temple in Qufu and Beijing.
There are four guild Chinese characters “太和元气” above the entrance of the temple. A 3-meter high bronze statue of Confucius stands facing the entrance inside. There is a pool behind the Confucius statue, which is commonly regarded as “the sea of knowledge”The lotus in the pool is in full bloom every summer.
There is an unique pavilion in Confucian Temple called “Xingtan”, supported by 12 pillars. It is said that this is Confucius gave lectures to his students.
Zhu’s Garden
Admission: CNY170 per person
Opening time: 08:00-20:00
Zhu’s Garden is located in the middle of Jian Xin Road, which is about 10 minutes walking distance from Confucian Temple. It was built at the end of Qing Dynasty by Mr. Zhu Weiqing as family house and ancestral hall. It is regarded as the grand view garden in South Yunnan.
Zhu’s Garden is the typical residential building in Jianshui, with courtyard, garden, ancestral hall, stage, ect. It is not hard to imagine how rich the Zhu family was at that time.
Shuanglong Bridge
Jianshui Shuanglong Bridge is also called Seventeen-Hole Bridge. Shuanglong refers to two dragons in Chinese. Since it is build over the junction of Lujiang River and Tachong River which looks like twon meandering dragons. Therefore, it is named Shuanglong. It is one of the Ten Famous Bridges in China. Shuanglong Bridge is a significant landmark of Jianshui Ancient Town.
The bridge is about 148 meters long with three upturned-eave lofts. The lofts at both ends is a bit smaller. The bridge looks the most brilliant with the sunset in the dusk.
Tuanshan Ancient Village
Admission: CNY50 per person
Opening time: 08:00-18:00
Tuanshan in Yi language means a place with gold and silver. There are 26 residential buildings well preserved in Tuanshan Ancient Village, most of which are built at the end of Qing Dynasty. They are the world heritage monument.
Most of the young people in the village have already settled in the city. Now the villagers living in the villages are mainly old people over 60 years old. It adds the transquil, natural and relaxed atmosphere to this small village with the simple and quiet courtyard and the simple and kind old people.
Swallow Cave
Admission: CNY80 per person in high season, CNY50 per person in low season. Children below 1.2 meters are free
Opening time: 09:00-17:00
Jianshui Swallow Cave is located in the valley of Lujiang River, about 20 kms in the east of Jianshui County. The cave is named as Swallow Cave because millions of swallows nest in and outside the cave It is the most spectacular and one of the largest caves in Asia.
The Swallow Cave consist of the natural woodland outside and the karst landform inside. It is about 4 km long with 2 decks. The upper deck is dry hole and the lower deck is a hole with water. The largest part of the cave is about 2,000 square meters. There are many natural halls, carved sones, stone tablets, ect in the dry hall.
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