Ciqikou Ancient Town (磁器口)

The 1,000-year-old porcelain port that became Chongqing’s most authentic ancient town

Ciqikou Ancient Town (磁器口古镇 Cìqìkǒu Gǔzhèn) is a 1,000-year-old porcelain-trading port on the Jialing River, 30-40 minutes by metro from central Chongqing. The town grew up in the Song dynasty (10th-13th centuries) as the upstream trading post where boatmen from the Yangtze would offload ceramics, tea, and spices for distribution to the Sichuan interior. The name “Ciqikou” means “Porcelain Wharf” — a reference to the porcelain warehouses that lined the river dock.

Today, Ciqikou is a preserved ancient town with 12 pedestrian streets, Ming-Qing architecture, the 1,000-year-old Baolun Temple, and a thriving street-food scene. It is the most authentic ancient town near central Chongqing — neither a theme-park rebuild (like Hongya Cave) nor a remote village (like the Dazu Rock Carvings), but a real, lived-in town that has been continuously inhabited for a millennium.

What the foreigner experience looks like in 2026

Ciqikou is one of the easiest day-trips from central Chongqing. The town is on Metro Line 1, 35-40 minutes from Jiefangbei, and entry is free. The main street is pedestrian-only, with the 800-meter Ciqikou Zhengjie (磁器口正街) lined with craft shops, teahouses, and street-food stalls. The side streets are quieter, with old residences and local life.

The main thing to know is timing. Ciqikou gets crowded from 11:00-17:00 with tour groups, especially weekends and Chinese national holidays (May 1-3, Oct 1-7, Chinese New Year week). The peak overcrowding is May 1-3, when 100,000+ visitors a day pack the 800-meter main street and walking is impossible. Two strategies work:

• Go at 09:00-11:00 (weekday morning) — smallest crowds, soft light, fresh street food
• Go after 18:00 (weekday evening) — red lanterns turn on, most tour groups have left, but most street food is closing

For first-timers, the 3-hour morning visit (09:00-12:00) covers the main street, Baolun Temple, and a teahouse break — the canonical Ciqikou experience.

The Song dynasty porcelain port

Ciqikou was established in the Song dynasty (960-1279 AD) as a critical node in the Yangtze River trade network. Boatmen from the lower Yangtze (Jiangnan region) would sail upstream to Chongqing with cargoes of porcelain, tea, silk, and salt. Ciqikou was the last navigable point for smaller boats — beyond Ciqikou, the Jialing River becomes too shallow for cargo, and goods had to be transferred to overland transport. The town grew up around the transshipment warehouses, with merchants, money-changers, and craftspeople settling to service the trade.

The town’s golden age was the Ming and Qing dynasties (14th-19th centuries). By the 18th century, Ciqikou was one of the most important commercial ports in western China, with permanent warehouses for the Jiangnan porcelain trade, the Sichuan tea trade, and the salt monopoly. The town’s main street (today’s Ciqikou Zhengjie) was paved in the 18th century; many of the shopfronts date from the 19th century.

In the 20th century, the rise of railways and the decline of river trade reduced Ciqikou to a backwater. The town survived largely because it was too small to attract the same level of demolition that hit central Chongqing in the 1990s-2000s. By the time the 2000s restoration effort began, the original Ming-Qing architecture was still largely intact.

The 12 streets and 1 temple

Ciqikou is laid out as a grid of 12 stone-paved streets on a hillside sloping down to the Jialing River. The 800-meter main street (Ciqikou Zhengjie) runs roughly east-west along the contour of the hill, with 11 side streets branching off north and south. The whole town is walkable in 2-3 hours; the back streets are quieter and more authentic than the main street.

Baolun Temple (宝轮寺) is the single must-see in Ciqikou. The temple was founded in the Song dynasty (around 1000 AD) and rebuilt in the Ming dynasty. It is still an active Buddhist temple, with resident monks and daily prayer sessions. The highlight is the Mahavira Hall (大雄宝殿), which contains a 14-meter wooden Buddha statue from the Song dynasty — the only one of its kind in Sichuan, and one of the few surviving Song-dynasty wooden sculptures in China. Entry is ¥20, the temple is open 08:00-17:30, and the visit takes 30-45 minutes.

The teahouses are the other Ciqikou experience. The riverside has 10+ old-style teahouses with bamboo chairs, wooden tables, and views of the Jialing River. The most famous is 磁器口老茶馆 (Ciqikou Old Teahouse), with longjing tea + Sichuan snacks (mahua, sunflower seeds, ginger candy) for ¥30-80 per person. The teahouse is open 09:00-23:00 and is busiest in the afternoon, when tour groups stop for a break.

What to eat: the snacks invented in Ciqikou

Ciqikou is the birthplace of two of Chongqing’s most famous street snacks:

Chen mahua (陈麻花) — a twisted-dough snack, fried crispy, with a slightly sweet or savory flavor. The original Chen family recipe dates to the Qing dynasty; the original Chen shop is on the main street about 200m from the entrance gate. Sold in 100g bags for ¥15-25, vacuum-sealed for travel. The shop is the busiest single location in Ciqikou, with a queue that wraps around the corner on weekends.

Chen liangfen / chen-liang noodles (陈凉粉) — cold noodles in chili oil, Sichuan pepper, vinegar, and garlic. The original Chen family recipe; spicy but addictive. The original shop is on the main street about 300m from the entrance gate. ¥15-25 per bowl.

In addition to the two Chen originals, the main street has 50+ other street-food stalls selling ma-la tang, grilled skewers, fried dough sticks, sweet rice cakes, and bubble tea. The most popular is 古镇鸡杂 (Guzhen Ji Za), a spicy stir-fried chicken offal dish that is a Ciqikou signature — ¥40-80 per portion, enough for 2 people.

Final tip

Visit Baolun Temple last, not first. The temple is uphill from the main street, and most first-time visitors climb to it immediately, then have to walk back down through the same crowded main street. Instead: enter through the main gate, walk the main street to the far (west) end, eat lunch at a teahouse on the riverside, then climb up to Baolun Temple from the south side — fewer stairs, fewer crowds, and you finish with the temple’s mountain view rather than the main street’s commercial bustle.