Qutang Gorge 瞿塘峡

About Qutang Gorge

The facing cliffs create a narrow gateway before the river continues through the gorge. Baidicheng provides a related cultural stop near this entrance. Reservoir impoundment submerged several low-lying historic features described in older guides, so focus on the surviving mountain forms and current managed viewpoints rather than expecting every old inscription or towpath to remain visible.

Qutang Gorge, also known as Kuixia (夔峡), runs from Baidicheng (白帝城) in Fengjie County in the west to Daxi township in Wushan County in the east, a distance of about 8 kilometers. Together with Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge it makes up the Three Gorges (三峡) of the Yangtze.

Baidicheng, on the river's north shore near the gorge's western end, is where Liu Bei, the first emperor of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period, died; it holds memorial temples to Liu Bei and to Zhuge Liang. On the Chalk Wall (粉笔墙), a white cliff face at the gorge's entrance, nearly 1,000 characters have been carved by calligraphers, the oldest dating to the Song dynasty (960-1279), with the largest characters about 1.7 meters wide.

On the opposite Baiyan Mountain, a zigzagging line of rectangular holes about one meter apart and one meter deep, known as the Meng Liang Stairway (孟良梯), climbs part of the cliff face; similar holes elsewhere in the Three Gorges region were used to hold poles forming a walkway. Historians do not know why these particular holes were cut, or why they reach only partway up the cliff.

What to look for

• Kuimen is framed by Chijia Mountain and Baiyan Mountain on opposite banks.
• The succession of steep cliff faces changes as the river bends through the gorge.

Location & getting there

Getting to Qutang Gorge

Use the Baidicheng–Qutang Gorge visitor area east of Fengjie for a land-based approach to Kuimen. For a passage through the gorge, book a river service that explicitly includes this section and confirm its actual embarkation point.