Shibati 十八梯

About Shibati

Its stair streets now connect restored or recreated commercial buildings, shops and food outlets. The Shibati Memories Museum near the northern entrance gives context for the district’s earlier life. Begin there before walking through the stair network, so the polished visitor environment can be understood alongside the neighbourhood it replaced.

Shibati developed on a river terrace of the Yuzhong Peninsula, one of Chongqing's earliest residential settlements, after the Qin built Jiangzhou City there in 316 BC. In 1189 the Southern Song set up a garrison headquarters partway up the mountain and built a stone stairway to the drill ground at Jiaochangba, forming the earliest version of Shibati; the settlement grew further after city-wall expansions in 1240 and 1371.

Because the lower half of the city was flatter, Chongqing's main commercial and administrative areas developed there during the Ming and Qing dynasties, while Shibati and the upper city, separated by a height difference of tens of meters, remained a quieter zone of schools, gardens and government offices. After Chongqing opened as a treaty port in 1891 and its population grew, Shibati became the principal route linking the upper and lower city, and the city's first mayor undertook extensive road-building there.

A fire in the Qujiagou section of Shibati on 14 April 2009 destroyed at least twenty to thirty homes. From 2010 the area underwent protection and redevelopment as one of Chongqing's largest shantytown-renewal projects, reopening to the public on 30 September 2021 after construction that began in 2017; it was added to Chongqing's first list of protected historic place names in 2021.

What to look for

• The stair streets reveal the steep transition down the peninsula’s southern slope.
• Shibati Memories Museum interprets the neighbourhood before and through redevelopment.

Location & getting there

Getting to Shibati

Jiaochangkou station, served by Lines 1 and 2, is the named approach to Shibati’s northern side. Enter near the Shibati Memories Museum and follow the signed stair streets.