Wujiang River Gallery Pengshui Section 乌江画廊彭水段

About Wujiang River Gallery Pengshui Section

The gallery takes its name from stretches of clear green water beneath layered cliffs, likened to an ink-wash scroll; its shoreline carries unusual rocks, rapids, old towns, covered bridges, towpaths and hanging-coffin sites. Named gorges along the gallery include: Jiashi Gorge, where the cliffs close in and the sky narrows to a line; Lizhi Gorge, with named rock formations including Beauty Peak, Heaven's Gate Rock, Straw Hat Rock and Buddha's Finger Mountain; Yintong Gorge, where the mountains repeatedly cut across the river and boats wind through as if in a maze; and Tuotuo Gorge, tall, deep and secluded, with bamboo groves, old trees, birdsong and monkeys.

Mafeng Gorge, the first gorge of the gallery, links the two level lakes of Wanzu and Lujiao; it is dumbbell-shaped and 8 kilometres long, with natural rock formations including Corn Rock, Carp Climbing the Mountain and Lion Welcoming Guests, and the Mother-Child Turtle Cliff, tied to a local legend about the turtle that carried the Tang Monk across the Heavenly River in Journey to the West. Longmen Gorge, 2 kilometres east of Lujiaotuo, centres on a natural half-moon-shaped stone gate above a stone path; it was originally called Pig's Bore Hole and was renamed Longmen Gorge in 1685 by county magistrate Zhu Erjie, who found the old name inelegant, and sixteen karst caves with stalactites and springs surround the area. Sanmen Gorge, the first gorge of the Wujiang itself, has cliffs facing each other across a narrow sky, and its Tongma Bay stretch runs 7 kilometres of continuous cliff wall. Wanzu ancient town, on the left bank 15 kilometres south of Pengshui county town, has more than 300 years of history and became a market town in the late Ming and early Qing; by the Qianlong reign it had developed into a distribution centre for raw lacquer from northeast Guizhou and southeast Sichuan-Chongqing, after a Jiangxi native, Xiao Fangzheng, founded the Xiaoyuanshun lacquer house there in 1659, and it became known as Golden Wanzu once more than ten lacquer houses had opened.

What to look for

• The named rock formations of Lizhi Gorge include Beauty Peak, Heaven's Gate Rock, Straw Hat Rock and Buddha's Finger Mountain.
• Mafeng Gorge's own rock formations, including Corn Rock, Carp Climbing the Mountain and Lion Welcoming Guests, and the nearby Mother-Child Turtle Cliff.
• The half-moon-shaped natural stone gate at Longmen Gorge, renamed by a Qing magistrate in 1685, and the sixteen karst caves around it.
• Wanzu ancient town, once a lacquer-trading centre known as Golden Wanzu.
• Sanmen Gorge's Tongma Bay stretch, 7 kilometres of continuous cliff wall facing across a narrow sky.

Location & getting there

Getting to Wujiang River Gallery Pengshui Section

Confirm the visitor entrance and which boat or walking routes operate on your date. Rainfall, water levels and weather can change access.

• Search for 乌江画廊彭水段 with 重庆市 and 彭水苗族土家族自治县.