Shimen Plank Road 石门栈道

About Shimen Plank Road

A feature carried on the China Daily website says that of the ancient seven Shu roads, 90 per cent of the main line lies inside Hanzhong, Shaanxi, and that the roads between Sichuan and Shaanxi were begun in the Warring States period and extended under the Qin and Han. It calls 褒斜道 the earliest-cut, largest and longest-used plank road in Chinese history, running from 褒谷 in Hanzhong north to 斜谷 in Mei County, 249 km in all.

The same page describes 石门 as the world's earliest hand-cut vehicle tunnel and says the valley holds it and other works, among them the 山河堰 irrigation works advocated by the Han chancellor 萧何. A Hanzhong museum interview places the southern end of the plank road at the mouth of the 褒 valley, 17 km north-west of the city centre, and says the road is known for the 褒城驿 post station, which it calls 天下第一驿, and for the 石门十三品 inscriptions.

Officials, merchants and writers carved records on the cliffs inside and outside 石门, about 145 inscriptions in all, showing the transition from small seal to clerical script. A provincial survey says the earliest surviving cliff inscriptions and steles in Shaanxi are all Eastern Han and that the densest group is at 石门, with more than a hundred across the dynasties. It names, among others, 鄐君开道碑, 杨君石门颂, 李君表 and 杨淮、杨弼表记, dates 鄐君开道碑 to the ninth year of Yongping (66 CE) – the news feature dates the same work to 63 CE – and calls it the earliest surviving cliff inscription in China; it gives 杨君石门颂 as 2.05 m wide and 2.65 m high, and records a Northern Wei 石门铭 telling of the road's reopening.

Between 1969 and 1971, when the state built the Shimen reservoir, workers cut thirteen inscriptions from the Han to the Southern Song out of the area to be flooded and moved them to the Hanzhong museum, leaving the rest under 60 m of water; these are the 石门汉魏十三品. The state listed 褒斜道石门及其摩崖石刻 in 1961 in the first batch of national key cultural relic sites.

None of the sources used here describes the present-day site at 褒河 – its entrance, its rebuilt plank road or what remains in place – and the thirteen carvings named above are recorded as having been moved to the museum. The superlatives above for 褒斜道 and 石门 are the sources' own characterisations.

What to look for

• 石门, the tunnel the sources describe as cut through the cliff, with the inscriptions carved on the rock inside and outside it.
• The 褒河谷口, where the museum interview places the southern end of the plank road.
• The line of the 褒斜道 itself, which the China Daily feature gives as 249 km from 褒谷 to 斜谷.
• The 石门汉魏十三品 carvings, recorded as held in the Hanzhong museum rather than at the site.

Location & getting there

Getting to Shimen Plank Road

Check which interiors and courtyards are accessible. Active places of worship and protected monuments may have different visitor rules.

• Search for 石门栈道 with 汉中市 and 汉台区.