Shiyang Ancient Town 石羊古镇

About Shiyang Ancient Town

Dayao county tourism-bureau reporting dates Shiyang's salt production to the Western Han dynasty, with a peak in the late Ming and early Qing periods, and notes the town's role as a Southern Silk Road staging post in the Song dynasty. The town holds national AAAA-grade tourist-attraction status, with one provincial-level and nine county-level cultural-relic protection units; a 2022 Shiyang town government article on a livestreaming publicity campaign likewise describes it as a national AAAA/4A-grade attraction and calls its Baijing brine well one of Yunnan's oldest.

The Confucius Temple, at the foot of Xiangling street with the Xiangshui River running past its front, is dated by the county tourism bureau to a completion in 1368 and covers 6,584 square metres; it was listed as a Yunnan provincial-level cultural-relic protection unit in 1993. Surviving buildings include a Pan Pool, Lingxing Gate, Local Worthies Shrine, Dacheng Gate and Hall, east and west corridors, Zhu Xi Pavilion, Minglun Hall, a school hall and Kuixing Pavilion. Inside Dacheng Hall stands a 2.3-metre, 2.5-tonne bronze statue of Confucius, which the county tourism bureau and the 2022 town-government article both describe as the world's largest bronze statue of Confucius. Nearby, the South Pagoda (also called the White Pagoda or 'tree-wrapped pagoda'), a 14-metre, 7-storey square brick pagoda traditionally dated to the Ming dynasty with an old tree growing against its western face, was listed as a Chuxiong prefecture-level protected unit in 2005.

The town's Salt Culture Museum displays a Western Han-era salt well, the history of local salt production, Song- and Qing-dynasty salt-transport maps and a Qing-dynasty illustrated Yunnan salt-law map, among other exhibits. A separate salt-drying shed, 18 metres tall and over 50 metres long, uses techniques dated to the Han dynasty and matured through the Ming and Qing periods, built as a wooden frame roofed with local bamboo, and remains in use as part of the town's brine-concentration process.

What to look for

• the Confucius Temple's Dacheng Hall and its 2.3-metre bronze statue of Confucius, cast in the Qing Kangxi era
• the temple's surviving Pan Pool, Lingxing Gate, Local Worthies Shrine, Zhu Xi Pavilion, Minglun Hall and Kuixing Pavilion
• the South Pagoda ('tree-wrapped pagoda'), a 14-metre Ming-dynasty brick pagoda with an old tree growing against it
• the Salt Culture Museum's displays on the Western Han-era salt well and historic Yunnan salt-transport maps
• the working salt-drying shed, with its wooden 'well'-frame construction and bamboo roof

Location & getting there

Getting to Shiyang Ancient Town

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

• Search for 石羊古镇 with 楚雄彝族自治州 and 大姚县.