Baidi City

Baidi City (Baidicheng) also known as the City of White Emperor or Baidi Temple, located 8km east of Fengjie County of the western entrance to the Qutang Gorge, by the junction of the Chaotang and Yangtze Rivers. There are no White Emperor staute inside but statues of Shu Emperor Liu Bei, Prime Minister Zhuge Liang (Kongming), General Guan Yu and General Zhang Fei in Three Kingdoms Period (Shu Kingdom 221 - 263AD).

In ancient times, revered poets such as Libai , Dufu, Liuyuxi and Fangchengdu visited and wrote famous poems during their sojourns here, making Baidi City the "Poem City". There are also many historic sites including Wuhou Ancestral Temple (the Temple of General Guan Yu of the Three Kingdoms Period), Observing Star Pavilion and Mengliang Ladder. The legends of "Firing the 700-li-long joint battalions" and "Liu Bei entrusting a son to Kongming" add fame to Baidi City. (The events were much described in Chinese literature, and both are the plots of the famous Ming classical novel - The Romance of the Three Kingdoms). 

Baidi City also collects many excavations that belong to different dynasties. Some of them even can be dated back to the New Stone Age. The other collections include the hundreds of ancient traditional Chinese paintings, over 70 ancient steles and the relics from the coffins that placed on the cliffs of the Qutang Gorge (most coffins were placed in 206BC - 420AD, some in the caves, some are suspended).

After the completion of the Three Gorges Dam, the Baidi City will be surrounded by the rising water level. Tourists will have to reach there by ship. These will add more mystery and attractiveness to this wonderland. The following is a poem by the great Tang Dynasty poet Lipo:

Bidding Adieu to Baidi City at Dawn

Bidding adieu to Baidi City among colored clouds at dawn,
I return in a day a thousand li away Jiangling Town.
While apes on the either banks ululate without stopping,
the swift boat flying by thousand hills after hills on currents bears down.