Zhaohua Ancient Town is a town under the jurisdiction of Zhaohua District, Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province. It is located 20 kilometers south of Guangyuan City, at the confluence of the Jialing River and the Bailong River. It is an ancient city with a long history. Zhaohua is formerly known as Jiameng. With a history of over 4000 years and a continuous history of over 2200 years, it is an important part of the Jianmen Shu Road Sites , a national key cultural relic protection unit of Three Kingdom sites. It is the most well preserved ancient city of the Three Kingdoms in China to date. After the unification of China by Emperor Qin Shi Huang, a county was established here and named "Jiameng", becoming an important town connecting northward from Sichuan. During the Song Dynasty, in order to "show the emperor's favor and to civilize the people," the emperor bestowed this place as Zhaohua.
Due to its location at the intersection of the Jialing River and the Bailong River, as well as being an important pass on the ancient post roads, Zhaohua has convenient water and land transportation, and its strategic location is crucial. Therefore, for thousands of years, many important wars and historical events have occurred here, and many important figures have also remained here. In ancient times, Zhaohua was still an important post station, providing carriages, horses, food and accommodation for passing officials and travelers. In Zhaohua Town, there is also a stone tablet of the ancient Jiameng Pass.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the ancient city of Zhaohua was even more famous. It was mentioned multiple times in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and many wars also took place here. Zhang Fei fought at night against Ma Chao(Tiaodeng Yezhan). Yan Yan bravely retreated the Cao army; The story of Jiang Wei's defeat at Niutou Mountain, the death of the Shu general from illness in Zhaohua and his burial in Zhaohua, and so on all happen here. But since the construction of the Sichuan Shaanxi Highway in 1936, it bypassed Zhaohua, which lost its geographical advantage and gradually declined. The present-day Zhaohua Ancient City only has a few ancient city gates and a section of stone slab roads for people to pay tribute to. The glory of the past is no longer there, especially during the Cultural Revolution when a large number of ancient houses and temples were demolished, leaving only memories of an ancient city through today's tourism industry.
Business Hour: 24 Hour
Entrance Ticket Fee: Feb - Oct: 58yuan/person; Nov - Jan: 40yuan/person
Recommended Time to Spend: 2-3 Hours
