Chaotianmen
Chaotianmen – Origin and History
Chaotianmen is located in the confluence (which is in the northeast of the city) of Yangtze River and Jialing River. Its terrain is higher in the middle and downwards in its two sides. Dai Ding extended the old city of Chongqing in early Ming Dynasty. He constructed 17 city gates under the rule of "nine palaces and eight diagrams", among which Chaotianmen is the biggest one. There were four Chinese characters: Gu-Yu-Xiong-Guan (in Chinese means impregnable pass of the city). It faces the capital city - Nanjing and the Yangtze River flows toward the east. People would be here to receive the imperial decree. Hence it was named Chaotianmen. Chongqing was opened as a trade port and established customs at Chaotianmen in 1981. The old city gate was dismantled for the construction of Chaotianmen Port in 1927. The "September 2" fire disaster turned the areas about 2000 meters from Chaotianmen into a ruin. After that disaster, there were only broken base and blocks. Today, there is the newly built Chaotianmen Square in the Chaotianmen Port. It has become the best place for enjoy the landscape of the banks and overlook the meet of Yangtze River and Jialing River.
Chaotianmen – Confluence of Yangtze River and Jialing River
Jialing River is in the left of Chaotianmen. It absorbs trickles and stretches 1119 kilometers. It falls into Yangtze River here. The clean water of Jialing River meets the brownish yellow water of Yangtze River. You could see the color difference of the water and torrential whirlpools like running horses, that looks really spectacular. Yangtze River is in the right of Chaotianmen. It becomes more powerful after it absorbed the water of Jialing River. It passes through Three Gorges and stretches thousands of miles. It has become the "gold watercourse" on Yangtze River.
Chaotianmen - "zero-mile" Mark of Chongqing's Main Highways
The zero-mile mark of Chongqing's main highways is in Chaotianmen Square. Zero-mile is the start point of a state or city's main highways and also the symbol of the central point of the city. China's zero-mile mark was settled in the central of the axis at Tian'anmen Square, and Shanghai's zero-mile mark was settled at People's Square.
Chaotianmen is one of the 17 ancient city gates. Song set its capital in Linan( today's Hangzhou) in Southern Song Dynasty. There was an imperial decree communicated to Chaotianmen through Yangtze River at that time, and then this place was called Chaotianmen.
Chaotianmen - Chaotianmen Square
Chaotianmen is located in the confluence of Yangtze River and Jialing River. It is the biggest port in Chongqing. The biggest comprehensive trading market - Chaotianmen Comprehensive Trading Market is also here. Chaotianmen has being a busy place long ago since it has a large stream of people.
Chaotianmen Square was built above the port. It looks like a magnificent giant ship which is about to start its voyage. Stand on the square you could see the particular view of the color change of the water where Jialing River and Yangtze River meet.
A lot of citizens choose to spend their time at Chaotianmen Square. Some peddlers do business here. There is a cable railway near the square, and people could take the cable car down to the port.
