Zhongxian

Zhongxian,located at the south bank of the Yangtze River, 52 km away from Wanxian, got its name from two stories. One is Ba Manzi in the Warring States period (475-221 BC), who cut off his own head rather than surrender to give the cites to the
the Kingdom of Chu, and the other is valiant general Yan Yan, who prefer to die rather than surrender to the Shu general Zhang Fei.

In addition the bamboo handicrafts, local food speciality, beancurd milk, Zhongxian is famous for the town of Shibaozhai. Literally means Stone Treasure Fortress, Shibaozhai was first built in Qing Dynasty in 1750. It is a 12-story wooden pagoda built against the side of a sheer rectangular cliff. It consists of three parts: the entrance gate, a nine-story wooden pavilion and a small temple at the top. The nine-story red wooden pavilion was built in 1819 and since then the monks and visitors to the temple would not have to suffer the discomforts of the ascent by using chains.

The top temple was built during the reign of Emperor Qianlong. Visitors can climb to the top by spiral staircase in the pagoda. At the stone terrace 1200 square meters of on the top, visitors can gain a panoramic view of the winding river, the village and the countryside. There are two unusual interesting features of the Shibaozhai fortress. The first is the Duck Well. It was said that during late spring, if you dropped a duck down the hole, it would quickly reappear swimming in the Yangtze River. The second feature is The Rice Flowing Well in the rear hall. Legend has it that long ago just enough husked rice would flow from the small hole each day for the needs of the monks. one day a greedy monk chiseled a bigger hole in the rock, thinking he would get more rice, but the flow of rice ceased forever.

After the Three Gorges Dam is complete, the water level will come up to the foot of the pagoda. A wall will be built to protect the building from water.