Discover Chongqing
Hongyadong
洪崖洞
An 11-storey stilt-house complex clinging to the cliff above the Jialing River, lit gold at night so that it looks like the bathhouse from Spirited Away. It is free, it is absurd, and it is the image most people now associate with Chongqing.
The story
What makes this place special
Hongyadong is an eleven-storey commercial complex on the cliff above the south bank of the Jialing River, built in the local stilt-house (diaojiaolou) idiom rather than inherited from it. The cliff site held a gate and fortification from the Ming dynasty onward, and genuine riverside stilt housing stood here until it was cleared from 2005; the present buildings went up from 2006 to a design by a Shenzhen architecture firm. It is a modern reconstruction in old dress, which is worth knowing before you arrive expecting an ancient quarter.
What you’ll discover
The building is stacked against the cliff, so its floors open onto two completely different streets: the 11th floor meets Cangbai Road at the top of the cliff, and the 1st and 2nd floors meet Jiabin Road down at river level. Inside it is shops, snack stalls and hotels, with a food floor around the 4th level selling mala seasoning and dried chillies, and a terrace at the top over the Jialing. The photograph everyone comes for — the whole lit facade tiered up the cliff — is taken from outside, from Jiabin Road at the bottom or from Qiansimen bridge, not from inside the building.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- Arrive at the TOP, on Cangbai Road at the 11th floor, and walk down through the building. Doing it the other way means climbing eleven floors' worth of cliff. Taxis and maps often drop you at the bottom on Jiabin Road, which is the hard way round.
- The famous night photo is taken from the Jiabin Road side at the base, looking up, or from the footbridge at Qiansimen. If you stay inside the complex you will not get that shot at all.
- Go down to Jiabin Road about twenty minutes before the facade lighting comes on, pick your spot, and wait. The crowd arrives after the lights do.
- Lifts run between floors inside, so you do not have to take the stairs down — but at busy times they are the slowest part of the visit and the stairs are faster.
- The food inside is tourist food at tourist prices. Eat in Jiefangbei, a ten-minute walk uphill, and come here for the building.
When to come
Dusk into the first hour of darkness, when the exterior lighting is on but the river still has some colour in it. Weekday evenings only if you can — on public holidays the 11th-floor entrance queues and the river-level viewpoints are shoulder to shoulder.
Getting around
Manageable if you go top-down and use the lifts: enter at the 11th floor from Cangbai Road, which is level with the street, and descend by lift. Interior corridors are flat and wide. The difficulty is outside — the connection between Cangbai Road at the top and Jiabin Road at the bottom is a steep cliff, and the riverside viewing area involves steps. A wheelchair user can see the inside of the complex and the terrace views, but reaching the best exterior photo spot at river level realistically needs a taxi down.
Worth knowing before you go
The best view is from across the river or from Qiansimen Bridge, not from inside the building. Enter at the top (street level, 11th floor) and work down, so you exit at the riverside.
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