5 Days in Chaoyang

The 42.6-metre North Pagoda stacks five eras — a Liao brick body of the 1040s over Northern Wei, Sui and Tang predecessors, on foundations of Longcheng, the Yan capital founded in 341; a hoard from its 'heaven chamber' found in 1988 sits in the adjoining museum.

1. chaoyang north pagoda
2. chaoyang north pagoda museum
3. chaoyang south pagoda

The quarry section preserves a 120-million-year-old lake world of early birds, feathered dinosaurs and fish; the 1996 Sinosauropteryx discovery in these beds put the region on the paleontology map, and the indoor hall keeps delicate slabs out of the wind.

1. chaoyang bird fossil park

A 90-minute drive west, Niuheliang protects a Hongshan culture ritual complex some 5,500 years old — the semi-sunken goddess temple, stone-pile tombs and jade pig-dragons in the on-site museum; the site sits on ridges, so wear walking shoes.

1. chaoyang niuheliang site

In Kazuo County, the Dongshanzui altar site (excavated from 1979) belongs to the same 5,000-year-old Hongshan world as Niuheliang, and Pigeon Cave above the Daling river holds a Palaeolithic occupation at least some 50,000 years old — two ends of deep time within an hour's drive.

1. chaoyang dongshanzui site
2. chaoyang gezi cave

The forested hill east of the city carries temple terraces and a Liao-era pagoda, with a road up and steps between courts; back in town, the HSR link opened in January 2021 runs to Beijing in about two hours.

1. chaoyang phoenix mountain