5 Days in Mianyang

Li Zhen's Tang tower of about 656-660 now rises 99 m over the Fu River; Fule Hill keeps the 211 meeting ground of Liu Bei and Liu Zhang. Riverside night views after dinner.

1. mianyang yuewang tower
2. mianyang fule hill

The science museum reads the Two Bombs, One Satellite program; the city museum answers with a nearly 2-m Eastern Han bronze money tree from a cliff tomb.

1. mianyang science museum
2. mianyang city museum

Qinglian town in Jiangyou, where Li Bai (701-762) grew up — memorial halls, the Longxi Yuan site, Taibai shrines. Overnight in Jiangyou to split the northern days.

1. mianyang libai memorial
2. mianyang qinglian town

Three sheer peaks of Douyuan Mountain, the rope-crossing performers between two of them, and the Tang-era Yunyan temple on top; Li Bai's couplet likened the scene to a painted screen. A limestone cave stop follows before the drive back.

1. mianyang douyuan mountain
2. mianyang foye cave

North-east to Zitong County for the ancestral temple of the Wenchang god, begun in the Jin era (265-420) and rebuilt through Yuan, Ming and Qing as a national protected complex — the saying pairs it with Confucius, one north and one south. Evening HSR from Mianyang.

1. mianyang qiqu temple