14 Days in Ziyang

Settle in, then the riverside park honoring three ancient Ziyang notables and the hillside Zikushan Park built around the old character-pagoda culture. Evening loop on the Tuojiang embankment.

1. ziyang sanxian culture park
2. ziyang zikushan park
3. ziyang tuojiang riverside

About 1.5 hours by road to Anyue, which has no rail yet. Yunju Hill holds the twelve Song bodhisattvas and the tomb of Taoist sage Chen Tuan; the county grows about 80 percent of China's lemons, and the market stalls prove it.

1. ziyang yuanjue cave
2. ziyang anyue lemon orchards

Two sites around the county town — the hundred-odd niches and 3,000-odd figures of Qianfozhai, then Xuanmiaoguan at Yuanda town, one of the few large ensembles of Tang-era Taoist carving in the region.

1. ziyang qianfozhai grottoes
2. ziyang xuanmiaoguan grottoes

A full morning some 40 minutes north, where a 23-metre Tang reclining Buddha lies along the cliff and sutra caves nearby keep over 400,000 carved characters. Slow afternoon in the old town.

1. ziyang wofoyuan grottoes

An hour southeast to Shiyang town. The Northern Song Purple Bamboo Guanyin, about 3 metres tall and praised as the Venus of the East, pairs with Huayan Cave, roughly 6 metres high and 10 metres wide. Overnight in Shiyang.

1. ziyang piludong grottoes
2. ziyang huayan cave

The Song figures of Mingshan Temple on Hutou Hill have been sanded by a thousand years of wind into soft, faceless curves — a striking contrast with the crisp Buddhas of Shiyang. Orchard stalls on the road back.

1. ziyang mingshansi temple
2. ziyang anyue lemon orchards

A town day — catch any niches missed earlier in the week, stock up on lemon tea and dried fruit, and sit out a long lunch. The groves around town are pleasant in late October when the harvest runs.

1. ziyang yuanjue cave

An honest side day into Chongqing's Dazu district, about an hour by car from Anyue — or the intercity train from Ziyang North to Dazu South in some 40 minutes. Baodingshan, listed by UNESCO in 1999, sets up a point-for-point comparison with Anyue's Song work. Back to Anyue for the night.

1. chongqing dazu baodingshan

About an hour north into Lezhi. The Qing-era courtyard at Laodong town where Chen Yi was born in 1901 pairs with the memorial hall and the Chen family ancestral shrine. Overnight in Lezhi town.

1. ziyang chenyi former residence
2. ziyang chenyi memorial hall

A slow day in the hills around Lezhi — the working Baoguo Temple, known as a Pure Land center of central Sichuan, and a county-town evening of Lezhi's celebrated grilled meat.

1. ziyang baoguosi temple

Road back to Ziyang for the roughly 22-metre Tang Buddha at Banyueshan, then a riverside afternoon — the local Qing-era Linjiangsi broad-bean paste makes a good souvenir from the old-town shops.

1. ziyang banyueshan buddha
2. ziyang tuojiang riverside

An honest side day on the half-hour intercity train from Ziyang North — the Jinsha site museum and its ancient Shu gold work in the morning, the Kuanzhai alleys in the afternoon, back in Ziyang for dinner.

1. chengdu jinsha site museum
2. chengdu kuanzhai alley

A market breakfast, a slow walk along the Tuojiang and a last climb up Zikushan for the town view. Repack, confirm the train, do nothing in particular.

1. ziyang tuojiang riverside
2. ziyang zikushan park

One last riverside morning, lemon tea for the road, then the half-hour train from Ziyang North toward Chengdu or Chongqing for the onward leg.

1. ziyang tuojiang riverside