Walking Through Ciqikou Ancient Town Chongqing – In Pictures

Ciqikou Ancient Town in Chongqing was every bit as endearing with its charm and history. During my visit to Chongqing, I got to experience the sights and sounds of this thousand year old town and I actually enjoyed it (and if you really want to know more about Chongqing’s rich culture and history you can go to the  Three Gorges Museum). If you’d like to know how my visit went then be sure to scroll down.

Ciqikou Ancient Town Chongqing: Experience the Sights and Sounds of This Thousand Year Old Town

So one of the first things I did when I visited Ciqikou Ancient Town was to check out the Tourist Center (pictured above). While not huge, the town has many levels and side streets (By the way, another old street worth to visit here in Chongqing is the Xiahao Lane.). The Tourist Center has a convenient map (you can see it off to the side of the stairs) that you can use to orient yourself to the town.

Once I had an idea of the town’s layout, I then proceeded to just walk around and enjoy the views (just like what I did on my walk around Chongqing Liberation Square). I enjoy visiting old towns but for some reason Ciqikou feels somewhat different. It’s actually quite modern or at the very least this area has plenty of modern trappings. Moreover, it can get pretty crowded (just like in Hongyadong Folk Custom Scene Area) as you can see when you look closely at the background of the picture above.

Now this mural looks really nice. I’m not sure if this was painted by hand but it looked hyperrealistic. The street where you can find this is actually chock full of shops and establishments (just like in Testbed 2) serving a wide range of consumables including (but not limited to) tea and snacks. Opposite this is a statue of Zhang Xiaoquan (which the people in the image are actually taking pictures of), the founder of a popular brand of scissors that has been around since the 1600s.

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Just a couple of steps from the location in the previous image is this humongous gachapon vending machine. Also, the stairs you see behind/beside it is directly opposite the stairs with the mural in the previous image.

Here’s a view of the gachapon vending machine from afar. I’m actually near Longshan Park at this point as this is where you can access the Ciqikou Ancient Town proper. It’s actually kind of crazy how big of a difference a couple of steps make. In contrast to the bustling area where the gachapon vending machine is, here it’s quite peaceful and refreshing even.

This is the point where Longshan Park starts. The sign in the background translates to ‘New Era, New Journey, New Greatness’. I’m not quite sure but it seems like the statues of a man and two horses are probably connected to this slogan.

After climbing up a short flight of steps (you can find these to the right of the statue), I’m now at Longshan Park. What immediately caught my eye is this tree with what looks like a rack with plenty of omikuji hanging from it. This is known as a wishing tree and what usually happens is people write their wishes on red paper and hang them here.

Off to the side of the stairs, you’ll find this peculiar set of mini statues. I’m not quite sure what these are. It seemed like it was a depiction of a parent watching over their studying child.

Like I said earlier, Ciqikou has plenty of side streets that you might inadvertently lose yourself in. Thankfully, there are a number of maps that you can find along the way. Aside from this, there was also a map just before the statues at the entrance of Longshan park.

Just look at this cute little kitty! They’re probably happy and content that they’re able to sleep well in such a place. On a side note, it was already a month or two after the Chinese New Year ended and it seems like the mood here is still quite festive.

So this is the shop where the kitty was sleeping in. It’s one of the few shops here that I noticed was pet friendly. Other than that, it also seemed like it had a chill atmosphere and was definitely a lot more laid back than the shops that I came across earlier.

Now I’m in Ciqikou Main Street. As you can see, it’s kind of intimidating going here just because of the crowd of people you’ll come across. If you’re the kind who is not good with crowds then you might want to stay a while for some coffee and snacks at the shop (Wild House) earlier.

I personally thought that the crowd was a bit too much (not that they were rowdy or anything) so I decided to explore other areas of this ancient town. While walking down some stairs, I came across this window from one of the many shops here. I’m not going to lie, these types of establishments are actually more appealing for me as a traveler.

Compared to the main street, this area is actually pretty chill. There aren’t that many people here and the shops are more like mom and pop style rather than those catered towards tourists. Additionally, the sights here are also quite nice. From my vantage point, I can actually see the skyline of Chongqing off in the distance.

So this is what I was talking about when I said the shops here were more like the mom and pop types. Actually, rustic would be a better term to describe these. From what I can recall, this one serves tea and there’s actually a second floor where you can enjoy a cup together with your friends while also enjoying the views.

At this point, how many maps of Ciqikou have I come across? This one is probably one of the better looking maps here though and more importantly, it’s probably one of the easier ones to understand thanks to it having some English translations. Man, without these maps I don’t think I’d ever be able to get out of here.

Aside from the maps, there are direction signs here pointing to the major areas worth visiting. Unlike the maps though, these aren’t as ubiquitous and I think I found most of these in the main street area.

So if you’re not familiar with Pop Mart, they’re pretty similar to Funko Pop in that they sell collectible figures. What makes Pop Mart different though is that it’s sort of similar to a gachapon where you don’t really know what you’ll be getting. I think the term they use for it is blind box collectibles. Anyway, the figure in the foreground is called Molly and she is widely considered as the mascot for Pop Mart.

So here’s another rustic shop called Lu Coffee that advertises coffee, tea, and simple meals. As you can tell, I was really intrigued by these kinds of shops and I was quite close to visiting one of them. The only thing holding me back really was that I already had something planned and eating now might ruin my enjoyment later.

Another view of Chongqing’s skyline. While I did say that Ciqikou Ancient Town didn’t look as aesthetically pleasing as Higashi Chaya District or Shirakawa-go, it does have areas like this that really stand out. The layered levels and narrow streets give it a charm, appeal, and sophistication that the other two areas simply lack.

Another thing that I liked here at Ciqikou is the contrast between the more silent areas of the town to the bustling sections with plenty of shops and crowds of people. You probably remember Lu Coffee earlier. You can actually see the decorations on its second floor (upper right hand corner) in this image.

Here you’ll find a shop selling hotpot soup base. Now you might think that Sichuan has the definitive hotpot experience but Chongqing style cuisine actually isn’t far behind. Chongqing’s cuisine and food culture is influenced by Sichuan cuisine so you’ll find plenty of shops that sell these hotpot soup bases not just here but across the municipality. And also, they have some nice dim sum restaurants here like Dim Dou Duk (you can read my article about it here).

Right next to the shop selling hotpot soup base is this shop where you can rent traditional clothes and then have your pictures taken wearing them. I might be mistaken but I think these clothes are traditionally worn by those from the Miao culture (if you want to know more about this, you can read my article about Chiyou Jiuli Palace).

Now if you happen to need to cool down then this particular street has a stall for Mixue Ice Cream and Tea. If ice cream isn’t your thing then to its left is a stall for a Chinese yogurt brand that already has a thousand stores nationwide.

Continuing along, I came across this wishing tree that’s just full of Bao Die or wishes. The one I saw at Longshan Park earlier really doesn’t compare. If I were to guess, there’s probably hundreds of these here. I’m actually surprised the tree’s branches still hadn’t snapped at that point.

So I tried looking up Bao Die as well as Chinese wishing trees and found that it’s a lot like Japan’s ema. Much like with ema, people write down their wishes on plaques with red ribbons/tassels attached to them. Where it differs is how they hang the Bao Die. Typically, they attach an orange to them and then throw them at a wishing tree. If it catches on a branch after being thrown then the belief is that the wish will be granted.

Considering how many of these managed to catch on to this tree’s branches, it’s probably safe to assume the people who threw them will end up with good fortune for the year.

So just a couple of feet from the wishing tree is another area where you’ll find a number of establishments. The one to my right in this image sells a variety of things including brushes, miniature fans, and what seemed to be traditional hair ornaments. Just opposite this shop is another stall selling hotpot soup base (and most probably hotpot as well though I wasn’t able to check).

Now here’s a pretty unique shop that sells radish. Apparently, Chongqing is known for its radishes and this store likely sells them preserved (seasoned, pickled, dried, etc…). I’m not quite sure but it seems like the store is called Geleshan Radish after either the Geleshan in Shapingba District in Chongqing or Gele Mountain.

What if you’re not too fond of radish? No worries as you can look for this shop that sells this barbecued meat. I might be mistaken but it looks like this is either marinated or jerkied meat that is then grilled. I wasn’t able to try it out but the smell was amazing. If I actually get to have a chance to visit Ciqikou again, this is probably one of a number of stalls that you’ll find me in.

This is another store that sells hotpot soup base. The store calls itself a hotpot specialty store and you can actually see one of its employees cooking up a hotpot soup base on the spot. From what I can tell, they price a package of this soup base for CNY10 each.

According to my translation app, the name of this specific stall is Juntun Soup Master. At the time I was there, it wasn’t offering any soup though. Rather, people were lining up here for fruit juice. The stall on the right was much more interesting though as it was selling Bo Bo Chicken (which, if you read my Bayi Food Street review, is a delicacy here in Chongqing).

Another store selling hotpot soup base? How many is it now? Kidding aside, hotpot really is popular here in Chongqing. This store is also cooking a fresh batch of hotpot soup and it’s actually really aromatic possibly thanks to all the spices and seasonings that usually go into it.

This giant stuffed toy was honestly a surprise. From the looks of it, this one seems like a rabbit though I was initially not sure why it didn’t have eyes or other facial features. Not going to lie, this kind of freaked me out a little the more I looked at it at that time.

There’s honestly so many stairs as well as side streets here in Ciqikou Ancient Town that it can be quite confusing at times. Thankfully, this is also the kind of place where you actually want to purposefully get lost because you never really know where these side streets and stairs may lead.

Case in point, the bottom of those stairs in the previous image had these statues of Chinese opera performers. The sign behind this display actually says ‘Old Shadows of the Pear Garden’ and I learned a bit later that this actually was meant to reference Chinese Opera.

Then just above the display in the previous image is this large signage talking about how everyone is lining up for a taste of Chongqing Mahua. The name of the store where you can get this fried dough snack from is called Chen Jianping’s Chen Mahua which is also probably in the same building where the sign is on.

Oh look, you can also get Starbucks here! With that said, you can pretty much get Starbucks anywhere these days so I wouldn’t really say that it’s worth coming here to just visit this one store here. Still, it was nice to see a store that I was familiar with here.

This store is selling a variety of snacks that you can eat while walking through Ciqikou’s Streets. A 200g serving of these cost CNY18 each and if you wanted to, you can also purchase a bag to take home.

So this is the storefront of Chen Jiaping Chen Mahua. If you remember, this was the store mentioned in that huge signage where the Chinese Opera statues were located. It seems like the ad was very effective since people seem to flock here to buy their mahua.

Other than food, you’ll also come across stores that sell non-consumable souvenirs like this one. The pandas here look really cute and I was actually tempted to get one for myself. Aside from the panda, there also seems to be plushies of capybaras as well as merch like pens and fans.

Possibly the most underrated shop/service being offered here is this one. It advertises that you can get a hand painted portrait from one of the two artists here. What’s nice is that the portrait also seems like it’s going to be colored in. If their samples and the five minute timer are anything to go by then these artists are seriously skilled.

Seeing this shop, I then realized why that large stuffed rabbit earlier didn’t have facial features. It might have to do with rabbit heads being a delicacy here in Sichuan with this shop selling these as its specialty. I saw these rabbit heads up close and I will say, they look really gnarly.

Another shop selling unique products (at least for me) is this one. It advertises that it’s selling handmade Chaozhu Mandarin Orange Cakes which are also on display on a couple of tables as seen in the image.

Here’s a closer look at the mandarin orange cakes. Now while it might be called a cake, the only similarity it has to a real one is that it also has sugar. These are really just oranges that have been peeled, with their sides sliced, then crushed, marinated in sugar, and finally cooked in their own juices. If you want a sugar rush then I can’t think of a better snack to consume.

If the mandarin orange cakes are too sweet for your liking then this shop has plenty of fried delicacies that you might want to consider. Whereas the previous shop was focused on selling sweets, the food items in this one though are mostly spicy.

In addition to the fried food, the shop also sells these packets of hotpot soup base. Then right next to the hotpot soup packets are spicy fried peanuts that are popular all throughout China. You can also see that there are meat skewers here along with that large tub of chili that I can only imagine would do a number on your stomach (if you’re not used to extremely spicy food).

And what do you know, I’m now back to the area at the start of my walk through Ciqikou Ancient Town. To be specific, this is a couple of meters before that area that had the large gachapon. There’s still plenty of people here though the crowd was not as packed as earlier.

Just opposite the previous image is this Maden Clothing store. From what I know, this is mainly targeted for men (though they also cater to women as seen above) and is popular for its vintage-inspired clothing designs. I wasn’t too keen on getting new clothes so I just went ahead and checked the stores in the opposite direction

Another line of stalls that serve food. Thinking about it now, a huge chunk of my stay in Chongqing has centered either around food or walking. Much like the Japanese, I think it’s very hard to gain weight as a Chinese person because even if you have access to delicious food, you also get to burn any excess calories thanks to the copious amounts of walking you do on a daily basis.

Further along, I came across this establishment that advertises to be a cafe and bistro that also offers tea and coffee. I was actually feeling a little hungry by this time so I decided to continue walking through the area.

Along the way, I came across this street that looked really nice thanks to the banners hanging above. The banners themselves also had cool designs with the ones that had calligraphy standing out the most for me. Now if you’re wondering, I’m in the opposite direction of where the gachapon vending machine and Longshan Park are located.

Here’s another establishment that specializes in hotpot. Unlike the stalls that we’ve seen up til now though, this one is a proper restaurant where you can actually order and eat.

I finally got to take a seat AND enjoy this sumptuous hotpot (this hot pot is from Zhoushixiong restaurant). As you can see, I ordered lots of beef with two soups. The food was honestly great but I’ll probably make another post detailing my dining experience here (as this one has gotten quite long).

Admittedly, my expectation of Ciqikou Ancient Town was that I was going to see an old town that still retained a lot of the architecture and construction techniques from when it was initially built. It turns out, Ciqikou is very modern though it still retains a lot of the charm of an old town. And if you walk off the beaten path (and I personally recommend Chongqing Wulong Natural Three Bridges), you can also see a lot of nice houses and vistas that you’d normally not find in the areas frequented by tourists.

Have anything to add? Do you think I missed something? Let me know by sharing your experience of visiting Ciqikou Ancient Town (if you’ve already done so) down in the comments!