Sutra Depository of Donghua Temple (Photographed by Bi Keqin)

Yunti Street near the Kaixuan Road Elevator

Gate hole

Hanqiao gate hole (Photo reprinted from Chongqing Urban Development Trilogy)

Map of Chongqing

Identity information of Dry Arch Bridge 

Kaixuan Road Elevator

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- "It's time to show your identity!" "I didn't expect you to be so good!" Recently, a small video about Kaixuan Road Elevator, Kaixuan Road Dry Arch Bridge and Sutra depository of Donghua Temple went viral on the Internet. In the video, these popular places have been pasted with "ID Cards" to introduce their past, which surprised tourists to Chongqing.

“No. 1 Ladder", "No.1 Stone Arch Bridge"... How good are these hot spots in Kaixuan Road? The reporter of Chongqing Evening News will share their background and stories with you.

China's first urban passenger elevator

In the afternoon, although it was drizzling, there was still an endless stream of tourists visiting and taking photos in the Kaixuan Road Elevator near Jiaochangkou.

At the entrance of the elevator, the “No. 1 Ladder of Chongqing” is added, which is a kind of stilted building landscape sketch and scenic spot introduction. At the top of the elevator building, the golden characters of "the Oldest Elevator in Chongqing" and "China's First Urban Passenger Elevator" were very striking, and the background of tourists' photos were mostly in these directions.

According to the landscape introduction of "the No. 1 Elevator of Chongqing", in order to solve the problem of people climbing up the hill, the Kaixuan Road Elevator built and operated in February 1986 was the first urban passenger elevator in China and the oldest elevator which is still used in Chongqing, with a peak daily capacity of 14,000 passengers.

"Before I came to Chongqing, I had a plan to go to Kaixuan Road Elevator, which is a hot spot. I can't wait to experience it after watching the introduction on the spot." Zhang Ying, a tourist from Nanjing, told reporters that according to the introduction of the scenic spot, the elevator is 11-storey high. Take the elevator from the road to the 11th floor, and you will find the road which you just come out. This magical feeling can only be felt in the special terrain of Chongqing.

Nowadays, the entrance of the elevator near Jiaochangkou not only adds brief introduction about old Chongqing stories such as Baixiang Street, Herbal Medicine Association and Bufengju, but also includes the old map decoration of Chongqing such as "Map of Chongqing" in the elevator building.

The No. 1 Stone Arch Bridge of Chongqing

In 1986, when the Kaixuan Road Elevator was put into use, many residents came to see. Mr. Zhao, who lived in Jiefang West Road, said that "there were few direct elevators in Chongqing at that time. Old people nearby liked to take the elevator to Jiefangbei. At the beginning, the up and down fares of the Kaixuan Road Elevator were also different, respectively 0.1 yuan for uphill, and 0.05 yuan for downhill.”

Before the opening of Kaixuan Road Elevator, people had to pass through Yunti Street beside the elevator and Kaixuan Road, one of the "Top Ten-God Level Ladders in Chongqing" by netizens.

Yunti Street is a typical Chongqing Ladder. Up to now, many residents still use it, and it is also one of the popular places for tourists to experience Chongqing Ladder after taking the Kaixuan Road Elevator.

After climbing to the top of Yunti Street, you can go through a "gate hole", through which you can reach the area of the Jiaochangkou and Jiefangbei. The gate is very tall. Many tourists and even local people in Chongqing mistake it as a city gate. In fact, it's just an arch bridge in Kaixuan Road.

The upper part of the arch bridge is a normal road. From below, there are several arches connected. The main arch tunnel is now mainly the pedestrian passage. As a historical building in Chongqing, Kaixuan Road Arch Bridge was built in 1940s because of Kaixuan Road.

The identity plate of this bridge shows that the stone arch bridge built along the cliff was the first stone arch bridge in the main urban areas of Chongqing, with a length of about 80 meters and a total of 9 spans. It seems like a city gate. One span in the “Yunti Street” is called Kaixuan Gate.

The oldest wooden building in the main urban areas

Several old photos of Kaixuan Road in 1940s in Chongqing Urban Development Trilogy showed that the arch bridge was tall and majestic, and nine arches under the bridge could be seen far away. In the old photo, people come and go through the bridge hole through Yunti Street and pass between the upper and lower half of the city.

The name of Kaixuan Road was inseparable from the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, and it was also the epitome of the first urban expansion of Chongqing. It is worth mentioning that the shocking old photo The More it Blows, the Stronger it Gets was shot here.

A few hundred meters away from Kaixuan Road Elevator, at the corner of the middle section of Kaixuan Road, there is another famous scenic spot of Chongqing. This is the repaired Sutra Depository of Donghua Temple, with a history of more than 700 years, which is the oldest existing wooden building in the main urban areas. Today, the ancient temple, which is hidden in the downtown area, has become a popular tourist attraction. (Translated by Luo Juan, Fathom Language Limited)