Guangyuan is the largest city between Chengdu and Hanzhong and all traces of its old town were lost in the rush to modernize. It is still worth visiting, however, just to see the reconstructed plank road in Mingyue Gorge (below left) which is 15 miles north of town. Here you can see the gorge as Han dynasty travelers saw it, walking along the side of the cliff on planks above the river. Admission includes a boat ride through the gorge on the Jialing River where you can observe the planking supports from below. From the boat you also get a good view of the Tiger’s Mouth (below middle), a section of the highway blasted out of the cliff face just above the plank road. The Thousand Buddha Cliff and the Temple of Empress Wu both have quite famous Buddhist sculpture from the Tang dynasty (right bottom). A half an hour outside of town you can visit a beautiful memorial arch (below right) and two hours away there is a famous old village called Bailingou (right top).
