What is the history of the Hongya Cave?

Hongyadong, originally named Hongyamen, was one of the ancient city gates of Chongqing.

Hongyamen in 1941

In early 1371, Zhu Yuanzhang sent General Tang He to lead a large army by both land and water to directly attack the then capital city of the Daxia Kingdom, Chongqing City. The Daxia Kingdom perished. Dai Ding, who followed Tang He into the city, served as the commander of the Chongqing Guard. Subsequently, he organized the rebuilding of Chongqing City. The ancient city of Chongqing had already reached a certain scale in the Song Dynasty. Dai Ding was able to build the city “based on the original site”, basically restoring the form of Chongqing City in the Song Dynasty, and thus laid the basic pattern of Chongqing City before the Republic of China.

The ancient city of Chongqing was a stone city. Its city walls were 30 meters high and more than 8,000 meters long. There were a total of 17 gates in the whole city, with nine open gates and eight closed ones, which originated from the “Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams” in ancient I Ching studies, reflecting Dai Ding’s wish to keep the Chongqing city walls stable forever.

Hongyamen in 1945

The nine open gates were relatively large, and most of them had barbican entrances. Among them, Chaotianmen was the largest one. Of the nine open gates, only Dongshuimen and Tongyuanmen survived later. After 2012, Renhemen, Taipingmen and Nanjimen were successively excavated and rebuilt.

The eight closed gates followed the old custom of “building gates according to the platforms”. Between the nine open gates, closed gates with defensive gate towers were built at intervals. And Hongyamen was a closed gate. It was built on the cliff between Linjiangmen and Qiansimen. With a dangerous terrain, an enemy tower was built on the city wall, making it an important military fortress.

Hongyamen in 1997

The old appearance of Chongqing Hongyadong before demolitionThe old appearance of Chongqing Hongyadong before demolition

Hongyadong is one of the seventeen gates in the old city of Chongqing, with nine open gates and eight closed ones. First of all, the name of this gate has a lot to say. The character “Hong” is related to water because the terrain of the Hongyadong area extends straight into the Jialing River and encounters floods and flood peaks every year. The character “Ya” is also very accurate. It uses “Ya” instead of “Yan”. Hongyadong is the gate with the steepest terrain among the seventeen gates and also the one closest to the high point of the old city peninsula. As for the character “Dong”, there’s no need to say much. For all the open gates, Chongqing people would call them “city gate holes”. Except for Tongyuan Gate on the hilltop, all the open gates in Chongqing were docks along the Yangtze River and the Jialing River. In those days, Hongyadong was a famous paper and salt dock and a commercial place closely related to cultural development.

Hongyadong in the period of the Republic of China

The terrain of the Hongyadong area extends straight into the Jialing River

After the 1960s, the Qiansimen Dock gradually declined, and Hongyadong also gradually lost its former liveliness. The stilted buildings that had endured decades of wind and rain became increasingly dilapidated and almost became dangerous buildings.

Since the 1990s, the urban construction in Chongqing has begun to accelerate. In 1993, the demolition and renovation of Binjiang Road started, and the dilapidated stilted buildings disappeared as a result.

In the second half of 2006, a food and leisure street with distinct Chongqing characteristics made its debut on the bank of the Jialing River. The antique stilted buildings, which were built along the cliff and had 11 floors, were arranged in an orderly and row upon row manner.

Now, Hongyadong has become a dazzling name card of Chongqing, a cultural and tourism highlight of the super metropolis covering 82,400 square kilometers, and also a must-visit check-in point where Chinese and foreign tourists coming to Chongqing will definitely take pictures as souvenirs. Therefore, it is crowded with people during holidays, and even on ordinary days, there are also numerous tourists coming in an endless stream. As the most famous traditional historical and cultural style area in Chongqing now, Hongyadong has the characteristics that mountains and water, as well as mountains, water and the city coexist and complement each other. Coupled with its superior location, prominent terrain and unique landscape, it indeed has unique and irreplaceable tourism value in China and even in the world as the largest mountain city and river city.

The current Hongyadong

As for the historical origin of Hongyadong, it has already been recorded in the old city maps of the Qing Dynasty and “Ba County Annals”, so there’s no need to elaborate on it. What’s worth mentioning is that there was a place right beside Hongyadong where the famous American writer Ernest Hemingway lived during the period when Chongqing was the provisional capital during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. When the old city was being renovated, the relevant cultural relics department planned to set up a project to protect this building from the period of the Republic of China. However, the real estate developer who had obtained the land use right, upon hearing this news, immediately took preemptive action and demolished it overnight. Alas, what a pity! Hongyadong has since lost the opportunity to reunite with the famous work “The Old Man and the Sea”, which won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Mr. Wu Tao from the Chongqing Cultural Bureau at that time went around appealing and was busy for quite a while, but in the end, all his efforts came to nothing. Perhaps China’s history is too long. Some people only focus on immediate interests and don’t value historical remains at all. Wu Tao used to be the secretary-general of the Chongqing Famous Historical and Cultural City Special Committee and has unfortunately passed away. His sad and regretful feelings for this matter back then are still vivid and unforgettable.

Once some things are missed, they will disappear forever and there will be no possibility of retrieving them.

“Map of Ba County City” in “Ba County Annals” (1761) (Source: Wang Erjian: “Ba County Annals”, Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty)

Regrets aside, let’s talk about some stories about the construction of Hongyadong.

Hongyadong was an important old city renovation project in Yuzhong District, Chongqing around the year 2000. It was first proposed by He Zhiya, who was then the deputy head of Yuzhong District, Chongqing. Mr. He graduated from Chongqing Institute of Architectural Engineering. In addition, with his love and understanding of history and culture, he had a special preference for historical traditional architecture. He was not only a professional in this regard but also a photographer who had long been photographing historical buildings in Sichuan and Chongqing, and many of his photography albums and related research works were published. In the Yuzhong District government, there was also Chen Zhidao, who was then the director of the “Office for Comprehensive Improvement and Development of the Environment along the Two Rivers”. They communicated with each other and shared the same feelings, and together they planned the blueprint for how to build the Hongyadong historical and cultural style area.

I was originally a teacher at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, just an ordinary teacher. Due to school-enterprise cooperation, I was hired by Chuanmei Industrial Company founded by Zhao Xukui, an alumnus of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. At that time, Hao Dapeng was in charge of the work at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, and I was responsible for project planning. Thus, I formed a bond with the Hongyadong old city renovation project. He Zhiya and Chen Zhidao, as the government representatives, and Hao Dapeng, Xu Baojia, and I from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, plus Liao Lei, together formed a planning and design team. We set up a working platform for the planning and design of the Hongyadong historical and traditional cultural style area, from the office in Shanhuba Jinshazhou, Yuzhong District to the second floor of Chuanmei Company in Hongsheng Building, Jiefangbei.

The second floor of Chuanmei Company in Hongsheng Building, Jiefangbei, which was once the working platform for the planning and design of the Hongyadong historical and traditional cultural style area

First of all, it was the research. Here, I have to thank the postgraduate and undergraduate students of Hao Dapeng who studied in the Design Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. My postgraduate student Xiao Zhihui participated in the whole process. I still remember a very capable young girl named Huang Hongchun. She nimbly moved around among the uneven stilted buildings in Hongyadong, like a little flower cat jumping up and down. The result of the research was six large volumes of eight-open data collections, which sorted out the current situation of various stilted buildings and other buildings in the area. For Hongyadong, considering the dangerous building level and engineering safety of Hongyadong, the government did not require to preserve the current situation for the old city renovation of Hongyadong but to demolish and rebuild. The detailed surveying and mapping aimed, on the one hand, to figure out the three-horizontal and eight-vertical road network structure of Hongyadong to provide historical basis for the construction of the historical and cultural style area, and on the other hand, to fully understand the characteristics of the existing building prototypes so as to provide references for the building forms to be implemented in the future.

On May 24, 2000, the “Research Project Team on the Protective Development of the Mountainous Old City Style Area of Chongqing Hongyadong in the Yangtze River Basin” was established. Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and the Office for Comprehensive Improvement and Development of the Environment along the Two Rivers in Yuzhong District, Chongqing jointly served as the completion units. He Zhiya, the executive deputy head of the Yuzhong District government of Chongqing, and Luo Zhongli, the president of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, served as the team leaders of the project team. Professor Hao Dapeng served as the executive deputy team leader. Chuanmei Industrial Company served as the specific implementation unit. The main members of the project team were: He Zhiya, Hao Dapeng, Wang Lin, Yin Yuanliang, Chen Zhidao, Fei Xinbei, Pan Zhaonan, Xu Baojia, Li Shiyu, Ma Bin, Wu Tao. Liao Lei and Tang Liang from Sichuan Fine Arts Institute also participated in the preliminary work.

The planning and design texts and images of Hongyadong were all based on this. I, Liao Lei, and Xiao Zhihui were responsible for text writing and compilation. Hao Dapeng and Xu Baojia led the students to complete various design drawings and effect drawings. The results of this work were approved by the Chongqing Science and Technology Commission and also won the Design Award of the National Art Exhibition of the Chinese Artists Association. That’s another story.

The bidding after the planning was completed was quite dramatic. On May 12, 2001, the planning and design scheme review of the Hongyadong traditional folk house style area was held. Three units participated, namely Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, the Design Institute of Chongqing University of Architecture, and the Third Design Institute of the Ministry of Machinery Industry. As a result, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute won the first prize and was awarded the bid, while the Design Institute of Chongqing University of Architecture failed. Mr. Zhang Xingguo, who was then the dean of the Design Institute of Chongqing University of Architecture, was quite puzzled. How could the team of the Design Institute of Chongqing University of Architecture, which was good at architectural planning and design, lose to the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute team whose planning strength was not that outstanding? In fact, the reason was quite simple. Chuanmei Company took the Hongyadong traditional cultural style area seriously, while the Design Institute of Chongqing University of Architecture might have seen too many such projects and didn’t pay much attention to it.

Next came the bidding for construction investment. The Yuzhong District government offered very favorable conditions. On August 4, 2001, three companies participated, namely Longfor Real Estate Group, 协信集团 (Sunac Group), and Little Swan Group. Ms. Wu Yajun of Longfor Group is the leading figure in the real estate industry in Chongqing, and Ms. He Yongzhi of Little Swan Group is the leading figure in the hot pot industry in Chongqing. However, in terms of real estate investment, He Yongzhi didn’t have an advantage. Unfortunately, Longfor “lost a lot of points in the economic bid of the bidding, and as a result, Little Swan won the bid.

Little Swan in Hongyadong

Here, I have to mention He Yongzhi. She is really quite a remarkable person. It’s true that Chongqing women are all capable. He Yongzhi didn’t receive much education and only graduated from junior high school, but she was born with business acumen. In the era of reform and opening up after the “Cultural Revolution”, she was one of the first ten-thousand-yuan households in the hot pot business. It’s said that she invented the mandarin duck hot pot and calls herself the “Hot Pot Queen”. When working on the Hongyadong project, I divined for her using the “Book of Changes” in her Little Swan Hotel, and her fortune was so good that few could compare. It seems that He Yongzhi’s cross-border bidding for Hongyadong was not without reason. (He Yongzhi is now the person in control of Hongyadong)

The construction of Hongyadong went through several rounds of difficulties, and only He Yongzhi knew the joys and sorrows. As a shrewd businessman, what she focused on most closely was the plot ratio of the real estate project, staring at it with eager eyes. From the original planned more than 30,000 square meters, then to more than 50,000 square meters, and finally reaching more than 60,000 square meters. Goodness! How great was the adjustment of the planning regulations! As a result, Hao Dapeng, the original designer, withdrew completely, and was replaced by the subsequent architectural designers Guo Xuancang and Li Xiangbei chosen by He Yongzhi.

In this way, only the initial introduction of the original traditional architectural form was left. As for how to deal with the relationship between the surrounding mountain topography and the form of the antique buildings, Hao Dapeng actually had good design ideas.

Later, no one expected that the entire style area was built into a huge building with row upon row of floors. Its three-horizontal and eight-vertical road network was transformed into floors that intersected up and down and left and right. This change really shocked the colleagues in the Chongqing Famous Historical and Cultural City Special Committee. Some people raised objections, while others didn’t take it seriously. However, under the dilemma of extremely limited land area and the requirement for the maximum plot ratio, the subsequent design scheme was still very clever, strategic and creative. What’s more, the designer was facing a very assertive female boss from Chongqing, and he had really done his best. Perhaps it was this extremity that contributed to the Hongyadong we see today.

With such a large volume, the investment was also huge. For a while, He Yongzhi faced difficulties. At such a time, Mr. He Zhiya, who was the director of the Chongqing Famous Historical and Cultural City Special Committee, and the Yuzhong District government gave full support to this project. He Zhiya was the deputy head of the Yuzhong District government in charge of construction. Later, as the deputy secretary-general of the Chongqing Municipal Government and an architectural expert, his words carried a lot of weight. We all affectionately called him “He Mi”. It’s not too much to say that “He Mi” was He Yongzhi’s clansman and lucky star.

The light rail passing through the building at Liziba is a major feature of Chongqing. The light rail Line 2 passes through residential buildings, forming a unique urban landscape.

It was also at this time that an inexplicable mysterious force began to play a role, that is, He Yongzhi’s luck and destiny. The Japanese animated TV series “Spirited Away” was broadcast and became a huge hit among young people. Somehow, a little girl accidentally discovered that a scene in the cartoon was very similar to the facade photo of Hongyadong’s buildings, and then it was widely praised. From getting likes to becoming an online celebrity, it suddenly became famous. An online celebrity is popular on the Internet, just like the flood peak of the Jialing River at Hongyadong. What’s important is to have a commonly accepted saying, which is “I love you somehow, without reason or cause” – that’s what the popular song sings.

Of course, as a mountainous city, Chongqing itself has a sense of traversing, magic and surrealism, which were all integrated into Hongyadong at once. As a result, the name “Hongyadong” has now become a certain representative of Chongqing’s mother city, and its click volume has probably surpassed that of Jiefangbei long ago. When I’m on business trips in other places, I often hear people mention Hongyadong. If I say that I participated in the preliminary planning and design, more than half of the people will be surprised and ask: Really?

“The Bathhouse” in Hayao Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away”

Every time at this moment, I can understand why He Yongzhi has always said that Hongyadong was built by herself and seems to have become the founder. Objectively speaking, He Yongzhi is indeed the investor of the cultural and tourism project in the Hongyadong historical and cultural style area and also an important organizer and builder. However, the reason why Hongyadong has become a major highlight or even the brightest spot in Chongqing’s urban tourism is the result of the dedicated efforts of many people, including the students majoring in design at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.

Many students majoring in design and the Fine Arts Department of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute participated in the planning of Hongyadong

So, if someone mentions the experience of participating in the research on Hongyadong or something like that, I will express my special thanks to them. I think He Yongzhi, as the boss of the Hongyadong scenic area, should probably do the same.

The current Hongyadong

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