Fengdu sits on the north bank of the Yangtze about 170 kilometres downstream from Chongqing, and for centuries it has been associated in popular belief with the underworld. The temples on Mingshan hill behind the town represent, in stone and painted clay, the bureaucracy and the punishments that the dead were believed to face. Yangtze cruises have stopped here for generations, and it remains one of the river's best-known shore excursions.
What you walk through
The complex climbs the hillside through gates and halls, with figures of judges and officials of the underworld, and scenes of the courts where the dead are examined and sentenced. The statues are theatrical and sometimes gruesome - figures being sawn, boiled or ground - and they are meant as moral instruction as much as entertainment. Alongside them there are halls to Buddhist and Taoist deities, and a temple to the Emperor of the Underworld. The walk ends at a viewpoint over the river and the gorge country beyond.
The town
The original town below the hill was partly submerged by the Three Gorges reservoir, and the present town is a rebuilt settlement higher up the slope, with a memorial to the old one. The relocation changed the setting but not the temples, which sit above the new water level. There is also a large modern structure on the hill built for visitors in recent years, which some find at odds with the old temples.
Practical information
Fengdu is reached by Yangtze cruise, by high-speed train from Chongqing in about an hour, or by road. The temple complex charges admission and the visit involves a long climb, with a cable car available. Cruise passengers typically have two to three hours ashore, which is enough for the main halls and the viewpoint. Wear shoes with grip for the wet stone steps.
How to take it
Fengdu is folk religion rather than high art, and it is best enjoyed as an insight into how ordinary Chinese people have imagined death, judgement and the afterlife. Read the panels, look at the detail of the statues, and treat the whole thing as a piece of living culture rather than a haunted house.
