Tuōgū yī diàn, báidì yún shēn; Kuímén yī guān, qiānlǐ jiāng lái. — One hall of the orphan’s entrustment, white-emperor clouds deep; one gate of Kui, a thousand li of river arriving.
Baidi City & Qutang Gorge (白帝城·瞿塘峡, Báidì Chéng·Qútáng Xiá) is the county’s 5A-rated (July 2022) flagship at Baidi town — a two-part product in one ticket: the Baidi fortress-city on its peninsula above the Yangtze, and the view down into Qutang Gorge, the westernmost and shortest of the Three Gorges. Tickets run 100 yuan in peak season and 60 off, and the price includes the round-trip ferry from the north bank. It is the most storied address in the county: the place where Liu Bei entrusted his heir (刘备托孤), the subject of Li Bai’s most famous river poem, and — for anyone holding a 10-yuan note — the Kui Gate printed on the money.
Qutang is the shortest and narrowest of the Three Gorges, and the Kui Gate (夔门) is its mouth: two cliff walls closing the river into a gate barely wider than the channel. The composition — the gate, the river, the mountains behind — was chosen for the fifth-series 10-yuan note’s reverse because it reads as the definitive Yangtze image: the river arriving at a gate in the rock. The view of it from Baidi’s heights, looking back up the gorge, is the reason the fortress was sited there.
Three local facts are worth more than the guidebook. First, the full recitation of Li Bai’s “Early Departure from Baidi City” (《早发白帝城》) earns free entry to the main gate — a policy that turns the queue into a poetry exam, and the locals’ children learn the poem early. Second, the ferry is included and runs 08:30–16:30, so the visit is a daytime trade; the early boat has the gorge in morning light. Third, the fortress itself rewards the slow loop — the entrustment hall, the riverside walls, and the gorge view from the far side — rather than the photograph and go.
flowcloud would say that the county put a fortress, a poem and a banknote on one peninsula — and that the poetry exam at the gate is the fairest toll in China.
Practicalities
- Rating: 5A (graded July 2022)
- Tickets (旺/淡): 100 / 60 yuan, including the round-trip ferry
- Free entry: full recitation of “Early Departure from Baidi City” waives the main gate; over-65s and children under 1.2 m are free ⚠️ verify current policy
- Ferry: 08:30–16:30
- Address: Baidi town, west of the county seat (checked October 2026, subject to change)
- Time needed: 3–4 hours including the fortress loop and the gorge viewpoints
Words and Names
白帝城 Báidì Chéng — Baidi City, the fortress-town · 瞿塘峡 Qútáng Xiá — Qutang Gorge, the westernmost of the Three Gorges · 夔门 Kuímén — the Kui Gate, the gorge’s mouth on the 10-yuan note · 刘备托孤 Liúbèi Tuōgū — Liu Bei’s entrusting of his heir, the fortress’s historical moment · 早发白帝城 Zǎofā Báidìchéng — “Early Departure from Baidi City”, Li Bai’s poem and the free-entry test · 摆渡船 bǎidù chuán — the ferry, included in the ticket