Sòngmò Juǎndòng Mén, yī zhèn Shídī; Yǒushuǐ yī huí, qiānlǐ yī tái. — The Song-end rolled-cave gate, one town of stone dike; one bend of the Youshui river, a thousand-li stage.
Shiti Ancient Town (石堤古镇, Shítī Gǔzhèn) is an unrated, free-access old town on the Youshui River (酉水河) — the river’s reach that the county shares with its western neighbours — whose one dated landmark is a rolled-cave gate (卷洞门) from the late Song or early Yuan. The town is the quiet register of the county’s heritage list: no grading, no ticket, just a river-bend settlement with a stone gate that has been standing since the dynasty change, and the Youshui’s water doing the work of the view.
The town’s antiquity is the gate: a rolled-arch stone passage from the Song-Yuan transition, the kind of structure that marks where a settlement’s wall stood. The rest is the river’s — the Youshui’s bend gives the town its frontage and its trade, and the reach’s water is the same that runs down to the border town at Hong’an. The pairing of the two is the county’s river geography: the Youshui from Shiti to the Lala ferry’s crossing.
The town is a walking visit and a quiet one — the gate is the destination, the river bank is the walk, and the correct timing is the evening when the river light does the work. As an unrated free site, it is a living quarter rather than a ticketed set; the residents’ evening is the town’s best hour. The drive from the county seat is the approach.
flowcloud would say that the county’s oldest structure is a free gate by a river — and that the Song-Yuan transition left a stone arch and a town that never bothered to charge for it.
Practicalities
- Rating: unrated; free access
- Tickets: free
- Address: the Youshui River bank, Shiti
- Getting there: the river road from the county seat; allow the transfer ⚠️ (checked October 2026, subject to change)
- Time needed: 1.5–2 hours
Words and Names
石堤古镇 Shítī Gǔzhèn — Shiti Ancient Town, “stone dike” · 卷洞门 Juǎndòng Mén — the rolled-cave gate, the Song-Yuan landmark · 酉水河 Yǒushuǐ Hé — the Youshui River, the town’s frontage · 宋末元初 Sòngmò Yuánchū — the late Song, early Yuan, the gate’s date