Overview
Qingyan Ancient Town, one of the most famous historical and cultural towns in Guizhou Province, lies in the southern suburb of Guiyang. As an ancient town, covering an area of 300 hectares (about 740 acres), Qingyan Town was originally built in 1378. Nowadays, because of its long history and strong cultural atmosphere, Qingyan Ancient Town has become an attractive destination for numerous domestic and foreign tourists.

Due to the local geology, Qingyan Ancient Town was built completely of stone. Visitors can see spectacular city walls built with vast rocks right on the cliffs, which divided Qingyan into inner and outer towns. There are four gates in the wall facing north, south, east and west. Outside the four gates, there were originally eight stone tablets, which were considered the symbols of Qingyan Ancient Town. Of the eight, three remain with delicate sculptures on each surface.

Walking inside the inner town, visitors will surely marvel at the ancient architecture here. There are over 30 types including monasteries, temples, cabinets, caves, courtyards and palaces. All of them were delicately designed by the skillful architects of the Ming and Qing Dynasties. A number of exquisite articles, such as the stone sculptures of Ciyun Temple and wooden sculptures of Shoufo Temple, are all worth a look. You can visit the ancient business streets to admire the elegant classical wooden houses. If you like, stop at one of those teahouses and have a taste of the famous local snacks, such as Qingyan tofu, rice tofu and rose sugar.

Religious culture here is also quite rich, including Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism and Protestantism. If you are interested in Buddhism, you can take this chance to learn the typical Buddhist culture here. In addition, you will be impressed by patter of the Taoists. What's more, you will be surprised to find that so many residents here are Catholic and Protestant, since Catholicism was introduced here in 1851 by a French churchman and the Protestantism was introduced to Qingyan Town nearly 70 years ago.

Qingyan Ancient Town is really a fantastic place for visitors to learn about Chinese ancient culture. Time permitting, it is worthwhile to stay in the town for one or two days. By doing so, you can grasp a better sense of the classical elegance of this unique ancient town in the early morning.