Fengdu Ghost City

Fengdu Ghost City is a complex of temples and shrines built on Ming Mountain in Fengdu County, Chongqing Municipality, overlooking the Yangtze River. Construction began during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 CE) and continued through every subsequent dynasty for two thousand years. The complex is a physical model of Diyu, the Chinese underworld.

The Origin

Two Han Dynasty officials named Yin Changsheng and Wang Fangping practiced Taoism on Ming Mountain and, according to tradition, achieved immortality. Their combined surname “Yinwang” means “King of Hell.” The linguistic accident gave the mountain its association with the afterlife, and temples followed.

The Architecture of Hell

The complex includes the Bridge of Helplessness, a Ming Dynasty stone bridge that tests souls for good and evil. The righteous cross safely. The wicked fall into the river below. The Tianzi Palace serves as the office of Yama, King of Hell, where souls receive judgment. Statues throughout the complex depict the torments awaiting the condemned: dismemberment, boiling, freezing.

The temples contain centuries of Buddhist and Taoist inscriptions recording donations, prayers, and theological arguments about the nature of the afterlife. The two religions coexist in the same complex, each contributing their own vision of what happens after death.

The Dam

The Three Gorges Dam, completed in 2006, flooded the lower portions of the Fengdu valley. The old town at the base of the mountain was submerged. The temple complex on the mountain survived above the waterline. A new town was built on the opposite bank of the Yangtze.

Visiting

Fengdu Ghost City is a major tourist site, accessible by Yangtze River cruise or by road from Chongqing (about three hours). The temples are open daily. A cable car connects the river landing to the mountaintop complex. The site is included on most Three Gorges cruise itineraries.