A cruise on the Yangtze River in China has many highlights: beautiful scenery, fascinating history, interesting culture, and features like the Shibaozhai Temple, which are different from any other river cruise in the world.
One of the things that makes Shibaozhai Temple different is the effort made to save the Temple from the rising waters of the Yangtze after the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. The Yangtze River effort to save the Temple took place between 2005 and 2008, at a cost of about $ 12 million, and the restoration of the Shibaozhai Temple reminds the world that it came together to save one of Egypt’s great monuments, Abu Simbel, from the rising waters of the Nile River after the construction of the Aswan Dam.
Templo Shibaozhai
Shibaozhai Temple is a 12-story 18th century temple built on the high north bank of China’s Yangtze River. It is located about 180 miles downstream from Chongqing, where most Yangtze River cruises embark or disembark.
Shibaozhai (Stone Treasure Fort) was erected by Emperor Qianlong in 1750 on a large rock that rises nearly 700 feet from the river. Shibaozhai Temple is an architectural delight, as it was built without nails. This site celebrates an ancient legend about a small hole in the temple wall where rice dripped to feed the monks. Unfortunately, when the legendary monks got greedy and enlarged the hole so that the rice would flow faster, the rice completely dried up.
Before completing the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River, visitors walked through a long, narrow open-air shopping mall to the Temple, which was on a 164-foot-tall giant rock. When the Yangtze River reached its full pond in 2009, the water reached the base of Shibahozhai, so the Chinese government built a dam-like wall (coffin) around the pavilion of Shibaozhai Temple and added a long swing bridge to connect the new island where the temple now sat with the city. The shopping area was moved so that the guests still walk the gauntlet to get to the Temple.
How to get there by cruise
River cruises that sail the Yangtze River like the Viking Emerald often stop at Shibaozhai so passengers can walk through the city, cross the bridge, and climb to the top of the pagoda. Legends say that the higher you climb the temple, the more likely it is that your wish or your dreams will come true. This may be easier said than done, as each floor of the Shibaozhai Temple is reached via a creaking and unstable staircase.
