"When the whole river was swallowed up by darkness, fires appeared on the rafts, lights in the windows of the stilt-houses, and torches flickered as men made their way up the rocky cliff or down again to their boats. Voices could be heard ashore and in the boats; women sang by the dim lamps in the stilt-houses, and after each song laughter and shouts rang out."

- Shen Congwen, «Recollections of West Hunan» -

Gongtan seems suspended in time, an old street without electric lights, a place where doors need not be locked and reliable roads are few. Most surrounding villages can only be accessed by foot. A superhighway is the Wu Jiang (the River Wu) which forms dangerous rapids and shoals in front of Gongtan. It's still much quicker to go to other towns along the Wu Jiang by boat than by bus.

Set halfway in the deep Wu Jiang Gorges, at the west edge of Chongqing's remote Youyang County, this unique 1700-year-old town has a large number of well preserved wooden stilt houses, perched finely on steep slopes, overlooking the Wu Jiang. Most of them have survived for more than 100 years. Some of them were around 400 years old.

Enclosed by these beautiful traditional houses, the narrow old street, paved with stone slabs, connected by beautiful stone bridges, stretches over 1000 meters on the east bank of Wu Jiang. When Gongtan was the most prosperous wharf on the Wu Jiang Waterway a hundred years ago, this busy street received thousands of boatmen, porters and businessmen.

When transportation by water was gradually replaced by land from 1950, Gongtan went into decline. Today, around two hundred residents live in the old town. Neither electric streetlights nor modern bars or cafes have come out on the old street. In the night, illuminated by few beautiful lanterns under the eaves as well as dim lights diffused from stilt houses, the old street is permeated with a mysterious and nostalgic atmosphere.

During my four-day visit, I was quite surprised by the very small number of tourists I had met (maximum 30) and enjoyed a lot of contacts with local people. Each time I traversed the old street, I saw same faces smiling at me from their houses, their doors were always opened. Sometimes I stopped to chat with them on the street.

I ventured inside Ran Family House,and Xia Jia Courtyard. Not bothered by my visit, both hostesses received me warmly and showed me around their houses. I was then invited to drink a cup of tea with them in the courtyard with breathtaking views, and listened to the story of their life and families.

Rating: Gongtan is my favorite destination in Central China. It is an ideal place for those who yearn to walk away from modern life and cities, going back into the past and the wildness, looking for their own better selves. In Gongtan, you can admire an intact relic of traditional architecture set in a breathtaking landscape, remote enough to be uncrowded; explore the surrounding Wuling Mountains where Tujia Ethic Group has lived there for 2000 years. A number of easy and pleasant treks are the only way to access some scenic, undeveloped villages.

Gongtan has an easygoing charm. Clean and cheap accommodations can be found in many traditional riverside stilt houses run by friendly local families. I should have stayed there for a week rather than four days.

Tragedy: This magnificent town together with numerous pristine villages are going to be flooded latest by 2007 due to the construction of a dam on Wu Jiang, 40km downstream from Gongtan !!