Checking in at Zhaotong Ancient City, Yunnan

The core area of Zhaotong Ancient City, centered around the Yuankou, covers 2.97 square kilometers (the area of the city before 1985). The old city of Zhaotong has four gates: Fuzhen Gate to the east, Minning Gate to the south, Jichuan Gate to the west, and Quma Gate to the north. Yuankou is the center of the central axis running from east to west and north to south, and it is the commanding height of the entire city. By the mid-1930s, there were already 64 streets of various sizes within the city. Zhaotong Ancient City has a long and profound cultural heritage, and historically, it has been a place where culture thrived. It is currently the only area that reflects the historical culture and regional characteristics of Zhaotong on a large scale, concentrated in a contiguous area. It is the region where the traditional market culture of Zhaotong, the traditional street layout, is well-preserved, and where the streets are most densely packed, possessing high historical, cultural, and sentimental value of old Zhaotong. Especially the 0.67 square kilometers area before the liberation is the main focus of the ancient city's preservation.