Located on the northern bank of Yangtze River’s upper reaches in Chongqing Municipality, Fengdu (in Chinese called 酆都 before 1949 and now 丰都) is a city made famous by the ancient legends of sinister spirits and terrible ghosts that are the essential ingredients in traditional Chinese culture. Of course, human beings fabricated those ghost legends and the hellish atmosphere is man made too. Therefore, Fengdu is China’s ghost city.

By human’s imagination, the Chinese built the Hell Emperor Hall, the Gate of Hell, the Realms of Life and Death, the Eighteen Levels of Hell and so on according to some earthly laws that punish people who have done evils. In the hellish scenes, the gestures and expressions of the ghost figures are very strange, fierce and even horrible. Also, the tools for hell punishment are so terrible. One has the feeling of fear in seeing these stuffs. This is the hell scenery of Fengdu city. When you enter the city through the great gate, you will see the Bridge of Life and Death, which is the must-go passage that people will return to earth from hell. Arriving at the lower mountainside, seeing an ancient house, with three giant Chinese characters – “鬼门关” (The Gate of Hell) in bloody-red-like color background of a plaque. Tianzi Temple on mountaintop is the largest temple there.

Moreover, the Palace of the Ghostly Nation and the Hellish Street in the downtown are all concerning the old stories of ghosts. Traditionally, Chinese think that after people passing away, their souls must visit Fengdu. They are to be judged by the Hell Emperor whether they are good or evil and he will decide where will be the proper place of transmigration for them. If people have done evil during their lifetime, after their death, they will be tortured in hell, and then their appearances will become so terrible. The sinister spirits will come out at night and they will scare the people who did wrong in the daytime.

Don’t be afraid. Apart from the sinister scenes in Fengdu County, it still has beautiful scenery, good-listening sound of flowing streams, brilliantly colored flowers at mountainside and birds’ flying. From Third to Fifteenth Days of the Third Month of Lunar Calendar every year, a temple fair is held. It is rich in ethnic cultural characters and beneficial to local businesses. The fair also adds joyful atmosphere to sinister face!