Fengdu Ghost City

A Glimpse into the Darker Side of Chongqing

Fengdu Ghost City is located in Fengdu County in Chongqing city, just over 100 miles (170 kilometers) downstream from Chongqing on the north bank of the Yangtze River, a worthwhile stop along the Yangtze River. Fengdu Ghost City is renowned for its vivid architectures and figures in Hades, such as Heng Ha Temple, Son of Heaven Hall, Bridge of Helplessness, Yellow Springs, Ghost Torturing Pass, Eighteen Level of Hells, King of Medicine Hall, Judge of Hell and Home Viewing Pavilion and the like. The Hades referred to in great works like Journey to the West, Apotheosis of Heroes and Strange Tales of a Lonely Studio are all vividly shown here. Fengdu Ghost City is the place where the mystique of ghosts in Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism come together.

Bridge of Helplessness

Bridge of Helplessness is thought to be the bridge that every soul has to cross before entering the underworld. The bridge has a history of 500-plus years and is five and a half-feet (172 cm) high, five feet (156 cm) wide and 11.6 feet (355 cm) long, with a blue-stone paved path and flower-engraved railings. Below the bridge is a square pool of water. It is believed that people with great virtue will pass the bridge smoothly, while evil ones will fall into the pools below and will suffered severely.

Ghost Torturing Pass

The Ghost Torturing Pass is perched atop Mingshan Peak and it is the outer door to enter the Son of Heaven Hall. According to great novels like Journey to the West, every soul needs to report to Yama, the king of the hell, and they need to cross through the Ghost Torturing Pass.

Eighteen Levels of Hell

On both sides of Son of Heaven Hall stands an image of hell, which is often referred to as eighteen levels of hell. Eighteen Levels of Hell is the place where the Yama, the King of hell, punishes the souls which commit sins while they are alive. It is said that sinners are subjected to gruesome tortures until their “deaths” in the eighteen levels of hell. What kind of tortures inflicted depends on the sins committed, varying from sawing, carving, slicing into half, mashing or pounding into pulp, to crushed by heavy rocks or boulders, run over by vehicles, boiled in oil cauldron and the like.