Embark on a glittering billion-year rendezvous with a taste of saltiness

🚗🚗🚗 Travel Itinerary: Day1: Zigong Station → Mudwood·SKY CITY HOTEL (Zigong Huashang City Store) Day2: Zigong Dinosaur Museum → Xian Shi Ancient Town → Zigong·China Lantern World Day3: Salt Industry History Museum → Shenhai Well → China Lantern Museum → Wangye Temple → Night Tour of Fuxi Day4: Zigong Station 🌟 Highlights: Zigong Dinosaur Museum Keywords: Site, Skull It is a large site museum built on the world-famous 'Dashanpu Dinosaur Fossil Group Site'. It is the third large on-site museum in China after the Banpo Site and the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. It is also the first professional dinosaur museum in China and one of the three major dinosaur museums in the world after the National Dinosaur Park in the United States and the Dinosaur Park in Canada. It is known as the 'Eastern Dragon Palace'. Although not large in area, the museum houses a very rich collection of unique dinosaur fossils, such as Jiaosaurus, Huayangosaurus, and Pingyongchuanosaurus, which are all worth seeing. The second floor's treasure hall has three must-see exhibits. One is the Pansaurus bogged down in the swamp, maintaining its pre-death posture, with its head held high, desperately trying to breathe, which is very lifelike. The second is a very complete skull of Pingyongchuanosaurus, with clear skin texture and teeth. In fact, skull fossils are very precious and rare to be complete, one is difficult to separate from the fossils, and the other is easily broken and deformed and perished in the soil during geological changes. The third is a trace fossil, with clearly visible scale-like dinosaur skin fossils, which also overturns our understanding of dinosaur skin. It turns out that dinosaur skin is not smooth, but covered with scales. Xian Shi Ancient Town Keywords: Millennium Ancient Town, Salt Guild Hall A millennium-old town full of worldly life, it is one of the few ancient towns where I have rarely heard non-local dialects. Sitting in a small shop on the main street of the ancient town, eating double-cooked pork, watching the proprietress greeting acquaintances and bargaining with tourists in Sichuan dialect over specialty ingredients, I felt as if I was in the scene of the movie 'Furong Town', somewhat dazed. The ancient town is not large, but it hides many salt guild halls of various sizes. Among them, the Guanyin Hall of the Fujian Salt Guild, the Nanhua Palace of the Guangdong Salt Guild, and the Jiangxi Temple of the Jiangxi Salt Guild are all buildings that have been preserved to this day and are worth a visit. The most impressive is the Guanyin Hall of the Fujian Salt Guild, which uses a piece of millennium-old Phellodendron wood as a beam, symbolizing 'a house full of gold', which makes one imagine the wealth and prosperity of the salt guilds back then. You can also go to the distillery in the town that is still brewing to this day, taste some new wine, go to the teahouse by the river to drink a cup of tea, and enjoy the golden rapeseed flowers. In short, the relaxation and ease of the people of Shu seem to have never changed in this ancient town for a thousand years. Zigong·China Lantern World Keywords: Lantern City The lantern festival that started in the Tang and Song dynasties and flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties was one of the highlights of my trip. The scene from Jiaxuan's poem 'The east wind blows thousands of trees at night, and stars fall like rain. The fragrance fills the road with precious horses and carved carriages, the sound of phoenix flutes moves, the light of the jade pot turns, and fish and dragons dance all night' comes to life here. The New Year Lantern Festival, which runs from the Spring Festival to the end of March, is the climax of the lanterns, with people entering from 4 pm to midnight, and it is really crowded, but it is really worth a visit. It is recommended to first visit the Lantern Museum located in People's Park during the day for a preliminary understanding, and then head to the lantern festival at night. Salt Industry History Museum Keywords: Western Qin Guild Hall Located in the city, the Salt Industry History Museum was originally a guild hall built by Shaanxi salt merchants during the Qing Dynasty. The museum details the history of salt industry development and shows the process of well salt extraction. The highlight is the architectural complex completed over 16 years starting from the first year of Emperor Qianlong, with its majestic eaves and exquisite gardens that are unforgettable. Shenhai Well Keywords: First, Kilometer Shenhai Well is the first well in human drilling history to exceed one kilometer in depth, drilled using the traditional Chinese percussion drilling technique dating back to the Song Dynasty in the 15th year of the Daoguang era, with a depth of 1001.42 meters. This 180-year-old salt well can still produce salt today. Except for the power being changed to electric motors and the ropes to steel wires, the other main components have retained their original appearance. On-site, you can pay 150 yuan to watch the salt extraction process up close. 🍽 Cuisine: Zigong's cuisine is also memorable. The unique Eight Treasure Porridge, the beautiful and tempting Bird's Nest Silk, the famous Cold Rabbit, the minced beef stir-fry, the afternoon tea at Wangye Temple... countless, if you have time, you must check them all out. 🚉 Transportation Tips: Route 1: Chengdu Tianfu Airport - Zigong (High-speed train 40 minutes) Route 2: Chengdu - Zigong (Self-driving 2 hours) You can stop by to see the Rong County Giant Buddha on the way Route 3: Yibin Airport - Yibin High-speed Train - Zigong (The whole journey is about 1.5 hours) Route 4: Yibin Airport - Zigong (Highway 50 minutes) Zigong does not have an airport, but it has high-speed rail, and the highways are also very convenient.