Atlas of China
Chaoyang 朝阳Cháoyáng
China's fossil city, with Hongshan ritual sites and the pagodas of Longcheng
About Chaoyang
Chaoyang, in the dry hills of western Liaoning, is known in China as a 'fossil city': early birds and other creatures of the Jehol Biota have been found in its rocks, and the Chaoyang Bird Fossil National Geopark displays some 2,000 fossils. At Niuheliang, halls built over the excavations show the goddess temple, altar and stone-mound tombs of the Neolithic Hongshan culture. The city itself was Longcheng, capital of the Three Yan states, and its North Tower stands on the old palace site.
What to eat in Chaoyang
- Lingyuan cypress-wood chicken (凌源柏木烧鸡)
- Braised pig's face (扒猪脸)
Listed sites in Chaoyang
22 sites in Chaoyang are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Chaoyang Bird Fossil National Geopark 朝阳鸟化石国家地质公园 4A scenic area · on the map
The geopark in Longcheng District centres on the Liaoning Chaoyang Palaeontological Fossil Museum, which reopened in April 2025 after an upgrade. - Daxuan Mountain, Beipiao 北票大玄山 4A scenic area · on the map
Daxuan Mountain, the name the provincial culture department now gives to the Dahei Shan scenic area, is a forested mountain in the north-west of Beipiao with rocky peaks and, by the department's figure, forest cover above 93%. - First Bend of the Daling River 凌河第一湾 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
The Daling River makes a sharp S-shaped bend between hills in Kazuo county, and this scenic area links viewpoints along the river through four townships. - Fossil Valley, Chaoyang 朝阳化石谷 4A scenic area · on the map
Fossil Valley is a commercially run, fossil-themed attraction in Longcheng District on the north-west side of Chaoyang, covering about 1.7 hectares in three parts: an interactive 'legendary fossil' experience park, the Chaoyang Jurassic Palaeontological Fossil Museum (a privately owned museum, formerly the Jizantang museum) and a fossil-culture creative area. - Laohugou Eco-Tourism Area 老虎沟生态旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
Laohugou ('Tiger Gully') is a wooded valley scenic area in Dawangzhangzi township, south-west of Lingyuan, a township nicknamed the 'seventy-li apricot valley' and rich in Jehol Biota fossils. - Longfeng Mountain, Kazuo 喀左龙凤山 4A scenic area · on the map
Longfeng ('Dragon and Phoenix') Mountain is a hill scenic area east of Kazuo county town, with rock outcrops, old cypresses, an old temple, caves and springs. - Longyuan Tourism Area, Kazuo 龙源旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
The Longyuan tourism area is a lakeside leisure district at the edge of Kazuo county town, built around Longyuan Lake. - Niuheliang 牛河梁遗址 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
Niuheliang is a Hongshan-culture ritual and burial complex spread over ridges where Lingyuan meets Jianping, with a platform known as the Goddess Temple, a three-ring altar and clusters of stone-mound tombs. - Phoenix Mountain, Chaoyang 朝阳凤凰山 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
Phoenix Mountain is a wooded ridge on the eastern edge of Chaoyang that rises to about 660 m, was known as Dragon Mountain in earlier times, and carries a group of old temples and pagodas on its slopes. - Qianfodong Scenic Area, Chaoyang County 朝阳千佛洞 4A scenic area · on the map
Qianfodong ('Thousand Buddha Caves') is a hill scenic area in Nanshuangmiao township, south of Chaoyang, with odd-shaped rock formations, a Buddhist site that the provincial culture department traces back a thousand years and the remains of what it calls a Sui–Tang 'general-review platform'. - Yulonggu Hot Spring Resort 浴龙谷温泉度假区 4A scenic area · on the map
Yulonggu is a hot-spring and water-play resort with a Mongolian theme on the south-western side of Kazuo, with hot-spring pools, a large wave pool and a drifting river that runs partly underground. - Balengguan Pagoda 八棱观塔 National heritage site · on the map
Balengguan Pagoda is a Liao-period octagonal brick pagoda of thirteen tiers of dense eaves, about 34 m high, standing on a hilltop with the Daling River to its south. - Chaoyang North Tower 朝阳北塔 National heritage site
Chaoyang North Tower is a 42.6 m square brick pagoda with thirteen tiers of dense eaves, built up over several dynasties on the palace site of the Yan-state capital Longcheng, which is why it is nicknamed the 'Five Ages Pagoda'. - Chaoyang South Pagoda 朝阳南塔 National heritage site · on the map
Chaoyang South Pagoda is a square brick pagoda of thirteen eaves from the Liao period, standing at the south end of Murong Street as the counterpart to the North Tower. - Dongpingfang Pagoda 东平房塔 National heritage site · on the map
Dongpingfang Pagoda is a Liao-period brick pagoda on a hilltop above the Daling River, six-sided and originally nine tiers of dense eaves, of which eight survive. - Dongshanzui Site 东山嘴遗址 National heritage site · on the map
Dongshanzui is a ritual site of the late Hongshan culture, more than 5,000 years old, on a terrace above the west bank of the Daling River; it has a square stone-walled platform with standing stones and a small round altar paved with pebbles. - Huanghuatan Pagoda 黄花滩塔 National heritage site · on the map
Huanghuatan Pagoda is a Liao-period octagonal brick pagoda of thirteen tiers of dense eaves standing on an earth mound with the Daling River to its south, facing the site of the Liao city of New Jianzhou. - Qingfeng Pagoda 青峰塔 National heritage site · on the map
Qingfeng Pagoda is a square thirteen-tier brick pagoda of the Liao period on the summit of West Pagoda Hill at Wushijiazi village in Xiyingzi township, hollow inside, with a porch on its south face and the spire lost. - Taiji Mass Grave Site, Beipiao 台吉万人坑遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The Taiji mass grave site is a memorial on a hillside south of Taiji town in Beipiao, where miners who died at the local coal mine under Japanese occupation were buried; Chinese state media say tens of thousands of labourers died in the Beipiao coalfield after 1931 from overwork, hunger and disease. - Tombs of the Princes of Kharachin Right Banner 喀喇沁右翼旗蒙古王陵 National heritage site · on the map
This is the burial ground of the Qing-era princes (zasag) of the Kharachin Right Banner, a Mongol banner, set in a pine grove at the foot of Longdan Mountain in Sanjia township. - Twin Pagodas of Shuangta Temple 双塔寺双塔 National heritage site · on the map
Two small octagonal brick pagodas stand side by side on a hillside beneath a rock overhang in a gully north-west of Zhengzhangzi village, in Mutouchengzi town. - Youshun Temple 佑顺寺 National heritage site
Youshun Temple is a Tibetan Buddhist (Gelug) monastery built between 1698 and 1707 under the Kangxi emperor, laid out along a north-west to south-east axis of about 233 m, with a memorial archway, gate, Hall of Heavenly Kings, sutra hall and a main hall about 21 m high, flanked by monks' quarters, a Guandi hall and an opera stage.
On the map
Open Chaoyang on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
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