Bellows Gorge

1.2 miles from Baidi City along the Yangtze River, there is snuff colored precipice. Some gaps can be seen on the cliff and from afar a large cave can be seen in which there are piles of quadrate wooden boxes. In the distance, they look like bellows, so the gorge is called the Bellows Gorge.

According to the legend, the bellows are placed there by Lu Ban, the founder of Chinese woodwork living during the Zhou Dynasty (770 BC- 221 BC). As a matter of fact, they are not the bellows but the suspended coffins of the ancient Ba people (people lived in eastern Sichuan and western Hubei Provinces from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty). The mystery was unveiled in 1971 when three brave gatherers of herbs climbed into the gap of the gorge. Cultural relics such as the fragments of bones, swords and the copper axe of the Ba People were discovered there. Besides the cave, there are two higher caves where more wooden coffins are suspended.

The best place to view the gorge is the plank road of the gorge. As the coffins lie over 32 feet high in the cliff, it is difficult to climb. So, the method used to suspend them in the cliff is a mystery that still puzzles people today.