Pingle Ancient Town

This guide to Pingle Ancient Town near Chengdu follows the Qingming night ritual of setting two thousand paper lanterns adrift on the river, each one lit for someone the sender has lost. It traces the settlement's long history back to a Han dynasty market town founded around 150 BCE where two rivers meet, overlooked by Jinhua Mountain's carved Buddha and Tang-era shrine, and by three temple fairs still kept through the year. Stand on the old stone landing or the bridge above it to watch the lanterns gather into a single drifting current.