Qianjiang-The Mysterious Land of Dinosaurs, the City of Canyons

Qianjiang
The Mysterious Land of Dinosaurs, the City of Canyons

Qianjiang District, Chongqing Municipality, lies in the heart of the Wuling Mountains and serves as the centre of southeastern Chongqing. In the 6th year of the Jian’an era of the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 201), Danxing County was established; in the 1st year of the Tianbao era of the Tang Dynasty (AD 742), it was renamed Qianjiang County, deriving its name from the region’s rich cinnabar deposits. The area boasts a history spanning more than 1,800 years.

Located at the “geometric centre” of Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou, Qianjiang has historically served as the political heart of the Wuling Mountain region. In 1988, Qianjiang Prefecture was established under Sichuan Province; following Chongqing’s elevation to municipality status, it was reorganised into Qianjiang District. Today, it is a key city within the Wuling Mountain area, a central hub for the border region spanning Chongqing, Hubei, Hunan and Guizhou, and a core city for southeastern Chongqing. It is recognised nationally as a former revolutionary base area, a region inhabited by ethnic minorities, and a priority zone for the integration of poverty alleviation with rural revitalisation. The local ethos of “working hard rather than enduring hardship” has earned national acclaim, while its culture of integrity, founded on “heavenly principles and conscience”, is widely respected.

Qianjiang District spans approximately 2,402 square kilometres and administers 30 townships and subdistricts. It has a registered population of 553,000 and an urbanisation rate of 61.7%. The district has earned more than 30 national and municipal honours, including the Chang’an Cup, National Sanitary District, National Demonstration Zone for Ecological Civilisation, and National Demonstration Zone for Ethnic Unity and Progress.

Ethnic minorities—primarily the Tujia and Miao peoples—make up 75.6% of the local population. The district is home to China’s first Tujia Folk Custom Museum, the Chongqing Ethnic Museum, and an ethnic song and dance troupe, all contributing to a rich and distinctive cultural heritage.

Qianjiang is home to a rare concentration of large-scale dinosaur fossils located within its urban built-up area—the only such Cretaceous-era fossil site in southwest China. The Zhengyang dinosaur fossils in Qianjiang are designated as Class I key protected paleontological specimens. The region is also the site of China’s first new genus and species of hadrosaur discovered in the southwest, named Qianjiangosaurus changshengensis.