Chaotianmen in Chongqing重庆朝天门

“The gate has a story. The gate has a history...” I am growing up with the nursery rhyme（ 歌谣）. It is about Chaotianmen， a famous landmark in Chongqing.

Chaotianmen was built in 314 BC when the Qin general Zhang Yi destroyed BaState and built the city walls of Ba County. During the Ming Dynasty， the old citywas expanded（ 扩建） with 17 gates built and the largest one was Chaotianmen.

Why is it called “Chaotianmen”？ It’s said that in ancient China， whenever royalofficials visited Chongqing or when the emperor issued sacred decrees（ 诏谕） toChongqing， local officials would meet at the Chaotianmen Wharf （ 朝天门码头） togreet them. There are two meanings behind the name—one is to flatter（ 奉承） theemperor， and the other is to yearn（ 渴望） for unity.

Chaotianmen W h a r f i s a nimportant part of Chaotianmen. Itserved as a major port（ 港口） wheregoods were loaded and unloaded fromboats. With time going by， ChaotianmenWharf has undergone big changes in itsappearance. 朝天门是公元前314 年，秦将张仪灭巴国后修筑巴郡城池时所建。（剩余1626字）