Gongtan is one of the famous rapids on the Wujiang River. Located in western Youyang the bordering county, Gongtan connects Chongqing and its neighbor Guizhou Province since ancient times. It had been a waterborne transport artery between Chongqing and Guizhou until 1950s. afterwards, land transportation became the priority.

There are stories about why this county is called Gongtan. Some people say the majority residents living in east coast of Wu River were surnamed Gong, and they were the distinguished families so they named this county Gongtan(Tan in Chinese means a place along the riverside).

Folklores say that two Dragons, powerful Wu Dragon from Guizhou and weak Along Dragon from Apeng River the nearby, dug up Wu River. They worked together and struggled to cross the canyon Sichuan-Guizhou junction. And then a steep fast flowing rapid formed. People named it GongTuan and later GongTan.

This unique 1700-year-old town has a large number of well preserved wooden stilt houses, perched finely on steep slopes, overlooking the Wu Jiang for 100 or even 400 years. Enclosed by these beautiful traditional houses, narrow old street paved with stone slabs and connected by beautiful stone bridges, stretches over 1000 meters along Wu River.
Neither electric streetlights nor modern bars or cafes have come out on the old street. At night, the town is illuminated by a few beautiful lanterns under the eaves as well as dim lights diffused from stilt houses. The whole countryside is permeated in a mysterious and nostalgic atmosphere.