A heroic past

Zhuge's successor Fei Yi served as Shu prime minister in Zhaohua instead of its capital Chengdu to command troops to resist the Wei troops. Fei was assassinated after getting drunk by a Wei general who had surrendered. Fei's tomb in a tranquil courtyard in the town is a popular visitor's destination.

Storytellers in Zhaohua still narrate the 1,800-year-old stories of the heroes of the Shu Kingdom in teahouses, according to Pu Huaping, an official with the Zhaohua district bureau of culture and tourism in Guangyuan.

Zhaohua ancient town has well-maintained buildings that take visitors back to imperial times, including the local magistrate's building, the site of an ancient local government, an imperial examination hall and the Confucius Temple.