Jianshui old town located in the south of Yunnan was referred to as Butou or Bashu in old times. 

The town was originally constructed with earth in the period of the Nanzhao Kingdom (738-937) in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and was enlarged into a brick town in 1387. The South, North, and West Pavilions of Old Town were destroyed during war in the late Ming Dynasty, and nowadays only the East Pavilion or Chaoyang Pavilion stands there and is called “the small Tian’anmen Gate”. 

Jianshui is culturally known as one of the Great Four Towns in Yunnan Province as it has China’s third largest Confucian temple which was built in the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368). Major sites in and around the town include Family Zhang’s Garden, Shuanglong Bridge, Chaoyang Pavilion and a dozen of ancient wells.