China News Service, Chongqing, November 10 (Reporters Zhou Yi and Jia Nan) The red leaves all over the mountain look like colorful clouds, which reflect the Three Gorges year after year. On the 10th, reporters learned from the press conference of the 20th Chongqing Yangtze River (Wushan) International Red Leaf Festival and the 7th Wushan Goddess Cup Art Film Week that the current Red Leaf Festival will kick off on November 20, focusing on the main line of "Film+", planning and launching ten activities to promote the in-depth integration of film art with landscape culture and tourism, mass welfare, and industrial empowerment, allowing the audience to immerse themselves in the charm of art films in the picture of "mountains full of red leaves like colorful clouds".
It is reported that the Chongqing Yangtze River Three Gorges (Wushan) International Red Leaf Festival has been held for 19 consecutive years. At present, the total area of Wushan's red leaves exceeds 1.2 million acres, ranking the largest in Asia; in 2025, the Red Leaf Festival received 4.7 million tourists, directly provided more than 3,000 jobs, and boosted the employment and income of more than 30,000 people. It has been ranked first among the "Top Ten Influential Festival Brands in Chongqing" and the "Top Ten Local Festival Brands in the Country", truly realizing that "the mountains full of red leaves illuminate both sides of the Xiajiang River, and the industry in this area enriches thousands of people."
Deng Tao, Deputy Secretary of the Wushan County Party Committee and County Mayor of the County People's Government, said that this Red Leaf Festival will be jointly held with the 7th Wushan Goddess Cup Art Film Week, and will launch activities such as theme concerts, drone light shows, film markets, and travel with movies, so that the art of light and shadow complements the red leaves on the mountain. Cultural and tourism experience scenes such as intangible cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage performances, and intangible cultural heritage markets will be simultaneously opened, and cultural resources such as the 2.04 million-year-old Longgupo "Wushan people", the 5,000-year-old Daxi culture, as well as the work-carrying chants and Three Gorges shadow puppets will be brought into the scenic area and moved to the streets. Visitors can listen to a chant, watch a shadow play, and visit a market under the cover of red leaves. They can come and return with pleasure in seeing, hearing, playing, and tasting.
Deng Tao said that for this Red Leaf Festival, Wushan adheres to the two-way empowerment model of "cultural IP + tourism + festival" and builds a festival activity system that "leads the opening ceremony, builds publicity and promotion, attracts events and activities, and undertakes the consumption season". At present, warm-up activities such as the Tour of the Three Gorges Cycling Race and the Three Gorges 100 Cross-Country Race have been successfully held. In the future, a series of activities such as "Three Gorges Hiking·Outdoor Wushan", the Goddess Grand Escalator Concert, and the "Goddess Peak·Sunset on the Mountain" folk concert will be held. It can be said that there are "activities every week and highlights every month." It is particularly worth mentioning that the Goddess Peak Water and Land Hiking Challenge adopts the mode of "cruise boat connection + river bank hiking + sightseeing check-in", allowing each participant to challenge themselves and get close to nature while walking on the mountains and rivers.
Deng Tao said that during this Red Leaf Festival, the National 5A-level tourist attractions of Little Three Gorges and Little Three Gorges and the national 5A-level tourist attractions of Wu Gorge and Goddess Scenic Area will be driven by the theme of "Magnificent Yangtze River·Poetry and Painting Three Gorges". We will develop high-quality Three Gorges tour routes on water and land, cultivate new business types and new products such as flying over the Three Gorges and hiking cross-country, run special trains in the Bashu Cultural Tourism Corridor, and jointly build the Bashu Red Leaf Economic Belt to facilitate more tourists to enter Wushan and visit the Three Gorges.
Jiao Hongfen, chairman of the China Film Producers Association, said that the linkage between the Film Week and the Red Leaf Festival extends art film screenings from traditional theaters to public spaces such as scenic spots, squares, and communities, allowing more tourists and local people to have the opportunity to contact and appreciate art films. This is not only about adding a few more movie screenings, but more importantly, it allows audiences who are not familiar with art films to get closer to art films, gradually cultivates interest in watching movies, expands the audience group of art films, and accumulates more audiences for market development.
The 20th Red Leaf Festival is not only a milestone, but also a new starting line. Chongqing Wushan will continue to combine the success of the Red Leaf Festival with the development of the tourism industry, further enrich tourism products, improve industrial supporting facilities, and promote more tourists to transform from sightseeing to in-depth tourism, so that tourism development can better drive local industries and people to increase their income.
