Why it looks like this

Zunyi grew in the folds of northern Guizhou, its old quarters along the Xiang River (a local stream, not Hunan's), on the route between Chongqing and Guiyang — mountain terrain that keeps its districts strung through valleys.

In January 1935, the Long March paused here, and in the upstairs rooms of a grey-brick merchant's residence the Communist leadership held the Zunyi Conference — the meeting that established Mao Zedong's command. The house is now one of China's most visited revolutionary sites, and 'red tourism' anchors the old town's economy, alongside the region's other famous product: Moutai liquor, distilled nearby.