Jin River · Jiuyanqiao, south-east of the centre
Anshun Bridge: the lit bridge and the nightlife behind it
Anshun is where a Chengdu night out starts — a floodlit covered bridge over the Jin River, nightlife along the bank in bars and terraces, and cruise boats turning underneath it. The span itself is a 2003 rebuild; come for the hour after dark, not for the Ming dynasty.
Prices and hours checked 25 October 2026夜游锦江 (route, wharf, hours, fare); 华西都市报 on the 九眼桥 bar strip
Why Chengdu's nightlife starts here
Chengdu does not shut its sights at dusk and go home; the nightlife moves down to the river bank. Anshun is the centre of that. The bridge lights come on, the reflection lands in the water, the boats start running, and the strip of bars along the bank goes from empty terrace to full house in about an hour. Office clothes give way to whatever people actually wear, someone starts singing three tables away, and the smell of grilled skewers arrives before the food does.
What makes it work is that everything sits within a few hundred metres: the lit span, the bar strip, the cruise wharf, the low old Jiuyan bridge downstream, and Hejiang Pavilion upstream where the Fu and Nan rivers meet and become the Jin. None of it needs a plan or a ticket.
So the bridge is the signboard for the nightlife, not the destination. Walk to it, then stay on the bank.
What the nightlife here actually is
The strip along the water at Jiuyanqiao is called 九眼桥酒吧街, and it is not one venue but a hundred or so rooms and terraces strung along the bank: big rooms with live bands and a sound system, small folk bars with a singer and a guitar, and cheaper places where people drink outside on the steps. 兰桂坊, 苏荷 and 贰麻酒馆 are the three names that come up most, and between them they cover the range from a large room with bottle service to a small folk bar.
Nothing about the strip is ticketed and nothing about it is precious — which is what nightlife here means in practice. You walk in, look at a menu, and either sit down or keep walking, and the standard Chengdu evening is three venues rather than one. Do not over-plan it: the pleasure is drifting between a terrace facing the bridge and a small room where a band is playing to forty people.
Two practical notes. Terraces fill first, so arriving at 20:30–21:30 gives you a choice of tables and arriving at 22:30 does not. And Friday and Saturday are the crush; a Tuesday on the same bank is the better evening if you want to hear yourself talk.
Three ways to spend the evening
- 01
Walk the bank, bridge last
Out of Jiuyanqiao station, along the river past the bar strip to Anshun, then upstream to Hejiang Pavilion. It is flat, it is free, and it puts the photograph in the middle of the evening rather than at the start, when the light is still flat.
- 02
Take a terrace facing the bridge
The reason to sit here rather than anywhere else in the city: a table on the water with the lit span in front of you. Order one round, watch the boats go under, and move on when the band changes.
- 03
Come at it from the water
The 夜游锦江 boats board at Dongmen Wharf — Line 2, Dongmen Bridge, Exit D2, then about 260 m — and the route passes Lan Kwai Fong, Hejiang Pavilion and Anshun before turning back at Jiuyanqiao. Roughly 30–40 minutes; night sailings from 18:00 to 22:20, rolling departures. From the water the nightlife reads as one long lit bank rather than a strip of separate bars.
Practical, for the evening
- Entry
- Free; it is a public crossing, open around the clock
- Metro
- Line 13 to Jiuyanqiao (九眼桥), Exit A or B — both come out on the river side
- For the cruise
- Line 2 to Dongmen Bridge (东门大桥), Exit D2, then about 260 m to Dongmen Wharf
- Address
- 66 Binjiang Road (滨江路 66 号); the north end lands at the Cungu Lane junction with Binjiang East Road
- Lights
- Floodlit after dark, on by the time the first boats pass; no published switch-on time
- Best hour
- 20:00–22:00 — lights on and terraces still fillable; the blue hour before that is for photographs
- Nightlife
- 九眼桥酒吧街 along the bank: live bands, folk rooms, terraces, no door charge
- Night cruise
- 18:00–22:20, rolling departures, 30–40 minutes; full fare CNY 118 (a spring 2026 promotion ran 88) — book on the 夜游锦江 mini-program or an OTA
- Time needed
- 1 hour for the bridge and the bank; the whole evening if you stay for the bars
- Span
- 81 m long, 6 m wide, three arches; built 2000–2003, opened August 2003
Transport checked 25 October 2026; cruise details from the operator's listing, read 28 October 2026. Entry and access are those of an open public crossing — there is no ticket office to check.
Photographing it after dark
The reflection needs dark water and no wind, which in practice means after 20:00 on an ordinary evening and later on a windy one. Stand back: from directly beneath the bridge you get a wall of light, while from a hundred metres upstream you get the whole span, its reflection and the towers behind it in one frame. The north bank is the standard position.
A phone is enough. The bridge is evenly lit, so there is no contrast problem to solve — the failure mode is camera shake, not exposure, so brace against the railing or use night mode and hold still. Rain is an improvement rather than a problem: it doubles the reflections and empties the pavement, and the lights stay on.
If you want the bridge without people in the frame, come at first light instead. The lights are off by then, but the bridge, the river and the empty bank are there, and nobody is handing out bar menus.
Questions people actually ask
What nightlife is there at Anshun Bridge?
Three things, and only the boat costs money. Walk the bank and look at the lit bridge; take a terrace on the bar strip with the span in front of you; or ride the 夜游锦江 cruise from Dongmen Wharf, which passes Lan Kwai Fong, Hejiang Pavilion and Anshun before turning back at Jiuyanqiao. The strip is 九眼桥酒吧街 — live bands and folk rooms mixed in with terraces on the water, which is the nightlife most visitors come here for.
When do the lights on Anshun Bridge come on?
There is no published switch-on time, so any exact figure online is somebody's recollection. The lights are on by the time the night boats start passing — those sail from 18:00 to 22:20 — and in practice they are at full effect well before 20:00, when the bank is busiest. The blue hour just before that, with the sky still holding colour, is arguably the better photograph.
How do you get to Anshun Bridge by metro?
Line 13 to Jiuyanqiao (九眼桥) station and leave by Exit A or B — both come out on the river side, a short walk from the bridge and the bar strip. For the cruise rather than the bridge, Line 2 to Dongmen Bridge (东门大桥), Exit D2, puts you about 260 metres from Dongmen Wharf. Line 13 opened on 16 December 2025, so older guides still route you to Line 2 for the bridge; that route still works.
How much is the Jin River night cruise, and how long is it?
The full fare is CNY 118, and sailings run from 18:00 to 22:20 with rolling departures, roughly 30–40 minutes on the water. Promotions change the price — a spring 2026 one ran CNY 88 — so check the 夜游锦江 mini-program or an OTA on the day. Boats leave from Dongmen Wharf and come back to where they started after passing Hejiang Pavilion and Anshun.
What is the difference between Anshun Bridge and Jiuyanqiao?
They are two separate crossings. Anshun is the tall, covered, floodlit one with the pavilions; Jiuyanqiao, Nine-Eyed Bridge, is the older low bridge a short way downstream, and the bar street on the bank carries its name. Between them they are the city's default nightlife at two different volumes: come out of the metro, walk to Anshun for the lights, then back along the strip.
Is the bridge original, and how old is it?
No. A bridge stood here from 1677, when it was recorded as 长虹桥 and renamed 安顺 after the magistrate 安洪德 rebuilt it in 1746; floods took the timber span in 1947 and its 1978 replacement in 1981. What you see was redrawn in 1996, built from 2000 and opened in August 2003, at 81 metres by 6 — the stone, the carvings and the pavilions are all twenty-first century.