Liziba, the Chongqing monorail station inside a 19-story building

What happens in the video

This three-minute report comes from CGTN's "Rising Star Cities" series. Its thumbnail shows the kind of scene that made Liziba famous: a bright blue monorail train on an elevated track, threading between tall residential buildings on one of Chongqing's steep hillsides. Rather than simply showing off the sight, the report goes looking for the person behind it.

According to CGTN, thousands of people come to Liziba every day, not to catch a train but to photograph trains disappearing into a 19-story building. The man responsible is Ye Tianyi, an instructor at Chongqing University's College of Civil Engineering, who, as CGTN puts it, never imagined his work would one day become one of the city's most-visited tourist spots.

Why does a train run through a building in Chongqing?

CGTN's companion article explains that it was a matter of geography. A real estate company had bought the site to develop, but the plans for Chongqing Rail Transit Line 2 needed a stop in the same place. The stop could not be moved: a slope 20 to 30 meters high rises to the north and the Jialing River runs to the south, leaving no spare land. Instead of one project blocking the other, the city's rail transit group and the developer agreed to build together.

Ye became the person in charge and the structural designer in 1998. His team spent two years on the design, and he attended two or three meetings a week with the local government and the developer to check that it would work, telling CGTN that communication was "the most difficult part." The building had to follow civil construction rules while also working as a railway station, and officials at first hesitated before the city government allowed the team to handle the special case with special methods.

Construction of the station and the building began at the same time in 2001, with the monorail platform and its facilities placed between the sixth and eighth floors. Ye told CGTN the design would have been impossible if either structure had come first. The monorail officially began operating in 2006 after three years of trial runs, CGTN reports. A 2020 China Daily feature adds that special noise-reduction equipment keeps station noise away from the residents.

For years, locals took it for granted. Around 2012 and 2013, photos and videos of trains vanishing into the building went viral, and Liziba turned into what CGTN calls a "tourism mecca." A viewing platform was later built near the station just for sightseers, where a favorite trick is to stand with your mouth open so the train appears to be heading into it.

How to see Liziba station yourself

There are two ways to experience Liziba (李子坝, Lǐzǐbà), and most visitors do both: watch the trains from outside, then ride one through the building.

1. Take Line 2 to Liziba Liziba is a stop on Chongqing Rail Transit Line 2 (二号线, èr hào xiàn), a monorail that at this point squeezes between the hillside and the Jialing River. Pay with a metro ticket, or with the transit code in Alipay or WeChat; our metro guide explains how the transit code differs from the payment code you show in shops.
2. Head to the viewing deck The observation deck beside the station is free to enter, according to a June 2026 China Bound guide, which also warns that it gets crowded at sunset and on sunny weekends.
3. Wait for a train Trains pass in both directions. Have your camera ready before the nose of a train emerges from the building, and leave room for other photographers.
4. Ride through the building Afterward, take Line 2 yourself. The platform where you board is the one inside the building, between the sixth and eighth floors.

Mandarin for the Chongqing metro

Line numbers are among the most useful things to say and hear on any Chinese metro, and the free time and dates lesson teaches exactly that. The platforms and transfers lesson covers directions and exits, the free tickets and station entry lesson gets you through the gates, and the photos and visitor services lesson helps you ask a stranger for that train-in-the-mouth photo.