Bell & Drum Tower

Located at the center of Zhangye City, Bell & Drum Tower is an tower with four main streets converge. The tower also known as Jingyuan tower, it is the largest well preserved  tower in Gansu Corridor (the historical route in Gansu province, passing Lanzhou, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang). It was built to mark the center of the city as many drum towers do.

Built in 1507 during the Ming Dynasty, it was destroyed in 1648 during the Qing Dynasty by war. In 1668, Zhang Yong, the superintendent of Gansu, rebuilt the bell and drum tower. The tower consists of the foundation and a three-storey pavilion. The hathpace is 32 meters (105 feet) wide and 9 meters (30 feet) high, and it is 21 meters (69 feet) from the bottom of the hathpace to the top of the pavilion. Some say that the tower is so high that it stretches into the clouds.

The tower consists of three-tier wood-pyramid structure that has delicate design and majestic model. It is definitely a traditional ethnic architecture building of China. After stepping at the top of the tower, you will find four traditional Chinese carved panels covered with brush calligraphy of famous artists.

There is a decussate hole inside the foundation which points east, west, south and north and links with the four main streets. On each side of the pavilion, there is a stele which describes different nature scenes in Zhangye and its vicinity. Presently, the construction houses a massive bronze bell on the southeast corner of the tower, which is 1.3 meters (4.2 feet) high with a diameter of 1.15 meters (3.77 feet). The bell weighs 600 kilograms and is delicately decorated with patterns, such as apsaras flying, dragons and tigers. In ancient China, the bell was usually used to give the correct time or give an alarm of fire.

The clock tower is situated on the southeast of Bell and Drum Tower, which was used for time telling or fire alarming. The clock tower owns a height of 1.3 meter and diameter of 1.15 meter, weighing more than 600 kilograms. The most important thing is the clock tower was made up of copper alloy. Therefore, it produces sonorous jow that can be heard in every corner of the whole city.

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The First Fire Tower of the Great Wall

About seven kilometers (4.35 miles) south of Jiayuguan City lay the first fire tower of the Great Wall. It is the first frustum of the Ming Great Wall from west to east and also the western beginning of the Ming Great Wall. The fire tower is located on the cliff at a height of about 80 meters (262 feet) by the Talai River. It plays a very important role in Jiayuguan Great Wall's defense system and regarded as the First Dangerous Fire Tower under the Heaven.

This frustum was built in the 18th year of the Jiajing Period of the Ming Dynasty (1539). With a flat top, it is a square pyramid, with a length, width, and height of each 14 meters. As the result of water erosion over hundreds of years, some parts have been destroyed. Standing alongside a cliff, the frustum shows its age. To preserve the precious relic, the Jiayuguan city government has built a 30-meter-long arched fortification, which creates a secondary structure and functions as an enclosure. Standing on the tower, visitors can experience the grandeur of an ancient civilization while appreciating the marvelous view of the vast Gobi.

As the result of water erosion over hundreds of years, some parts have been destroyed. Standing alongside a cliff, the fire tower shows its age. To preserve the precious relic, the Jiayuguan city government has built a 30-meter-long arched fortification, which creates a secondary structure and functions as an enclosure.

 

The scenery around the First Fire tower is very spectacular. It adjoins Jiuquan, Gansu Province on the east, the wild dessert on the west, the Jiayuguan Pass on the north and the Qilian Mountain on the south. The Talai River runs torrentially from here to the east. In the morning sun, the sky here seems extraordinarily blue; at dusk, looking far into the distance on the tower, you can find the snow peaks of the distant mountains are much whiter and more magnificent. Standing on the tower, visitors can experience the grandeur of an ancient civilization while appreciating the marvelous view of the vast Gobi.

 

Presently, the whole scenic area covers an area of about 3.22 square kilometers (1.24 square miles). Besides the first fire tower, it includes Talai River Cable Car, Talai Hotel, Tianxian Hanging Bridge, 'Zui-Wo-Sha-Chang' (drunk people that fall on the battlefield) Sculpture Group and a service area. The service area provides an anteroom, a tourist service center, a drinking room and souvenir shops and so on.

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Wei-Jin Art Gallery

Situated in the desert 18 km northeast of Jiayuguan city, Wei-Jin Art Gallery is not really an art gallery, but ancient tombs with wall paintings. There are more than 1400 tombs, which could date back to 220-419 AD during Wei and Jin periods. Most tombs belong to different families, housing bodies of three or four generations, and now only Grave 6 and Grave 7 are open to tourists.

All the murals were painted and well-preserved on the bricks. One single brick may have one painting, or half a brick does, possibly several bricks constitute an interlink painting. Renowned as the largest subterranean art gallery in the world, housing a great deal of colorful murals, the gallery has attracted tourists from both home and abroad since 1972 when it was excavated. The painting contents are from all aspects of actual life. Then visitors can know well about people’s life at that time. These paintings also provide valuable materials to study the society civilization of that period.

Entering the cold stone tomb, you will marvel at the vivid murals and special layout inside. Each Wei-Jin tomb generally has two or three chambers which are connected by corridors paved with tiles in various flower patterns. The gate was decorated with delicate patterns and easy lines symbolizing clouds, water, fire, gods and weird animals. Most reflect the political, cultural, military, and scientific developments of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, giving an insight into this ancient Chinese feudal society. Mainly painted realistically and earlier than Mogao Grottoes, Wei-Jin Art Gallery provides an example of unmixed Chinese realism art - filling in gaps in the fields of painting between the Wei and Jin periods, and so considered highly valuable for historic research.

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Queen Mother Palace Grottoes

Lying some 75 kilometers to the southeast of the Pingliang City the Queen Mother Palace Grotto is located at the confluence of the Jing and Nei River and less than 1 kilometer away from the county seat in the precinct of Jingchuan County. It was built in 510. Queen Mother Palace Grottoes was built leaning the Queen Mother Mountain; it is up to 12 meters. Statues in it were divided into three layers. There is a square pillar straightly up to the roof. It was rebuilt to a pavilion in Qing Dynasty. After renovation of Queen Mother Palace Grottoes, hall and stairs leading to the main hall and winding road has become an important place of pilgrimage for followers of Taoism.

Queen Mother Palace is the birthplace and the location of their ancestral temple of West Queen Mother. It is located on the west of Hui Mountain in Pingliang City. It was first built in the Western Han Dynasty and rebuilt in early Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty. In 1992, the local government and private joint rehabilitation, gradually built West Queen Hall, East Duke hall, Ji temple and the main building. Under the Hui Mountain, there is Palace called Huigong. It is said the Palace is the residence of the West Queen Mother and the meet place of the West Queen Mother and East Duke.

The Grotto of the Wangmu Palace was engraved according to the mountain's hypsography, and is rectangular with a pole of 12 meters high and 11 meters deep in the center. The stone statues of Buddha figures are inlaid on the central pole and the three walls of the Grotto, including the statues of the One Thousand Buddhas, Hercules, Bodhisattvas and a white elephant that carries a pagoda on its back. Over 200 statues are placed in the grotto in three layers and most of them were made after the 5th century. The palace has undergone some large-scale renovations, and many pavilions were constructed on the hillsides near the grotto.

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Water Curtain Cave

The Water Curtain Cave is the biggest rock cave in the Wuyi Mountain Scenic Area. There is a cascading spring on top of the cave, forming a waterfall of over 80 meters. When there’s plenty of water flowing down, it’s like a water spewing pipe, surging forward in a torrential tide; when there’s less water, the flow is like a white jade belt swaying in the wind. There are ruins of three stone buildings of the Hall of Three Sages, the Hall of Three Religions and the Pure Tenuousness Taoist Temple, as well as lots of ancient cliff engravings and inscriptions inside the cave.

Building of the Water Curtain Cave was started in the "Sixteen Kingdoms Periods" during the Jin Dynasty (265 - 420). The construction work went on for several dynasties that followed. Water Curtain Cave is located in the cliffs east of Shifu Mountain. When the rainy season comes, rains from the top of the mountain cascade down like a water curtain, thus giving the cave its name. It is a natural, arch shaped cave that measures 98 feet high and 22 yards deep. On its cliffs, there are many huge Buddhist murals which were painted in the Northern Wei (386 - 534), Sui (581 - 618), Tang (618 - 907) and the Yuan (1271 - 1368) Dynasties. Several halls are inside the cave. Kwan-yin Temple, Sisheng Palace, and Bodhisattva Hall are some of them.

A large number of works of grotto art dating from the Beizhou Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty are preserved in Laoshao Temple. There is a large fresco there over 40 meters tall on a huge cliff with guarding animals. The fresco covered about 2/3 of the cliff, and the part that remains is extremely precious. 

On the top of the cliff were built eaves to shelter from the wind and rain. On the eaves were carved flying clouds and walking animals, and real brass bells that rang. These patterns and features, influenced by Hinayana Buddhism, are very rarely seen in Chinese grotto art.

Another cave is called Thousand-Buddha Cave for the large number of carvings there. Its one side cliff was separated by the wooden plank road into two sections, frescoes and suspended statues. The remains of originally seven grottoes in the cave are statues and frescoes with plump figures and distinctive looks. Especially, the comely statue of Bodhisattva features the style of the Beizhou Dynasty. And part of the molding contains a relic of the Beiwei Dynasty. All this is important information for researchers of early Chinese grotto art.

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Wooden Pagoda Temple

The wooden pagoda stands among the remains of Wanshou Temple in Zhangye Town. The pagoda was built in 582 in the Sui Dynasty and was rebuilt several times later. In the last year of the Qing Dynasty (1911) the pagoda was brought down by strong winds; it was reconstructed in 1926. Located in the south street of Zhangye County Government, the present Wooden Pagoda has been well kept since 1926, which is regarded as one of Zhangye City's 'Five Elements' Pagodas. (Metal, wood, water, fire and earth are the 'five elements' in ancient Chinese philosophy and fortune-telling.).

 
The rebuilt wooden pagoda, 32.8 meters high, is an octagonal nine-storey structure on a square pedestal, twenty meters long each side. The walls of the first to seventh storeys are brick, but the eaves are wooden. Both the walls and eaves of the eighth and ninth storeys are wooden. It has a distinction unique from other pagodas because neither a nail nor a rivet can be found in the entire structure. Ascending to the top, you can get a panoramic view of the surrounding city.

The pagoda tapers gradually from the bottom, and the storey become lower and lower. The doors and windows are on different sides on different storeys: There are doors on the east and west sides of the first storey; false doors on the east and west sides and false windows on the south and north sides of the second storey. Carved on the false windows are designs of flowers, and above the doors are inscribed boards. The board over the east door of the first storey says, "Reach paradise," and the inscription above the west door says, "Enter the state of samadhi.” The whole pagoda looks steady and exquisite.

Other than its distinct feature, it is also considered magnificent. At the back of the pagoda, there is a two-storey building called Scripture Pavilion, which was reconstructed at the end of Qing (1644-1911A.D.) Dynasty. With its 27.4 meters (89.9 feet) height and five-room broad span, the building was decorated with railings and layered terraces. The local government allocated funds to restore the whole temple from 1983 to 1986. Nowadays, Zhangye Folk Customs Museum is located in the Wooden Pagoda Temple, which forms a more complete architectural building complex.

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Longquan Temple

Located 2 km north of Chongxin County in Pingliang City, Longquan Temple lies on the Feng Mountain with a height of 1215meters. The current from Feng Mountain leaks out from the cliffs and formed two springs, one is called Nonglu spring, another Guanzhu spring. The precipice of the latter stands an old cypress, almost thousands years old, taking the shape of a flying dragon with scare claws who winds with the precipice. The dragon coordinated with the spring embodies the mountains and water, thus the name of Longquan Temple.

Longquan Temple situated in low hills and ravines. The scene impresses the visitors with its small and exquisite: green hills, blue waters, creeks overflowing from the rocks, the spilling spring and dragon beads. All these are in the scenic area no more than 133 hectares away, which gathers the eight prime sights in loess plateau of east Long: the lotus flowers in the rising sun, the autumn breeze in the plateau, a concrete-made dragon crouching before the old cypress, the splashing beads from the dragon’s mouth, walking on the white bridge under the moon, the continuous heavy rain in the pond, mist and clouds in the groove.

It is unique that the dripping never stop throughout the year in Longquan Temple. The water there is full of minerals, thus it is good for the health. In addition, there is a statue of a dragon, whose mouth spraying fountain all the day. In the sunshine, the water drops form a rainbow and looks very beautiful.

Longquan scenery attracts visitors from both domestic and abroad. There is a temple fair in lunar April second, thousands of tourists pilgrimages come there in the very day.

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Willow Lake Park

Located in Kongdong District, Willow Lake Park is a famous park in Pingliang City. Covering an area of 8.8 hectares, it is a natural park known for the unique sight of having willows in the lake and having lake in the willows. Every late spring, willow catkins dance everywhere around the lake and this wonderful sight is known as "Snow Flies in the Clear Day around the Willow Lake". The western part of the willow lake measures 4.9 feet deep and the eastern part measures 6.6 to 9.8 feet deep. Nuanquan, "Warm Spring" is the source of the willow lake. The spring remains at a high temperature all year round, no matter how the weather changes.

Since ancient times, people living in Pingliang have treasured this Willow Lake very much, because Pingliang City is located in the dry gullies in the Loess Plateau. Lacking the nourishing from water and green plants, the land is threatened by droughts all the year round. Therefore, the Willow Lake becomes very precious in this dry land. It is really a pearl in the vast Loess Plateau.

The Willow Lake got its name from Yuan Dynasty and the extension of it started from Song Dynasty. In all dynasties, it was the place where officials spent summer and men of letters came to teach and read. The common people would not be allowed to enter it. After China's liberation, it was opened to the public, thus local people could have a chance to view this beautiful sight in their hometown. The rising and declining of the park reflects the ups and downs of Pingliang in history.

The lake originates from the Warm Spring, with a stone tablet standing beside, in which Zuo Zongtang (a famous Chinese general in Qing Dynasty) has inscribed above two big characters ‘Warm Spring’ and below an epigraph that ‘Pingliang is cold for its height, and the same is true to the springs; while the spring here is warm, even in cold winter, it is not frozen.’.

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Liqian Ancient City

Liqian is a defunct county in today's northern province of Gansu in China. Today, the ancient Liqian city is situated in a village called Zhelaizhai. Walk in Zhelaizhai Village, visitors may be surprised at the appearance of some local dwellers. They look like Europeans to some degree and they keep some customs which are different to Chinese Han People. Are they totally sure of their Han identity?

The area of the former Liqian city is known for its inhabitants. Some people there have Caucasian-like physical traits, such as Aquiline noses, blond or light-colored hair, blue or green eyes, and fairer skin tone. In the 20th century, theories have developed suggesting some inhabitants may be descended from Roman legionaries.

In the 1940s, Homer H. Dubs, a professor of Chinese history at the University of Oxford, made a connection between Liqian and ancient Rome. He suggested the inhabitants were descendants from Roman prisoners of war from the Battle of Carrhae. These troops were resettled by the victorious Parthians on their eastern border and, according to Dubs, may have become mercenaries who took part in the Battle of Zhizhi between the Chinese and the Xiongnu in 36 B.C. Records by Chinese chroniclers mention the capture of a "fish-scale formation" of soldiers, which Dubs believed referred to the testudo formation, a Roman phalanx surrounded by shields on all sides.

Behind the courtyards in the west of the village, there is a broken section of the old city wall built in an "S" shape. This measures 11 yards long and three feet tall. Scientists have pointed out that this insignificant mud wall is part of the Liqian Ancient City Relic. Near the wall stands a white pavilion, built in ancient Rome architectural style.

However, there is no final conclusion on the issue of whether or not the local villagers are the descendants of the Roman army.  There are also many other arguments on the related topics. After all, this is a complicated problem involving many disciplines such as the science of history, anthropology and archaeology. Experts are doing further researches and studies to draw a conclusion as soon as possible.

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