National Day Self-Drive Tour in Northern Shaanxi—Revolutionary Holy Land Yan'an

Originally planned to stay at home during this National Day, but maybe the feeling of going out and having fun is really nice, so I decided to travel again and go to northern Shaanxi for a trip, focusing on Jingbian Wave Valley and Ganquan Grand Canyon.

I had been to northern Shaanxi several times before: the first time was in 1987, the second in 1997, the third in 2007, the fourth in 2015, the fifth in 2016, and the sixth in 2017.

Jingbian Wave Valley and Ganquan Grand Canyon are attractions that have become popular in recent years. During the 2015 National Day self-drive tour in northern Shaanxi, I planned to go to Wave Valley after leaving Jingbian Tongwan City, but encountered a rainstorm and had to give up. After staying one night in Ansai, I returned.

This trip to northern Shaanxi was to make up for the regret from last time.

Set out from Xi'an early in the morning. The highway conditions were normal, and there was no large-scale congestion.

Arrived in Yan'an in the afternoon and checked into a hotel in the new district of Yan'an. Compared with many years ago, the changes in northern Shaanxi are huge: the mountains are greener, there are more trees, and it seems no longer the Loess Plateau.

The newly built Yan'an Museum is not far from the hotel, so I went to visit first.

The architectural shape of the newly built Yan'an Museum in the new district of Yan'an resembles cave dwellings, very characteristic of northern Shaanxi. The Yan'an Museum has not yet fully completed its exhibition setup; currently only two halls are open: 'Glorious Yan'an—Yan'an Historical Exhibition (with two halls, ① and ②)' and 'Splendid Yan'an—Yan'an Physical Geography Special Exhibition'. In addition, there are some temporary exhibitions such as painting and calligraphy exhibitions, calligraphy exhibitions, and coral exhibitions.

The geographical feature of northern Shaanxi is the crisscrossing ravines of the Loess Plateau. As a northern Shaanxi folk song sings: 'It's easy to talk, but hard to hold hands,' vividly describing this geographical characteristic. This is similar to Guizhou, where 'two mountains can talk, but meeting takes a day.'

Due to geographical constraints, Yan'an's urban construction can only be carried out along several ravines, and the connection between ravines mainly relies on tunnels. The construction of the new district of Yan'an is said to have leveled several mountain tops and flattened a large area of land, which must have been an enormous project.

Yan'an has a long history. 50,000 to 30,000 years ago, late Homo sapiens 'Huanglong Man' already lived in the Yan'an area.

The 'Huanglong Man' skull fossil was discovered in Huanglong County, Yan'an.

Yan'an is the hometown of the Chinese ancestor Huangdi. About 5,000 years ago, the tribe of Huangdi lived here. Yan'an was a place of fusion between the agricultural peoples of the Central Plains and the nomadic peoples of the north, serving as the northern barrier of the Central Plains regimes. During the pre-Qin period, the Yan'an area was called 'Guifang', where multiple ethnic groups lived. The collision and exchange between the northern tribes and the Huaxia people laid the basic characteristics of northern Shaanxi culture.

The fossil of the Yellow River Namad elephant discovered along the Yellow River in Wangjiachuan Village, Yanshui Pass Town, Yanchuan County. Because it was found on the banks of the Yellow River, it is also called 'Yellow River Elephant'.

The Namad elephant is the ancestor of African and Indian elephants, and also an important fossil representative of the Salawusu fauna distributed in North China during the late Pleistocene. By the late Pleistocene (about 100,000 years ago), it was rare in the Yangtze and Huai River basins of China. This Namad elephant fossil was buried in the Quaternary riverbed sediments of the ancient Yellow River channel, and its living age was about 200,000 years ago. This shows that the northern Shaanxi plateau at that time had a warm and humid climate with lush water and grass, vastly different from today's environment.

In the evening, I bought tickets on Ctrip to watch a performance—Red Show 'Yan'an, Yan'an'. Red Show 'Yan'an, Yan'an' takes the Red 26th Army as the protagonist and tells scenes of young people from Shanghai studying and living in Yan'an. The effect felt average.

Currently, there are multiple performances in Yan'an, such as 'Yan'an Nursery' and 'Return to Yan'an', but overall, high-quality works are few.

On the food street opposite the theater, there is a replica site of the Kangda (Anti-Japanese Military and Political University) campus.

Night view of Pagoda Hill.

Pagoda Hill is a landmark of Yan'an. In the hearts of people of our generation, Yan'an has a very special significance. In those days, Yan'an, along with Shaoshan, Jinggangshan, and Zunyi, was known as the four revolutionary holy lands.

I wanted to visit the Yan'an Erdao Street night market introduced on CCTV, but there was no place to park, so I only looked from the intersection.

The next morning, I went to visit Pagoda Hill and parked the car in the underground parking lot opposite Pagoda Hill.

Pagoda Hill ticket is 60 yuan, sightseeing car ticket is 20 yuan, seniors over 65 are exempt from the ticket. Pagoda Hill is not high; walking up the mountain allows you to enjoy the scenery, and there is no need to take the sightseeing car.

Yan'an Pagoda (Lingshan Temple Pagoda) was first built during the Dali period of Emperor Daizong of Tang (766-779), rebuilt during the Qingli period of Emperor Renzong of Song (1041-1048), and renovated in the ninth year of Emperor Shizong of Jin's Dading era (1169) and the thirty-sixth year of Emperor Shenzong of Ming's Wanli era (1608).

The building on the right side of the pagoda is Star Picking Tower. Star Picking Tower is located on Jialing Mountain, the highest point of Pagoda Hill. Star Picking Tower was built by Fan Zhongyan, a politician and writer of the Northern Song dynasty, when he was stationed in Yanzhou. It is a two-story pavilion-style building, originally named Wangkoutai (Watchtower for Enemies), mainly used for observing enemy situations and directing battles. Because Star Picking Tower is at the highest point of Pagoda Hill, on nights when the stars shine brightly, it seems as if you can reach out and pick stars, hence the name. The historical Star Picking Tower no longer exists; the current Star Picking Tower is a rebuilt two-story Tang-style building.

The pagoda of Pagoda Hill is 44 meters high, an octagonal nine-story brick pagoda with a tower style. It has a south gate and a north gate. The south gate is inscribed with 'Gaochao Biluo' (Soaring into the Blue Sky), and the north gate with 'Fushi Hongchen' (Looking Down on the Mortal World). Inside the north gate, there is a staircase to climb to the top of the pagoda.

The climbing ticket is 10 yuan. Since the stairs are very narrow and can only accommodate one person at a time, only 20 people are allowed to climb at once, and the next group can only go up after all 20 have come down. Therefore, the waiting time is quite long, about an hour. Fortunately, in the small square below the pagoda, the National Day performance organized by the park was going on. The actors from the Yan'an Baota District Folk Artists Association performed northern Shaanxi storytelling, which was of high quality. Listening to the storytelling, I unknowingly reached the entrance to climb the pagoda.

From the four windows on the top floor of the pagoda, you can overlook Yan'an in all directions.

Looking north from the top of the pagoda, the yellow river is the Yan River, and the river that joins the Yan River is the South River.

The following picture is looking west and south.

Looking east, it is Jialing Mountain, the highest point of Pagoda Hill. You can see a staircase path that leads to the top of Jialing Mountain, where you can get a close look at Star Picking Tower. Currently, Star Picking Tower is not open to visitors.

Pagoda Hill against the backdrop of white clouds, blue sky, green trees, yellow earth, and red flags.

Left Pagoda Hill and went to Yan'an Red Street. Red Street is actually a commercial street similar to Chengdu's Kuanzhai Alley, integrating food, shopping, and amusement. It seems to be built in a style similar to Xi'an's Tang Dynasty Ever-Bright City, but with very little content, really not interesting.

During the National Day holiday, there were performances on Red Street.

It is said that Yan'an Red Street was invested and built by the Wanda Group, but the construction quality is poor, with the potential to be a shoddy project. For out-of-town tourists, it is really unnecessary to go. Most of the people visiting Yan'an Red Street seem to be locals, bringing their children to play during the holiday.

Visited the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Hall. This time I had the opportunity to visit the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Hall.

The Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Hall displays the glorious history of the Party Central Committee's thirteen years in Yan'an.

Although the exhibition content is well-known, there is still a feeling of reviewing the old and learning the new.