Traveling with Full Joy (Age 5): A Journey Across the Silk Road

Inspired by the documentary "Hexi Corridor", I traveled the Silk Road twice in 2020.

The first time was in August, flying to Xining, renting a car to Dunhuang, a round trip of about 2,500 kilometers;

The second time was in October, driving from Luzhou to Ejina, a round trip of 4,525 kilometers;

The walking distance along the "Silk Road" for these two trips is comparable to the span of China from east to west and from south to north. I thoroughly explored the Hexi Corridor portion of the Silk Road, the "westward and northward gaze" that once saw fierce battles against the Xiongnu, covering Lanzhou, Xining, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Dunhuang, and their affiliated Jiayuguan, Yumen Pass, and Ejina. It was an unforgettable journey through this dusty history, and I always wanted to write it all clearly for Manman so that she would remember it vividly when she grows up. So here is a "time-travel journey", combining both trips into one.

Yes, it is that important; to the north are the mountains inhabited by the Xiongnu, to the south are the mountains inhabited by the Tibetans. A narrow canyon region nurtured a unique place, with lush grass and ample water suitable for grazing and horse breeding. Emperor Wu of Han spent the nation's resources to make it prosperous, but it stopped at the Yellow River, leaving behind the four commanderies: Wuwei (martial might), Zhangye (stretching the arm of the state), Jiuquan (spring as sweet as wine), and Dunhuang (grand and magnificent), and guarding the passes with Yumen Pass and Yangguan.

Lanzhou has always been historically important, being the only provincial capital through which the Yellow River passes. It has been a meeting place for various ethnic groups and a melting pot of cultures. However, the city's own history seems less profound, perhaps because I didn't take time to savor it. At night, taking a cruise on the Yellow River, I saw the Yellow River Iron Bridge (Zhongxin Bridge) and the night scenery around it, which felt quite modern and lacking some antiquity.

The highlight of the detour to Lanzhou was the "Gansu Provincial Museum". To understand a place's culture, history, and geography, the most comprehensive place is the museum. In recent years, as long as we travel within China, every provincial museum is on our itinerary.

Start a new day with a hearty breakfast.

Gansu is truly a unique place. It was once ocean, forest, grassland, Gobi, and desert, with distinctive biology and history. The museum displays every bit of the Silk Road, pottery culture, and the fossil of the huge Yellow River elephant that once lived.

Inside Lanzhou city, there is a hidden treasure—the "Dunhuang Art Museum", located in the Lanzhou branch of the Dunhuang Research Academy. For our two Dunhuang "researchers", its appeal is immense. During the National Day holiday, only a few people were there, allowing us to slowly savor history.

Special exhibition cave 220, and the never-open caves 3 and 25, with Manjusri and Samantabhadra transformations, are perfectly replicated here, allowing us to view them up close for a long time. Between the two exhibition halls, there is a creative shop with many handmade souvenirs worth collecting.

There are two more check-in spots in Lanzhou: the Yellow River Mother Statue and the Xiguan Grand Mosque. Unfortunately, time was short, so we only glanced at them. Looking forward to seeing them again when we stop by Lanzhou next time.

Heading west from Lanzhou, the first challenge is Wushao Ridge, with four long tunnels and a descent of nearly 50 kilometers. The ancients who passed through here also experienced "the difficulty of the Long Road, harder than reaching the sky"!

Next stop—Wuwei. It is a city almost abandoned by the current trendy tourism circuit. On the Qinghai-Gansu Grand Loop, choosing this stop is "like eating meat without substance, or discarding it with taste", but the nearly 240-kilometer one-way distance makes more people give up.

The irony is that this is the birthplace of "Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow", the icon of Chinese tourism. Sometimes history is just amusing. There is also the national-level military horse farm—Shandan Military Horse Farm, with thousands of horses galloping, absolutely beautiful. As for food, the local specialties are somewhat like our New Year's Nine Big Bowls.

In Chinese history, Wuwei held extremely important strategic significance. About 800 years ago, Sakya Pandita and the Mongol prince Köden held the famous "Liangzhou Conference" at the White Pagoda Temple in Wuwei, where Tibet formally confirmed its inclusion in China's territory. Sakya Pandita brought along his nephew Phagpa from Tibet to Liangzhou, who later became the "Imperial Tutor" of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, turning the Mongol tribes from shamanism to Buddhism, changing a nation and world history.

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, the White Pagoda Temple was not open to the public, so we couldn't visit it. A picture stolen from the internet as an apology.

Among Buddhist monks, I like two the most: Kumarajiva and Tsangyang Gyatso, representatives of Mahayana Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism respectively. What I admire is not their attainments but their literary talent. Tsangyang Gyatso's line "In this world, can I find a perfect way to be true to both my heart and my Buddha?" is known to all. But Kumarajiva translated 425 volumes of Buddhist scriptures, including the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra, promoting Buddhist culture, yet few know of him. He should be more classic than Xuanzang in Buddhist scripture translation theory.

In the Heart Sutra, "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form... all dharmas are emptiness, not born, not destroyed, not defiled, not pure, not increasing, not decreasing." The first part I prefer to translate as "Appearance is emptiness, emptiness is appearance," referring to the dialectic of matter and consciousness in materialism and idealism. And "all dharmas are emptiness, not born, not destroyed..." is more like the conservation of matter and energy in modern physics. Looking at Kumarajiva's relic pagoda in the Kumarajiva Temple, everything seems empty.

The Western Xia was a unique dynasty, highly evolved with its own script and legal system, but it is the only dynasty in China that neither wrote its own history nor had history written for it. It was ruled by Empress Dowager Luo for many years and is considered the vanished "Kingdom of Women." On a nonsense level, Western Xia has some connection to Luzhou. When Genghis Khan unified Eurasia and returned to conquer Western Xia to eliminate future troubles, he fell from his horse and died, causing the Mongol Empire to split. The Mongol army that had attacked Luzhou's Shenbi City for eight years finally returned, and the flames of war in Luzhou subsided.

Of course, the Mongol army then carried out a genocidal campaign against Western Xia, erasing its culture, script, cities, and subjects from history. Only the ruins of the Blackwater City and a double-sided stele with Chinese and Western Xia scripts in the Western Xia Museum remain.

Wuwei's Confucian Temple is next to the Western Xia Museum, reputed to be one of the three major Confucian temples in China. It indeed has a long history, with architectural style and garden landscape different from typical Gansu. I have been lucky enough to visit the "Three Confucian Sites" in Qufu, and indeed, some elements from the Confucian Mansion are preserved here.

Manman also bowed devoutly, respecting Confucius.

Now, to the highlight of Wuwei: everyone knows "Galloping Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow", but its excavation site is the Leitai Han Tomb.

Leitai is a temple dedicated to the Thunder God, built by piling earth into a mountain. The characters "步云" (Stepping on Clouds) at the entrance not only imply closeness to the sky but also a meteoric rise in career.

The Han tomb consists of two tombs under Leitai, built at different times but in the same location. It was also my first time exploring an ancient tomb.

"Seek the dragon, divide the gold, look at the winding mountains; one winding is one pass; if the pass has eight parts danger, it does not escape the yin-yang and eight trigrams form."

On the road from Wuwei to Zhangye, two places must be mentioned: one is the Han Great Wall stretching over 10 kilometers, running east-west alongside the highway, separating the southern grasslands from the northern desert; the other is "Biangdukou". It is said that Huo Qubing fought a fierce battle against the Xiongnu here, and Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty passed through here to escape a cold disaster.

History is like this: such a famous place suffered prolonged turmoil. The only emperor in Chinese history to visit was Emperor Yang of Sui, but he did not take the four commanderies route; instead, he went from Chang'an through Xining, crossed the Qilian Mountains, and arrived at Zhangye. The reason was the difficulty of Wushao Ridge mentioned earlier; taking Biangdukou had a slightly higher survival rate, as leading a large army and concubines made ordinary roads difficult.

Our first long-distance, high-altitude drive was from Xining through the Qilian Mountains via Biangdukou to Zhangye. We crossed the Daban Mountain of the Qilian Mountains at over 3,700 meters altitude after midnight, feeling a mix of anger, tension, surprise, and novelty—a real upgrade in driving skills. Arriving in August, the temperature difference was mind-boggling.

Our first visit to Zhangye was just a stopover, but we happened to see the most beautiful meteor shower overhead. The next morning, we got up early, ate our first delicious Lanzhou beef noodles at a street stall, and then hurried on our journey, traveling 600 kilometers along the Hexi Corridor from start to finish to Dunhuang.

For no other reason than to feel the grandeur of the Northwest, the desolation of the Gobi, and the majesty of the snow-capped mountains!

On the return trip, we experienced the diverse geological conditions of the Hexi Corridor. The Zhangye Danxia Landform is one of its dazzling pearls. We wanted to see the "touch of red" at sunset in Zhangye, but the weather didn't cooperate, and a mass of dark clouds rolled in. We entered the scenic area at the last moment and saw the ravines and colorful layers, truly like the earth's "palette".

Leaving with some regrets, we stayed for the first time in a yurt near the Danxia scenic area.

Xining—Zhangye Branch Line

Our first return trip was originally planned to go through the Qilian Grassland, turn to Arou Temple, and then back to Xining. However, the navigation took us onto a county road, gradually deviating from the highway, heading straight toward the snow-capped mountains. Suddenly, we noticed we were approaching "Horse Hoof Temple", so we again tacitly adjusted our itinerary and came to this grotto museum, which is as famous as Mogao Caves and Yulin Caves, stepping on the ground where Xuanzang once walked on his westward journey. This place resembled the rice fields of Hokkaido.

Only here did I truly understand that human worship creates miracles!

After Manman had a dance in Tibetan costumes, we lingered in the Qilian Mountains and arrived at another major arrangement for Manman—horseback riding on the Qilian Grassland.

Manman, on a horse for the first time, showed no fear. Led by the groom, she switched between a white horse and a black horse before finally sitting back in the car seat contentedly.

Detouring to Menyuan, we found the top-rated noodle restaurant on Dianping, ate a local specialty "yellow mushroom", and continued to climb Daban Mountain!

Again, we were pleasantly surprised to stay in a hotel full of retail shops and had a good night's sleep.

Xining and the reputation of a tourist city seemed somewhat distant; many places were still closed due to the pandemic or under renovation. The car got some rest today, and in the morning, we only went to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Wildlife Park in the city to see some characteristic animals of the plateau. We all agreed that this zoo is well-run, with animals looking plump, clearly well-fed.

Manman kept asking to see the aquarium and the panda house. Was that necessary? The ocean is almost the farthest place from here, and we've already seen so many famous aquariums. Pandas? Hehe, we have pandas in groups back home; each family gets one for New Year...

We took a taxi to the Dongguan Grand Mosque, walked all the way around but couldn't find the entrance. Unfortunately, it was closed due to the pandemic. Both the Dongguan Grand Mosque in Xining and the Xiguan Grand Mosque in Lanzhou became regrets.

After studying the minaret and moon decorations, Manman walked back along the street to the restaurant; the timing was just right, and the door was open.

We had to get back on track. After lunch at 4 PM, we drove the car back to the hotel and then walked to Moji Street to find dinner...

The first time we arrived at Jiuquan, we actually went to the neighboring Jiayuguan City. We drove back from Dunhuang along the Lianhuo Expressway. There were significantly more vehicles returning than going; probably because traffic from the Haixi Grand Loop had converged here. After four hours, we reached Jiayuguan, feeling the grandeur of the first great pass at the western end of the Great Wall. The old momentum remained, but times had changed.

The Central Plains and the area beyond the pass were now separated, one on this side, one on that. Many years later, after Lin Zexu was demoted for the Humen opium destruction, he stood on this city wall, looking toward the Western Regions and pondering national policies. On his way home after retirement, he entrusted all his efforts to the commoner Zuo Zongtang, who later became a famous minister, and even though he didn't appear at the sea gates against the foreign powers, he firmly held China's Western Regions.

History, like the opium destroyed at Humen, turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared into time.

The second time to Jiuquan was actually to the Dongfeng Space City. But this time, we didn't take the conventional highway. Instead, we went from Wuwei via Alxa Right Banner on provincial roads 228 and 316, driving nearly 300 kilometers through uninhabited areas, almost half a circle around the Badain Jaran Desert. Along the way, we saw herds of free-range camels and occasionally people stopping to pick up unknown things.

Looking at the vegetation by the roadside going from tall to short, from present to absent, the flat road stretched across the desert. At that moment, I suddenly understood why the people of the Northwest have such broad minds!

Later, we realized that the remaining several hundred kilometers were almost entirely around a military restricted zone. Based on the geography, this area, hundreds of kilometers in radius, is probably where manned spacecraft are recovered. We didn't take photos as required. By the way, to update our knowledge: Jiuquan is in Gansu, but the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is in Ejina Banner, Inner Mongolia. For easier identification, it has been renamed the Dongfeng Space City.

On the return trip, we stayed overnight in Jiuquan city, finally checking off all four Hexi commanderies. The city was decorated for National Day as if for Chinese New Year.

Ejina—Jiuquan Branch Line

About 400 kilometers northeast of Jiuquan is the most popular autumn destination—Ejina, home to China's most beautiful poplar forests, the filming location for Zhang Yimou's "Hero". The tourist season is concentrated around 20 days each year. Flights are direct from Lanzhou and Xi'an, and trains go via Hohhot, but transportation is very inconvenient. So, traveling by land, water, or air requires careful consideration.

The autumn poplar forest is beyond words; you have to be there to feel it. In just 20 days, the poplars change from green to yellow to fallen leaves, embodying the saying "live for three thousand years without dying, stand for three thousand years after death without falling, and last for three thousand years after falling without decaying."

The most beautiful scenery is the poplar forest reflected in water. After staring for a while, you can't tell which is the real scene and which is the reflection.

Death—for the poplar, is not an end but another beginning. Legend says that the soul of a Western Xia general is sealed here.

Continuing north, the temperature dropped from 1°C to -1°C, -2°C, -3.5°C. We arrived at a sea in the desert—Juyan Lake.

"From the three thousand waters of Ruoshui, I only take one ladle to drink." This is where the Ruoshui River converges.

"A single carriage wants to ask the border, the vassal state passes through Juyan." Wang Wei's poem "On a Mission to the Frontier" mentions this place. Huo Qubing, Li Guang, and others fought the Xiongnu, almost chasing them to this point. How majestic it must have been to water horses here back then, though they probably drank more than one ladle of Ruoshui. Further north, beyond the ancient Xiongnu homeland, lies the current Ceke Port at the China-Mongolia border. I've almost always taken international flights to exit the country, but today I saw the real national gate for the first time.

Ejina also has an important site—the Heishui (Blackwater) ruins, one of the most mysterious places.

The driver who took us there drove a large Lexus 4x4 and sped across the Gobi for nearly 15 kilometers. For the first time, I set foot on the Gobi without roads, boundaries, or directions. The sky and earth seemed to connect in a single line, as if galloping into the depths of the soul, all the way to the depths of the Blackwater City ruins.

A piece of history will be buried by the yellow sand, or perhaps the sand mourns for it, protecting it in its embrace.

A long journey just to see its beauty. The first time we went to Dunhuang, we drove continuously for seven hours, but we still went straight to the Mogao Caves with enthusiasm. It was almost 4 PM, and there were few people. Mogao Caves tickets are divided into A and B tickets. Due to special circumstances, only 3,000 A tickets are issued daily, and they're snapped up as soon as they're available. We tried several middlemen, including friends from the Lanzhou Party School, but could only get B tickets. The difference is that A tickets allow entry to 8 caves, B tickets to 4 caves, and they are different.

By the time we were almost done, we learned that there are special exhibition caves that require extra payment. It is said that seeing all of them costs 5,200 yuan (10 caves). However, in the exhibition hall outside the main gate, we could view them up close, with full-scale replicas of 10 caves.

In the evening, we didn't get to see the highly recommended "Again See Dunhuang" performance. We had bought tickets, but Manman was scared by the loud sounds, so I had to hold her and walk back, leaving Minmin alone to watch.

The surprise finally came: we managed to stay at the Dunhuang Villa, which had been canceled three times. Over the years, I've traveled extensively, but in this special period, a hotel that could be listed at nearly three times the usual price by third-party travel agencies is probably the only one. If there are no rooms, what can you do?

In my eyes, this is not a hotel at all, but a work of art disguised as a hotel! The breakfast restaurant is next to Mingsha Mountain.

Opening my eyes in the morning, it was another sunny day. Today's itinerary was to continue westward, bringing our spring breeze to a place where it doesn't cross. After detouring from Guazhou to Dunhuang, the number of surrounding vehicles dropped by more than 90%. Today's drive was especially desolate, with only our car moving forward alone on a straight, endless road.

The vast Gobi is like a vast ocean!

Two hours later, we arrived at the equally lonely Yumen Pass. In the old days, with armored horses and a spirit that could swallow thousands of miles like a tiger, now only broken walls remain. In a trance, I thought of merchants coming and going with dazzling goods, all stepping on the ground we now tread. Yumen Pass, the Han Great Wall, and Hecang Fort form a closed loop, perfectly displaying the city gates, defense lines, and supply facilities from a thousand years ago.

After experiencing human culture, it was time to experience nature again.

We continued driving to the Yardang Geopark. In essence, this is where we truly stepped into the ancient Western Regions. Along the way, both sides were part of the Przewalski's horse nature reserve.

After nearly an hour, we finally saw a few small mounds on the flat Gobi. We had arrived.

Yardang is actually formed by the combined effects of ancient oceans, rivers, climate, and collapse, creating various shaped mounds. According to the development history of Yardang, in the distant future, it will become the same as the surrounding Gobi, no longer existing!

Thinking back, when the monk Lizun traveled eastward, he must have passed through here.

After finishing the Yardang Geopark, we headed to the place Manman longed for most—Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring, arriving after 4 PM (for no reason other than the daytime heat makes the sand too hot to step on, risking dehydration and heatstroke). Mom and Manman were too tired and rested in the back. Daddy Manman drove nearly 200 kilometers with only three brake applications—first, because the road was so flat, good, and empty; second, because he hadn't refueled since last night and missed the chance again. The car's remaining mileage and Baidu Maps distance were almost the same, and he worried that the onboard computer might have a calculation error. He didn't dare to consider the consequences in this vast Gobi. His palms sweated nervously as he looked at the dashboard for the first time, until finally, with 30 kilometers remaining, the problem was solved perfectly!

At 5 PM, Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring were still not cool. Most people start arriving at this time. There was a long line for camel rides, everyone wanting to experience this unique feeling. Each ride ticket corresponds to a specific camel. Getting up and kneeling down is relatively strenuous, so the camels seemed reluctant to do these movements. Once the whole group stood up, the lead guide led them leisurely through the dunes. One camel behind seemed to like some smell from my bag and gently touched me many times with its nose. Its long eyelashes and big eyes were quite beautiful.

The camel caravan, accompanied by bells, slowly moved forward along the ridges of the dunes, with a long string from front to back.

This year, the water in Crescent Spring seemed a bit abundant, overflowing beyond the fence. Manman and a few newly met children were building sandcastles by the spring, forbidding adults from passing above. After sitting for a while, my wife and I decided to take Manman to climb the Mingsha Mountain behind, and challenge ourselves to climb straight up the middle.

The race result: Manman first, Mom Minmin second, Dad last. Sitting at the top, looking down at Mingsha Mountain and Crescent Spring, with the evening sun reflecting a touch of red on the horizon, the scene before us has persisted for thousands of years! Many years later, someone else will still sit here, watching the sunset!

At 9 PM, the sky gradually darkened. We reluctantly left, took a taxi, and headed to the Dunhuang Night Market. Following the locals' advice, we didn't eat at the market itself but turned into an alley on the right, enjoying food patronized by locals. Dad and Mom had a large glass of beer, Manman had a soda, and we all ate hand-grabbed lamb.

Every journey through time has an end.

Do I live in your dream, or do you live in my memory?

The "Silk Road" will always be a route that the Chinese nation cannot bypass.

I never knew why there was such a famous road until I reached the "Hexi Corridor" and understood its significance.