A62-011. Family Trip to Northwest China in Summer 2014 (Day 12)

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Day 12 (August 7)

A. Visit Dunhuang Ancient City (optional attraction, extra fee 40 RMB/person).

B. Visit the Han Dynasty Great Wall site in Gansu.

C. Lunch at the restaurant outside Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark.

D. Visit Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark.

E. Visit Yumen Pass site.

F. Dunhuang—Lanzhou (take Y668 Dunhuang Tour Train, 20:12-07:18, sleeper fare 261.50 RMB/person).

Dunhuang Ancient City is located in the Gobi Desert, integrating the thousand-year-old customs of the Western Regions. It has three gates: east, west, and south, with towering gate towers. Built in 1987 for the Sino-Japanese co-production of the epic historical film "Dunhuang," it was based on the Song Dynasty painting "Along the River During the Qingming Festival," funded by the Japanese side, and designed and constructed with meticulous reference to ancient Chinese architectural styles. The building area is 12,700 square meters. The climax of the film was "Burning Dunhuang City." The Japanese planned to burn down the entire ancient city, but due to opposition from the Chinese government, only a corner was burned. The Chinese strategy was: if you want to burn it, you must ship all the garbage back to Japan and pay a large environmental pollution fee. Finally, the Japanese had to give up, leaving this film city intact. Besides "Dunhuang," more than twenty Chinese and foreign films and TV shows have been shot here, including "The Legend of Nezha," "The Sword of Swords," "New Dragon Gate Inn," "Dunhuang Night Talk," "Prince of Shazhou," and "Mirage."

Dunhuang Ancient City is a film set left after the shooting of the movie "Dunhuang." It has many props and settings, providing great fun for my daughter to play wildly.

Han Dynasty Great Wall site in Gansu

The Han Dynasty Great Wall site in Gansu starts from Wan Yaodun at the western end of present-day Dunhuang City, follows the Shule River through Houkengzi, Yumen Pass, and Dayueyahu, passes through San Ge Dun into Anxi, then goes through Xihu, Wanghuobao, Bulongji, Qiaowan, crosses the northern Shihui River in Yumen City, enters Jinta, and then follows Ruo Shui north to Juyan. Another branch goes from Jinta along the Heihe River through Gaotai, Linze, Zhangye, Shandan, then passes through Yongchang, Minqin, Wuwei, Gulang, and Yongdeng, crosses the Yellow River into Ningxia. The total length within Gansu Province is over 1,000 kilometers.

The Han Great Wall was first built in the second year of the Yuanshou reign of Emperor Wu of Han (121 BC) and ended in the fourth year of the Taichu reign (101 BC). It was constructed in segments due to military defense needs, so its forms are not uniform. Generally, beacon towers and barriers were set up first, and then walls were built according to the terrain. Thus, some places have beacon towers but no walls, intermittent sections, but overall they could still form a line, creating an integrated military defense and alarm system. The construction adapted to local conditions and used local materials: rammed earth with sand, mixed with tamarisk, poplar, reeds, and kendyr to bind and strengthen, making it extremely solid. The earth taken from the outside formed a protective trench, and fine sand was spread flat inside the trench to check the footprints of passers-by, called "Tian Tian" (heavenly field). On the inner high ground, watchtowers, mounds, forts, and cities were connected and visible to each other, known as "five li one watchtower, ten li one mound, thirty li one fort, one hundred li one city." The beacon towers were made of rammed earth, or rammed earth with reeds, poplar, tamarisk mixed with sand and earth, or rammed earth with adobe bricks, or stacked adobe bricks. The tallest reached 10 meters.

Although the Han Great Wall has endured two thousand years of wind, sand, snow, and rain, some sections are still as solid as a rock, standing in the Gobi Desert like a winding dragon, with extraordinary momentum. Well-preserved sections include Yumen Pass, Xihu, Ruo Shui, and Minqin. Along the line, remnants of beacon towers and broken walls have a base width of 3 to 8 meters, a height of over 3 meters, and some reach up to 10 meters.

Han Dynasty Great Wall site in Gansu

Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark in Gansu

Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark is located about 180 kilometers northwest of Dunhuang City and about 100 kilometers northwest of Yumen Pass. It is often called the "Dunhuang Yardang Devil City" and is currently the largest, most maturely developed, and most visually valuable yardang landform cluster in Asia. Films such as "Hero," "The Legend of Tian Ding," and "The Monkey King" were shot here.

The scenic area is about 25 kilometers long from east to west and about 18 kilometers wide from north to south, covering an area of 398 square kilometers. It is divided into two major areas: north and south. The north area is concentrated and contiguous, mainly featuring yardang landforms, generally oriented north-south. The south area mainly features wind-eroded valleys, residual hills, and pillars, relatively scattered, generally oriented east-west. The yardang landforms are mainly formed by wind erosion.

"Yardang" originally means "steep-sided hillock" in Uyghur, which is a vivid description of yardang landforms. From the late 19th century to the early 20th century, Swedish explorer Sven Hedin and British explorer Aurel Stein investigated the Lop Nur region and used this term in their writings. Thus, "yardang" became a universal term in geography and archaeology, referring to raised mounds, specifically a special landform in arid regions.

Ticket price for Yardang National Geopark: 50 RMB/person. Shuttle bus fare: 70 RMB/person. Visitors tour the entire area on the park's shuttle bus, with commentary provided. The sightseeing bus stops at four viewing points, each with different main landscapes. In terms of momentum, each is more imposing than the last.

Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark: Golden Lion Welcoming Guests

Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark: Divine Turtle Emerging from Sea

Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark: Sphinx

Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark: Leaning Tower of Pisa

Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark: Peacock

Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark

Dunhuang Yardang National Geopark: West Sea Fleet

The Yellow River rises far into the white clouds,

Amid lonely city, ten-thousand-foot mountains.

Why should the Qiang flute complain of willows?

The spring wind never blows beyond Yumen Pass.

Yumen Pass, also known as Xiaofangpan City, gets its name from the legend that during the Western Han Dynasty, fine jade from the Western Regions entered the Central Plains through this pass. Built around 111 BC, it was a key strategic pass on the northern route of the Silk Road to the Western Regions. It is located in the Gobi Desert, 90 kilometers northwest of Dunhuang City. The pass is a square fortress built of rammed earth. The walls, 10 meters high, 3 meters wide at the top, and 5 meters wide at the bottom, are well preserved. It measures 24 meters from east to west and 26.4 meters from north to south, covering an area of 633 square meters, with one gate on the north and one on the west.

In its heyday, Yumen Pass was bustling with camel bells, people shouting, horses neighing, merchant caravans in endless streams, and envoys coming and going, creating a scene of prosperity.

The site of Han Dynasty Yumen Pass is a small square castle standing on a sand and gravel ridge in the narrow strip of the Gobi Desert stretching east-west. Climbing the ancient pass, one can look far into the distance, surrounded by marshes, ravines, winding Great Wall, upright beacon towers, tall poplars, green springs, red tamarisk flowers, and swaying reeds, contrasting with the majestic ancient pass, stirring emotions and evoking nostalgia.

Ticket price for Yumen Pass site: 40 RMB/person. A poem by Wang Zhihuan from the Tang Dynasty, "Liangzhou Ci," made Yumen Pass well known. The site is located next to the Halahu Wetland. The prosperous pass of the past is gone, leaving only mounds of earth and endless sighs.

Dunhuang Tour Train