Jiayuguan (pop 250,000)
Gansu Province
China
September 16, 2016
How can I describe the Great Wall of China? Books have been written.
I recommend The Great Wall: The extraordinary history of China’s wonder of the world by John Man.
For basic information about the reality and the myths, please read the Introduction to the book here.
Rainbow Mountains
Zhangye
Gansu Province
China
September 14, 2016
The Rainbow Mountains is one of the most dramatic geologic formations in China.
For good reason, they are also known as the Painted Mountains.
If you travel to central or western China, be sure to visit this site.
It’s easy to reach here by bus or tour group from Zhangye City in Gansu Province.
Zhangye
Gansu Province
China
September 14, 2016
Two old sites are prominent in Zhangye. One site is measured in hundreds of years. The other is measured in tens of thousands
The Dafo Temple, or Great Buddha Temple, is an ancient Buddhist temple in Zhangye, Gansu, China, notable for its gigantic reclining Buddha statue of around 1100, which is thirty-five meters long (115 ft).
Xi’an
Shaanxi Province
China
August 28, 2016
Shocked!
I am shocked as I ride from the airport to the city.
On both sides of the modern highway, clusters of recently-constructed apartment buildings provide the only scenery.
Each cluster contains twenty high-rise towers.
Each tower is forty floors high and each floor contains sixteen apartments.
I estimate there are one hundred of these clusters between the airport and the city!
Baoji
Prefecture Population 3,760,000
City Population 800,000
Shaanxi Province
Peoples Republic of China
August 31, 2016
With mountain ranges to the north and the south, Baoji lies in the strategic corridor and is the gateway to the eastern cities of Shanghai and Beijing and to the Far West of China.
Baoji traces its roots back to 2000 BCE.
The ancient, now modern city of Baoji is just a short 177 km (110 miles) from the ancient capital of Xi’an and, heading west, an appropriate first stop along the Ancient Silk Road.
Tianshui
Gansu Province
China
September 2, 2016
Ancient trade routes were much more than just a highway for the exchange of materials and goods from one distant place to another. Ideas and culture also traveled with ships and camels and horses. The Silk Road is certainly a prime example of the exchange and dissemination of culture.
Buddhism flowered in South Asia and eventually “traveled” to Central Asia and China. Here in Gansu Province, the Maijishan Grotto Complex is one of several grotto sites lying on the trade routes between northwest China and Central Asia.
