Gansu | Lanzhou: The rushing Yellow River slows down here
"If you don't miss beef noodles, why stay in Lanzhou." This sentence may sound a bit harsh, but even Lanzhou people seem to need to think about the question "Where is the fun in Lanzhou?" for a long time. But if the conversation turns to which beef noodle restaurant is the best, they can talk about it all day long. This city, sandwiched between two mountains and with the Yellow River passing through it, has to constantly climb over the mountains in search of flat land for development due to terrain constraints - so much so that Zhongchuan Airport is 75 kilometers away from the central city of Lanzhou. It is probably the farthest airport from the urban area in China. Fortunately, the Zhongchuan intercity line opened in 2015, using a 40-minute train time, has shortened the development distance of Lanzhou.
Although the city itself is not rich in tourism resources, Lanzhou does have a unique beauty. Even though the sun is scorching in most parts of the country in July and August, Lanzhou still maintains clear and dry skies on the Loess Plateau, and the Yellow River rushes all the way upstream. Lanzhou became gentle and gentle. In the summer, under the parasols on the bank of the Yellow River, with a bottle of beer and a plate of melon seeds, casually rolling up the pants and crossing the legs, Lanzhou-style afternoon tea is a waste of half a day. Climbing Gaolan Mountain at the southern end of the city overlooking the city at night, it seems as if the whole city is flocking to Chengguan District; Zhongshan Bridge, the Yellow River, Zhengning Road, and Zhangye Road are crowded every night like a festival. At the food stall tables, not only men are drinking heavily, but also women who are not afraid of drinking one or two cases of beer. As the writer Zhang Hailong described in "North by Northwest Men with Knives": "The entertainment in this city basically relies on "Wine"; but when you look closely, you will find that those who drink too much are just like the "warm drunkenness at night" sung in the folk song "Lanzhou Lanzhou". "Reader" magazine has faded out of the world for many years, but there is always a place for Lanzhou poets in the world. This place is full of passion that once shed blood, just like Low Absinthe and Wild Child, two bands born in Lanzhou, using rough words Kuang's voice roared out his tender attachment to this yellow land:
Lanzhou always leaves early in the morning.
Lanzhou, warm drunkenness at night.
Lanzhou, endless yellow The river flows eastward.
Lanzhou, at the end of the road is the entrance to the sea.
——Low Absinthe "Lanzhou, Lanzhou"
Overlooking Lanzhou City and the Loess Plateau behind it from Gaolan Mountain
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"China's northwest tour starts in Lanzhou." If you take a ruler and place it horizontally on the map of China, Lanzhou is impartial and in the middle. It is close to the northwest provinces. In ancient times, it was on the important passage out of the Central Plains. It is logical. It became an important Silk Road town, but precisely because of the terrain defects of two mountains and a river, Lanzhou, a golden city with a history of thousands of years, had to demolish the old and build a new one due to the scarcity of land. In today's Lanzhou City, apart from the towering White Pagoda Temple on the north bank of the Yellow River, there are not many buildings that can tell the story of the long past. Fortunately, the cultural relics in the museum can also allow visitors to imagine the city's prosperous past.
One day is enough to travel around Lanzhou: in the morning, walk across the Zhongshan Iron Bridge to the Baita Mountain Park on the other side, and overlook the Yellow River from the top of the mountain Baita Temple , after having a hearty meal at Wumule Peng Gray Beef Noodles on the north bank of the Yellow River, we went to Gansu Museum in the afternoon to appreciate the national treasure-level cultural relics "Horse Treading on Flying Swallows" and "Station Station" Make Pictures Like Bricks" , if you can't go to Mogao Grottoes in person, you can still feel the prosperity of the Silk Road here. In the evening, you can climb Gaolan Mountain to overlook the night view of the city. Zhengning Road and Nanguan Street night markets are also unmissable night entertainment.
Scenery along the Yellow River Zhongshan Bridge
Gansu Museum
09:00-17:00, closed on Mondays, free
The Gansu Museum is so big that it takes a whole day to calm down and visit, but if you only have enough time for one exhibition hall, just go straight to the Silk Road National Treasures Exhibition on the second floor. The famous national treasure "Horse Treading on Flying Swallows" is located here. "Horse Treading on Flying Swallows" had different names at different times, and is now collectively called "Bronze Galloping Horse". The bronze galloping horse was unearthed from a Han tomb in Leitai, Wuwei. The owner of the tomb was named Zhang, but the age has never been determined. Some say it was the Eastern Han Dynasty, while others said it was the Western Jin Dynasty and Qianliang Dynasty. In "National Treasure", the story about the Bronze Galloping Horse is performed according to the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Bronze Galloping Horse is of course the most famous horse in our country and is our country’s tourism graphic symbol; In ancient times, horses were also extremely precious materials, especially on the battlefield. A large part of the reason why the Huns were able to dominate the grasslands was their powerful cavalry. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty dug through the Western Regions, he introduced high-quality war horses, which also gave the Han army the strength to rival the Xiongnu, and the confidence that "anyone who offends the Han will be punished no matter how far away".
Opposite the Bronze Galloping Horse, there is another famous horse: "Stage Picture Brick" . The brick paintings "Yi Shi Hua Bricks" were unearthed from the Jiayuguan Wei and Jin Brick Painting Tombs from Tomb No. 5. Now when you go to the Brick Painting Tomb, you can still see the bricks in the next room. painting. These brick paintings are very interesting. You can think of them as comic strips, depicting various common life scenes, such as farming, animal husbandry, barbecue, etc., and "Yi Shi Pictures Like Bricks" depict ancient Post Courier.
The post office in the Han Dynasty was called "Zhi". It was also a material transfer station and a reception station for people coming and going, and its chief executive was called "Chefu". In ancient times, letters were delivered by relay running, from one post station to another. Communication was extremely difficult, so there was a poem that said, "A letter from home is worth ten thousand gold." This brick painting "Postal Station Picture" is a microcosm of the ancient postal station system. The bronze galloping horse is the tourism symbol of our country, and the "Post Envoy Picture" is the postal symbol. In addition to these important exhibits, the painted pottery exhibition hall and grotto exhibition hall on the third floor of the museum are also worth a visit. The Gansu Museum is located outside Shizi Station of the West Metro Station. Directly opposite the museum is the bustling Lanzhou Center commercial complex.
Zhongshan Bridge
Open all day, free
If it were not specially introduced, it would be difficult for tourists to associate this iron bridge with scenic spots. This iron bridge was built with the help of Germany and the United States. In the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), it was renamed Zhongshan in memory of Dr. Sun Yat-sen. bridge. Today, this iron bridge spans both sides of the Yellow River, linking Lanzhou's main urban area and Baitashan Park on the north bank, with an endless stream of citizens and tourists passing through. In the Jinchengguan Bridge Museum in the north of the bridge, there are a large number of photos tracing the construction process of Zhongshan Bridge in detail. If you are interested, don’t miss it.
Baitashan Park
06:30-20:00
The Baita Temple located in the north of Zhongshan Bridge is said to have been built in the Yuan Dynasty and later destroyed by war. It was rebuilt on its site by Liu Yongcheng, the internal eunuch who guarded Gansu Province in the 13th year of Zhengtong in the Ming Dynasty. Surrounding it are Fayu Temple, Yuanyue Temple, and Sanxing Temple built in the Qing Dynasty. In 1958, architect Ren Zhenying built three more buildings on the mountain, forming today's Baitashan Park. The entire Baitashan Park is about 100 meters high. It takes about 15 minutes to walk to the Baita Temple on the top of the mountain. If you don’t want to climb the mountain, you can take the cable car up the mountain from the pier on the south bank of Zhongshan Bridge (45 yuan for the up trip, 30 yuan for the down trip, 07:00-19 :00)
The white pagoda built in the Ming Dynasty has seven levels and eight sides, with a green roof on top and a pagoda base below. It is about 17 meters high and is a solid brick pagoda. Each corner of each level has an upturned brick-carved small faucet, with a wind chime attached to it, which floats in the wind and makes a clear and crisp sound.
Lanzhou Forest of Steles
09:00-17:00, closed on Mondays, free
This calligraphy stele forest located in Baitashan Park is reached from Baita Temple through the Peony Pavilion and the cableway station. It displays many works of contemporary calligraphers, including Xixia steles and so on. If you don’t intend to climb Gaolan Mountain, the highest peak in Lanzhou, this is also a good angle overlooking Lanzhou city.
Dunhuang Academy
09:30-16:30, closed on Mondays, free
The Mogao Grottoes are undoubtedly the most important historical relics in Gansu and even the entire country, but if you are unable to go there due to travel reasons, the Dunhuang Art Museum located in the Lanzhou Branch of the Dunhuang Academy is a good place to go. The museum uses digital multimedia to extract the best parts of the Mogao Grottoes. Many murals and painted sculptures are 1:1restored, including replicas of Cave 003, Cave 220, Cave 407 and other special caves that require an additional fee. You can also buy many rare ones on the market at the souvenir shop. There are albums and books about the art of Dunhuang Grottoes.
Gaolan Mountain Park
Open all day, free
Want to see Lanzhou City and Loess Plateau at a glance? Gaolan Mountain, located in the south of Lanzhou, is an excellent overlooking place. Santai Pavilion on the top of the mountain is 2129 meters above sea level, making it the highest peak in Lanzhou City. There are three ways to climb Santai Pavilion: It takes about 1 and a half hours to walk up the mountain. The starting point of the climb is outside the east gate of Wuquan Mountain Park. You can reach the second level in 40 minutes by walking up the path Tai Pavilion, from Er Tai Pavilion to Santai Pavilion on the top of the mountain is a continuous trail that can’t be seen to the end, so you need to be mentally prepared. In Wuquan Mountain Park, there is also a cableway going up the mountain (40 yuan for the up trip, 30 yuan for the down trip, running to 16:30), but the cableway is often closed due to low passenger flow . At this time, there will be many "black car" drivers soliciting passengers at the ropeway station. The price is 15-20 yuan/person. The vehicle will take you directly to the parking lot at the top of the mountain. It is recommended to leave the driver's contact information in advance. You get a lot of "discounts". Vehicles going down the mountain will no longer return to Wuquanshan Park, and most drivers will leave you outside Anding Gate.
Zhengning Road Night Market
17:30-02:00 the next day
How can you come to Lanzhou and not experience the famous Zhengning Road Night Market? Food stalls almost exclusively run by Hui people occupy the originally narrow Zhengning Road. The milk and egg glutinous rice dish mentioned in "A Bite of China" is usually the one with the longest queue.
Zhengning Road night market night scene
Food
Needless to say, when you come to Lanzhou, you will not miss beef noodles. Although a thousand Lanzhou people have a thousand bowls of beef noodles, Ma Zilu and Wumule PenghuiIt is still the most familiar store among local citizens. The former is located in Dazhong Alley to the west of the City God's Temple, and the latter is on the north bank of the Yellow River. If you come to Lanzhou to eat beef noodles, you must arrive early. Authentic noodle restaurants close their stalls before 14:00 in the afternoon. A bowl of beef noodles costs 8 yuan. Naturally, there is no beef. An additional portion of beef costs 10 yuan, so you can be generous and frugal.
Lanzhou pays special attention to eating noodlesone clear, two white, three red, four green and five yellow; the soup is clear, the radish is white, the pepper is red, the onion and the garlic are green. After meeting the first four conditions, it comes to the most important part: yellow noodles Bright. In Lanzhou, authentic noodle restaurants will add a substance called Peng Hui, which comes from the alkaline substance (K2CO3, potassium carbonate) produced by burning Peng Hui in the Gobi Desert. Add water to this substance to knead the noodles, gluten. The road is very high. In a noodle shop, after the customer orders noodles, the chef will pull the noodles on the spot. People can choose the shape of the noodles, from round noodles capillary to flat noodles wide . Different shapes are available. With subtle taste differences, this experience is hard to come across outside the Northwest.
In addition to the must-eat beef noodles, the night markets on Zhengning Road and Nanguan Street are also a must-see food destination in Lanzhou. A variety of halal foods are lined up in sequence, such as mutton steamed buns, meat pies, There is a wide variety of lamb offal soup and various types of barbecue skewers. In addition, located behind New World Department Store is also a gourmet restaurant not to be missed in Lanzhou. According to locals, there is nothing bad about this restaurant. Don’t miss their restaurant High-quality stuffed skin and hot winter fruits.
Traffic in the city
Arrival and departure airport
Zhongchuan Airport, which is 75 kilometers away from the main city, may be the farthest airport from the main city in China. The Lanzhou New District where the airport is located is still a little desolate. There are 3 airport bus routes to the main city. The fare is 30 yuan. The whole journey takes about 80-100 minutes. The buses are basically full. The train is a faster way to get into the city than the airport bus. Zhongchuan Intercity Railway Station is located directly opposite the airport arrivals floor. There are about 25 trains to Lanzhou Station and Lanzhou West Railway Station every day, and the price is cheaper than the airport bus.
the bus
The bus fare in Lanzhou is 1-2 yuan, and it supports WeChat and Alipay scan codes to board the bus, which is convenient and fast.
Taxi & Metro
The starting fare for a taxi in Lanzhou is 10 yuan, which basically covers the main attractions in the main urban area. Lanzhou Metro Line 1, which opened in 2019, basically runs through the entire city; Lanzhou West Station, the commercial center Xiguan You can reach West Station, Lanzhou University and other places by subway.
coach
Lanzhou has three main long-distance stations. Among them, Lanzhou Passenger Transport Center , located opposite the railway station, is the largest long-distance passenger station in Lanzhou. It operates buses to the Hexi Corridor, Tianshui, Xining, Yinchuan and other provinces. . At the same time, it is also a tourist distribution center where tourists can find various tour groups that suit them. Lanzhou East Bus Station located at No. 276 Pingliang Road has shuttle buses to Baiyin and parts of the Hexi Corridor. Lanzhou South Bus Station (outside Langgongping) has shuttle buses to Linxia (one bus every half hour) and Xiahe (five buses a day). Tickets can be purchased in advance at the above bus stations through the "Bus365" WeChat article.
Lanzhou Forest of Steles overlooking the city
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