Dangar Ancient City is located in Huangyuan County, Qinghai Province, on the north bank of the Yellow River, on the shore of the West Sea, at the source of the Huangshui River, 40 kilometers away from Xining City.
The ancient city does not charge entrance fees. It is not large in scale but has a long history.
There are many secluded streets and alleys intertwined with longitude and latitude in the ancient city, as well as residential courtyards with unique structures.
The ancient city of Dangar is the tea and horse trading capital. In the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the first "Tea and Horse Mutual Market" on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was established in the Riyue Mountain. In the Song Dynasty, it was the South Silk Road Commercial Route. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the "Tea and Horse Mutual Market" gradually moved from the foot of the Riyue Mountain to the ancient city of Dangar. Chudangar became the largest trading center in the northwest region at that time.
According to historical records, during the Daoguang period of Jiaqing in the Qing Dynasty, the annual trade volume of the "Tea-Horse Mutual Market" reached 2.5 million taels of silver, which was six or seven times more than that in Xining at that time.
Later, merchants and craftsmen from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Shanxi, Sichuan and other places came in droves; Taixing, Renji, Taihe, Yihe, Curie, Ruiji, Mesi, Wari and other eight major cities from Britain, the United States, Russia and other countries Banks set up offices to conduct commercial trade and financial services.
Dangar formed a huge team of "Tibetan merchants (Xijia)" for Sino-Tibetan trade. They traveled to Tibet, Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Tianjin and other places, opening up the road of "Tibetan merchants".
Whenever dusk comes, the light box-style advertising signs with strong ethnic characteristics made on the doors of various shops and foreign companies in the city are brightly lit and attract thousands of viewers. Today's "display of lanterns" is this kind of advertising signboard. The evolution of advertising signs, it can be said that Huangyuan Pai Lamp is the earliest advertising light box in China.
The restoration project of the ancient city has been completed to recreate the former "tea and horse trade" style. The east and west city gates, archways, folk houses, museums, Dangar Hall, foreign trade companies, Confucian Temple, Changyao Poetry Hall, Qiang Flute Music Palace and Performing Arts have been restored and newly built. Main attractions such as the lobby and Huozu Pavilion and more than 600 shops are set up along the street with characters, scenes and other sketches with strong national and regional cultural characteristics. Street and store lighting facilities are all replaced by Huangyuan row lamps.
Various ethnic groups meet and merge here, and various cultures thrive on each other, forming a unique regional culture.
The last night view of the ancient city ends our journey today
Although the ancient city of Dangar is not famous, it has a long history. Friends who like history can come and taste it !