Recalling the glory of the past, watching desert sculptures, visiting Ruian Manor, climbing the top of the Horseshoe Temple, tasting the scenery of Salt Lake, watching Yadan on the water, bravely exploring no-man’s land, exploring the secrets of Hara Lake, and getting close to the Snow Mountain.
1. Travel route: Depart from Shijiazhuang, pass through Bayannaoer, Minqin, Zhangye, Xining, Chaka, Delingha, Lanzhou, Xi’an, and return to Shijiazhuang.
2. From June 7th to June 18th, 2019, a total of 12 days.
3. Mileage: 6455 km.
4. Main attractions:
The first scenic spot: the old site of aerospace measurement and control
The second attraction: Minqin Desert Sculpture Garden
The third attraction: Ryan Manor
The fourth scenic spot: Horseshoe Temple in Zhangye
The fifth scenic spot: Chaka Salt Lake
The sixth attraction: Yadan on the water
The seventh scenic spot: Deling Hala Lake
Minqin Desert Sculpture Garden
I have seen many kinds of art sculptures, but Minqin people have created a huge desert sculpture park in the desert. Using the beautiful desert resources here, placing the sculptures in front of such a natural canvas has formed a distinctive The comparison is very interesting.
Through the technique of sculpture, the characteristics of the Minqin desert region can be communicated to the outside world. Such desert sculptures can be said to be rare in the world. Whenever people mention the desert in Minqin, they will think of this desert park.
There are currently 26 pieces of works on display, which are completed by foreign and domestic artists. There are detailed introductions carved on the slate in front of the works.
The second mansion in the Northwest surrounded by the desert – Fort Ryan
Minqin County, Gansu Province, located in the northeast of the Hexi Corridor, is an oasis surrounded by the Tengger Desert and the Badain Jaran Desert. Sandstorms have been raging here for many years, and the land is sparsely populated. In recent years, it has become famous for its rich production of Yellow River melons and Daban melon seeds.
However, there is a remote and unique landscape hidden in this remote place – Ruianbao, which is located in Sandao Village, Sanlei Township, 3.5 kilometers south of Minqin County. It was built in 1938 and cost 100,000 yuan. It is now a national key cultural relics protection unit and a folk museum of Minqin.
Rui’an Fort is 90 meters long from north to south, 57 meters wide from east to west, and the fort wall is 10 meters high. One, it is large in scale, magnificent in architecture, unique in design, and beautiful in workmanship. It can be called a “desert mansion”. Its construction area and courtyard scale are far smaller than that of Mizhi Jiang’s Manor, which is known as “the first mansion in Northwest China”, and can be called “the second mansion in Northwest China”.
Different from Jiang’s Manor, countless secret tunnels were built in Rui’an Fort. It is not so much a private mansion as a defensive fortress. The combined unique style is a rare and unique landscape in Northwest China.
Travel Tips: The museum is closed for meetings on Monday morning, and it is open at other times, 8.30-12.00 in the morning and 2.30-6.00 in the afternoon. Tickets: 30 yuan.
On holidays, there are buses operating in all scenic spots in Minqin County.
View of Fort Ryan from an altitude of 1860 meters
Town house brick carvings in Fort Ryan
Finally understand the meaning of dragon flying phoenix dance
firing hole
firing hole
firing hole
Calligraphy of Wang Qingyun
Horseshoe Temple Grottoes
Mati Temple Grottoes is located in Sunan Yugu Autonomous County, Gansu Province. It is a tourist area integrating grotto art, Qilian Mountain scenery and Yugur customs. The Masti Temple Grottoes are composed of Shengguo Temple, Puguang Temple, Thousand Buddha Cave, Jinta Temple, Upper, Middle and Lower Guanyin Caves. There are more than 70 caves and niches in total. They were first built in Beiliang.
The Horseshoe Temple got its name from the legendary horseshoe prints left by the heavenly horses drinking water here. The legendary horseshoe prints are now preserved in the Horseshoe Hall of Puguang Temple and become the treasure of the town temple.
The Horseshoe Temple was built in Beiliang during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It is more than 1600 years ago. It belongs to the Qinghai Dongkeer Temple of the Gelug Sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Since the temple was built, the incense has been extremely prosperous. The number of monks can reach more than 1,000, and there are still more than 50 monks in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, which shows the glory of the Horseshoe Temple in history.
Due to the change of dynasties and the continuous flames of war, most of the original large-scale buildings of the Horseshoe Temple were destroyed in the war, including the Golden Pagoda Temple, Thousand Buddha Caves, North and South Horseshoe Temples, Guanyin Cave and many grottoes.
The Mati Temple was destroyed again during the ten-year turbulent Cultural Revolution. Not only the grottoes, murals, and Buddha statues in the temple were almost destroyed, but also the buildings outside the grottoes were completely gone. Most of the Thirty-three Days Grottoes, Horseshoe Print Grottoes, Tibetan Buddha Hall Grottoes, Shengguo Temple, and Thousand Buddha Cave Grottoes in the Horseshoe Temple were mostly restored after the reform and opening up. Most of the Hall and the Hall of Pharmacists are old sites from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, which is really a blessing among misfortunes.
Although these palaces and pavilions have been attacked by wind and rain for a hundred years, they still stand majestically on the Baizhang cliff. People can’t help but marvel at the excellent architectural skills of the ancients, giving people a huge visual and spiritual shock. Many cultural relics such as the Manjusri Bodhisattva’s sword, the dragon robe of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, and the saddle of Emperor Qianlong make people sigh the vicissitudes of history and the glory of the Horseshoe Temple.
Tip: There is a large area of road construction near the Horseshoe Temple, which needs to be detoured, but there are no road signs.
Chaka Salt Lake
Chaka (qiǎ) Salt Lake is located in Chaka Town, Wulan County, Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Chaka Town is located at the intersection of National Highway 109 and National Highway 315. It is an important station on the ancient Silk Road. It is 298 kilometers away from the provincial capital Xining in the east and 200 kilometers away from the state capital Delingha in the west. It is known as the east gate of Qaidam. It is the only place for businessmen and tourists to enter Xinjiang and Tibet.
Chaka Salt Lake is located in the Qaidam Basin, sandwiched between Wanyan Tongbu Mountain, a branch of Qilian Mountains, and Wanggaxiu Mountain, a branch of Kunlun Mountains. The lake is 3,100 meters above sea level, 15.8 kilometers long from east to west, and 9.2 kilometers wide from north to south. With an area of 105 square kilometers, it is equivalent to 16 West Lakes in Hangzhou.
The formation of the salt lake is due to crustal movement. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau used to be part of the ocean. After long-term crustal movement, this piece of land was lifted and became the highest plateau in the world. As a result, seawater remained in some low-lying areas and formed many salt lakes and lakes. , Chaka Salt Lake is one of them, the salt in Chaka Lake is almost endless, because the rain will bring more salt down from the surrounding mountains.
The annual rainfall here is small, but the evaporation is particularly severe, so this salt lake with extremely high salt content can be formed. Different from other salt lakes, Chaka Salt Lake is inlaid in the snow-capped mountains and grasslands instead of the Gobi Desert. It is called the “mirror of the sky” in China by travelers.
Yadan on the water
There are many Yardang landforms in the northwest, but there are very few Yardangs formed on the water. Duck Lake, which is about 220 kilometers away from Dachaidan and 877 kilometers away from National Highway 315, is an extremely rare Yardang landform on the water in the world. Because there are few tourists here, it is still shrouded in mystery.
Water Yardang is a rare Yardang landform in the world. Due to the rise of the water level of Dongtai Jinel Lake and West Taiji Naier Lake, the water surface gradually expanded and flooded to the Yardang Group on the northern edge of it. Many Yardang Groups were soaked in the vast lake water. , forming a unique Yadan on the water, just like a piece of “ocean” floating out of the endless desert, and Yadan stands above this ocean, magical and mysterious, more like countless giant battleships sailing out to sea in the wind, invincible !
At different times of the day, you can see the magnificent natural beauty. From the morning glow to the sunset, the sun shining on the Yadan on the water is like a dream, and the reflection of the stone pillars and hills feels like a dream. In mid-air, like a magic castle suspended in the air, it is simply beautiful! Here, you can find the aircraft carrier Liaoning, and you can use your imagination to name large surface ships such as 055 large drive and nuclear submarines.
Lake Harrah
The Mongolian language of Hara Lake is Haranaur, which means black lake, so it is also called Black Sea. It is the second largest lake in Qinghai, with an area of 593 square kilometers and an altitude of 4077 meters. It is a plateau saltwater lake. The hinterland is uninhabited and little known.
Hala Lake is a large saltwater lake in the inland basin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. In the high mountains of the Qilian Mountains, except for a small amount of aquatic plants in the valleys, which can be used for short-term use by nomads in summer, the rest of the area cannot be used by humans.
Hala Lake is a place with rich water and grass in the hinterland of Qilian Mountains. The basin area of Lake Hara is nearly 4,800 square kilometers, surrounded by snow-capped mountains and glaciers. The glacier area is 89 square kilometers, the glacier reserves are about 5 billion cubic meters, the annual glacier melt water is 65 million cubic meters, and the annual precipitation is more than 200 millimeters. 16 short seasonal rivers.
Tuanjie Peak, 5,826 meters above sea level, is the main peak of the Qilian Mountains, the highest peak on the border between Gansu and Qinghai provinces, and the highest point of the watershed between the upper reaches of the Shule River Valley and the Hala Lake Basin. The surface is widely covered with ice and snow, the snow line is as high as 4,400 meters above, and there are large modern glaciers.
The entrance coordinates of the scenic spot: 38°10′56.410″ north, 97°35′48.005″ east
