2024 Linxia Travel Guide: Must-see attractions, popular food, hotels, transportation routes (updated in September)

Self-driving in Gansu, Linxia City has a garden worth visiting

That is Hongyuan, which combines the local ethnic architectural features of Linxia with the style of Jiangnan gardens. It is very unique, and friends traveling to Linxia can come here to take a look. ❶ Suitable for photography Walking in Hongyuan, you can see carved beams and painted buildings, pavilions, and towers everywhere. At first glance, it looks like a Jiangnan garden, but you can also find ethnic characteristics in the details, making it very suitable for tourists to take photos and check in. We found that Hongyuan is a popular spot for photography in the area. ❷ Local livelihood Hongyuan is also a good place for local people to relax. If you want to understand the local livelihood, you can also go to Hongyuan. We found an interesting life scene: the local people like to keep pets, and the favorite pet is the Call Duck. During our two-hour stroll in Hongyuan, we saw several friends walking their ducks in the park. ❸ Nearby attractions Nearby Hongyuan in Linxia City, there are also places worth visiting such as Bafang Thirteen Alleys and Linxia Prefecture Museum. Especially the museum, which is a special museum for painted pottery, displaying many rare and exquisite pieces of Majiayao painted pottery. 🚙 Practical tips for self-driving tours 📱 Navigation: Set "Hongyuan". 🛣️ Road conditions: Urban roads, good road conditions. 🅿️ Parking: There is a parking lot next to Hongyuan. ⛽ Fuel and electricity: Refueling or charging is available in urban areas. ⏳ Time: It is recommended to arrange about two hours to visit Hongyuan. ▶️ All photos are originally taken and produced by Mr. Dog and Caicai Juaner. ▶️ The above content is summarized based on personal travel experience. Please forgive any omissions. ▶️ Due to the timeliness, some scenes may change, subject to the current situation. 🔸🔹🔸 Follow Caicai Juaner and Mr. Dog on a self-driving tour to deeply explore niche travel destinations.

Countryside Grand Garden∽∽Charming Zheqiao Bay

In the beautiful new countryside full of vitality, with faint green hills, winding summer rivers, and blooming flowers, there are spacious and clean rainbow roads, exquisite and quiet small courtyards, and delicious new dishes... Zheqiao Bay is transforming the rural landscape with greenery, livability, and gourmet food.

Linxia East Mansion

On August 13th, I visited the Linxia East Mansion. The mansion was initially built in 1938 and completed in 1945, taking 8 years to finish. This mansion was the residence of Ma Buqing, the deputy commander of the 40th Group Army of the former Nationalist Party, located at No. 35, East Ring Road, Linxia City, Gansu Province. Ma Buqing sent his family back to his hometown Linxia due to the Japanese bombing of the rear area and began large-scale construction of this mansion. On August 22, 1949, Linxia was liberated, and the East Mansion was taken over by a unit of the First Field Army of the People's Liberation Army. The headquarters of Wang Zhen's army was stationed here before advancing to Qinghai. The East Mansion combines Chinese and Western architectural styles. The main entrance is a Western-style building with four Roman columns and a central Roman arch gate. Above the facade are eight carved vases, symbolizing the wish for peace from all directions. The buildings in the courtyard feature both traditional Chinese elements, such as brick carvings, wood carvings, and paintings, and Western elements, such as Roman columns, reflecting the perfect combination of various ethnic architectural arts. The brick carvings of the East Mansion are indeed famous, known as the 'Grand View Garden of Brick Carvings.' There are currently 189 brick carvings in the entire courtyard, each with its unique characteristics, innovative ideas, vivid shapes, delicate craftsmanship, and exquisite techniques. The brick carving patterns vividly express the charm of Chinese landscape painting, making them a masterpiece.

Gansu Linxia Oriental Wheat!

Gansu Linxia! Oriental wheat plus, pure halal taste At first, I came to Linxia just for a bite of authentic hand-grabbed mutton But after entering this city, we were pleasantly surprised and found it different from the ordinary Hui town we imagined Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, with its rich Islamic style, mosques and Islamic architecture can be seen everywhere in the city, and the streets are filled with the aroma of beef and mutton Every brick and tile of Bafang Thirteen Alleys Tells the long history and legendary stories of this city.

Greetings from Linxia, where the Red Garden is most remembered

The slowly falling leaves, the shortening of the days, and the gentle change in temperature all seem to remind us that it's time to slow down and experience the healing lifestyle within Linxia city, beyond its bustling fireworks. Bridges over flowing water, walls of pink and tiles of black, historical sites and famous gardens; gardens have always been a place where people yearn to dwell. In the secluded paths, invite a few old friends, sip a cup of tea, discuss the classics, admire the flowers, smell the fragrance and converse. How free and elegant it is! When searching for the traces of gardens in Linxia, one must visit the Red Garden. The Red Garden, one of the treasures of classical Chinese gardens, is located at the foot of Taizi Mountain on the banks of the Daxia River in the western suburbs of Linxia City. As an ancient calling card of Linxia, it has attracted numerous tourists over the years and holds many memories for the people of Linxia. Listen to a melodious ancient tune, seek a glimpse of the scenes from 'Dream of the Red Chamber' under the halo of light and vast misty waves. The Red Garden's scenery is rendered with tender flowing water, connecting pavilions, towers, small bridges, and elegant gardens. It possesses the charming scenery of the water towns of the south of the Yangtze River, with the typical garden style of the Jiangnan region flowing through the Red Garden.

Linxia City... A historic small city where the Hui people live together.

Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, also known as Linxia Prefecture for short, was historically called Hezhou and Baoan. It is an autonomous prefecture under Gansu Province, geographically located in the middle of Gansu Province and the upper reaches of the Yellow River. It is one of the two Hui autonomous prefectures nationwide and one of the two ethnic autonomous prefectures in Gansu Province, established in November 1956. To the north of the prefecture is Lanzhou City, to the south is Gannan Prefecture, to the east is Dingxi City, and to the west is Haidong City. As of 2020, the prefecture comprises one city and seven counties, with a total area of 8,169 square kilometers, a registered population of 2,422,000, and a resident population of 2,071,400, of which the urban population is 767,300. The Han population accounts for about 40% of the total, while the Hui population accounts for about 32%. The prefectural government is located in Linxia City.

Winter's Eight Directions and Thirteen Alleys

The Eight Directions and Thirteen Alleys is a national AAAA-rated tourist attraction located in the city of Liang, with no admission fee. The alleys of the Eight Directions and Thirteen Alleys in Tangna originate from an ancient street during the Tang Dynasty, named for the eight temples located within the thirteen interconnected streets, forming eight intersections, hence the name. The Hui people of Linxia City are referred to as the 'People of the Eight Directions.' Beisi was built at the end of the Ming Dynasty and is the only temple within the Eight Directions and Thirteen Alleys that has remained intact without being destroyed. The other seven temples were burned down by the Nationalist Army in 1928, and from 1933 over the next few years, Muslims in the temple street donated to rebuild them, which were then demolished in 1968 and reconstructed in the 1980s. The thirteen alleys intersect with each other, spreading out in all directions. Walking there, one can hear the endless sound of chanting from afar. Each temple has several classrooms. In addition to the temples, there are folk museums and other museums in the alleys.

Hezhou Clay Sculpture Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor Chang Tianping Exhibition Hall

The Hezhou Clay Sculpture Intangible Cultural Heritage Inheritor Chang Tianping Exhibition Hall is located inside the Donggong Mansion in Linxia. 🌟 Highlights: Intangible Cultural Heritage Clay Sculpture 👍 Most recommended: Lifelike childhood and agricultural culture sculptures. 📍 Detailed address: Donggong Mansion 🕙 Business hours: 8.00-17.30 💰 Average cost: Free

The twin trading towns of the Silk Road and the Ancient Tea Horse Road

Linxia got its name because there is a big Daxia River nearby, as well as the Tao River. Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, with its Eight Squares and Thirteen Alleys, is truly a twin trading town of the Silk Road and the Ancient Tea Horse Road. Look, if there were no Central Asian traditions, how could there be so many carpet merchants? There are also sellers of Varanasi silk from India. The yellow Tao River flows into the green Yellow River, located a bit upstream of the Liujiaxia Dam in Yongjing County, Linxia City, Gansu Province, where the Yellow River starts to turn yellow. Returning to the Liujiaxia Dam, one can take a boat to the Bingling Temple Grottoes. 'Bingling' means the residence of a hundred thousand Maitreya Buddhas in Tibetan. Bingling Temple is listed in the Silk Road's World Cultural Heritage.

Linxia's Eight Blocks and Thirteen Alleys exude the lively atmosphere of an ancient Hui district

🍁 Returning from Gannan to Lanzhou, passing through Linxia City, one must stroll through the ancient streets with Hui ethnic charm—Eight Blocks and Thirteen Alleys. 🍁 The entire street architecture is like entering a 'Grand View Garden' of ethnic architectural art. The area is very clean and well-organized, with each street having its corresponding name. There are a total of eight mosques here. From the Tang Dynasty to the present, around the eight mosques, eight teaching blocks and thirteen streets and alleys have formed, historically known as Eight Blocks and Thirteen Alleys. 🍁 The whole alleyway is interconnected with many gates, integrating Hui brick carving, Han wood carving, and Tibetan painting, among other multi-ethnic cultures, all of which can be presented in this alley. It turns out that the Northwest also has gentle and delicate ancient streets and courtyards. 🍁 There are also many delicacies in the alley, the yak yogurt is very tasty, with a layer of milk fat that is golden and shiny on top. There is also traditional milk cake with a particularly strong milky flavor, which I personally think is a great value. 🍁 Linxia, known as the 'Little Mecca of China', is filled with mosques everywhere. The mosques here often use a perfect combination of ancient Chinese architecture and mosque design, which is unique and completely different from mosque architecture in other places. And the mosques in Linxia's Eight Blocks and Thirteen Alleys are the most concentrated!

Linxia

Although I didn't stay in Linxia for a long time during the summer vacation, and only made a brief stop at Ba Fang and Shi San Xiang, the journey along the way was really fascinating. Everyone must go and see this beautiful Gansu when you have the chance.

A combination of Chinese and Western styles in the mansion of a wealthy family in the northwest (Linxia)

This building, which took eight years to construct, consumed a lot of energy and financial resources of the Ma family. However, after it was completed, it was not used much before it was returned to our party, oh no, it was returned to the people Of course, it is precisely because of the red mark brought by General Wang Zhen that this building has been preserved. The Donggong Mansion is famous for its brick carvings and wood carvings. Hezhou brick carvings originated in the Northern Song Dynasty and are representative of the brick carving decoration craftsmanship of Chinese Islamic architecture. They are known for their exquisite and delicate techniques, with round and semi-round carvings highlighting the theme and relief carvings as a contrast. The grape climbing picture on the screen wall at the entrance, the river and mountain dotting picture in the courtyard, and the double bottle peony door are all rare brick carving masterpieces, and the entire courtyard has 189 brick carvings of various shapes However, the wood carvings are much inferior to the brick carvings, and there is a big gap with some Shanxi guild halls and temples in the mainland, so everyone should take a good look at the brick carvings In fact, in addition to brick carvings, the combination of Chinese and Western architectural styles and ethnic characteristics and local customs are also unique here Finally, let's talk about some interesting places. The main entrance is a typical Western-style door architecture, similar to the Arc de Triomphe of the Junshi Dante Fort. The colored glass hanging on it was purchased from Germany at a heavy price. After eighty years of wind and rain, it is still dazzling The main building, the Tongtian Tower, was absolutely huge in its time, consisting of 24 pillars. This kind of timber was specially transported from the Northeast, and it was made of high-quality red pine. After soaking, it was wrapped in white cloth, and it would not rot or get insects for a long time But it is not officially open at the moment, and it is empty inside The Donggong Mansion and the Butterfly Building are not together, they are two or three kilometers apart, and the Butterfly Building is not open All the building ridges here are different from the Han-style architectural style. The shapes here are more abstract. According to the staff, this is derived from the Islamic faith, and it is not allowed to carve specific animal shapes, nor can it highlight gender (I really don't understand this ) Hezhou peony is quite famous, and the color, quality, and scale of the peony in the Donggong Mansion are not inferior to any peony garden. There are many varieties, including local varieties and those transplanted from Luoyang and Heze. It is more characteristic and more ornamental to enjoy peonies in the ancient courtyard. But you have to come before May to enjoy it Finally, I would like to thank an unnamed staff member in the museum, a Hui beauty, who took the initiative to enthusiastically introduce and explain to us. It can be seen that she really loves this land and architecture, and hopes that more people will understand the culture and customs here

Once the snow falls here, it turns into a poem | Dujiangyan City God Temple

⛩ The City God Temple was built in the Ming Dynasty, located at Yulei Mountain The original meaning of the city god is the ancient city wall and moat When the ancients encountered difficulties, they would go to the City God Temple to pray for the blessing of the gods It is a place for spiritual sustenance It was burned down in the third year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1877 AD) Rebuilt the following year, and was repaired around 1940 Its temple design style is unique, built according to the slope terrain, It is a Taoist ancient building with Taoist philosophical thoughts . 📍Detailed address: Songmao Ancient Road, Guanxian Ancient City, Dujiangyan City . 🈺️Opening hours: 7:30-18:00 . 🚗Travel strategy: 1⃣️Self-driving navigation to "Guanxian Ancient City Parking Point"; 2⃣️Take the high-speed rail from Xipu to Lidui Park and walk. . ✨Practical tips: 1⃣️There are City God Hall, Niangniang Hall, Guanyin Hall, God of Wealth Hall, etc. in the temple; 2⃣️In addition to the city god in the City God Hall, there are ten statues such as Niu Tou Ma Mian, Hei Bai Wuchang, etc., and you can buy agate with words at the door of the hall, and string them into bracelets to take home; 3⃣️Seeing a straight ladder with symmetrical buildings on both sides is the Ten Halls, with overlapping eaves, very unique; 4⃣️Under the mountain is Guanxian Ancient City, where you can taste local food. .

Hometown of Colored Pottery (Linxia)

Linxia is known as the "Hometown of Colored Pottery". Among all the colored pottery cultures discovered in China, the proportion of Majiayao culture colored pottery is the highest. Linxia is one of the most concentrated areas of China's Neolithic culture and one of the most excavated areas. It is a treasure trove of Majiayao culture. The National Museum has a piece known as the "King of Colored Pottery", a vortex-patterned colored pottery pot, which was unearthed in Sanping Site, Jishishan County, Linxia Prefecture Linxia Prefecture Museum and Linxia Prefecture Colored Pottery Museum are in the same place. The former name here is China Majiayao Colored Pottery Museum, which is a national museum. The museum is very new, with advanced exhibition level and hardware facilities. The types of exhibits are not very rich, with colored pottery and goldware as the main attractions. The exhibition hall has two floors, the first floor is all colored pottery, through the Majiayao type, Bianjialin type, Banshan type, Machang type (on the second floor) four sequences, fully and systematically shows the deep historical background and brilliant artistic charm of China's Majiayao culture colored pottery. It's hard to believe that the ancestors had such high aesthetics and creativity four or five thousand years ago, those smooth lines exude a unique beauty The types of exhibits are quite rich, many of which are really hard to understand what they are used for, and there are many ancestral vessels In addition to the Machang type colored pottery exhibition on the second floor, there are also Qijia culture and some other goldware, porcelain, calligraphy and painting, etc. Among them, the goldware exhibits are surprisingly many, many exhibits are very exquisitely shaped, worth a look It is a very good thematic museum. Due to geographical reasons, there are not many tourists visiting, but if you come to Linxia, you must come and see

Fortunately, I was fortunate to be invited by the China National Tourism Administration. As a promotion guest of the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture in the three districts and three states to help the poor, I shared the human history and eating, drinking and fun in Linxia. Yesterday, the team that accompanied the China Self-driving Tour Group came to Linxia again. Accompanied by the Tourism Bureau and the TV station, they visited the Eight Squares and 13th Lanes, which preserved the original multi-ethnic characteristics, and were amazing. Linxia brick carving, once again feel the profoundness of Chinese culture, and I sincerely hope that everyone can come to Linxia to experience.