Things to do in Huining

Huining Red Army Meeting Site

The former site of Huining Huishi of the Red Army is located in the center of the county, covering an area of 42,600 square meters. It is a national key cultural relics protection unit, one of the first 100 patriotic education demonstration bases in the country, one of the first 50 national integrity education bases, and one of the national key cultural relics protection units. Safety education base and national defense education base, national primary and secondary school student research and practice education base. In October 1936, the First, Second, and Fourth Fronts of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army joined forces in Huining, Gansu Province. It was a sign of the victory of the Long March, a forward position in the national war of resistance, a model of great unity of revolutionary forces, and a turning point for the Chinese revolution to victory.

Red Army Long March Victory Memorial Hall

The Huining Red Army Long March Victory Memorial Hall is a thematic memorial hall with the theme of commemorating the great historical event of the Red Army's three main forces successfully meeting in Huining and the victory of the Long March. It is the only memorial hall in the country that fully reflects the history of the Red Army's Long March. After its completion in October 2006, it became another landmark building in the Red Army Huining Meeting Site. The design and construction of the Huining Red Army Long March Victory Memorial Hall combines antique and modern architecture. The layout is centered on the Meeting Tower and the Meeting Building is a reference. It is located on the left side of the Red Army Huining Meeting Site. The main body of the memorial hall is a two-story, partially three-story, semi-underground frame structure.

Garden of Victory of Red Army's Long March

No. 1 of Best Things to Do in Ningxia

Shapotou Scenic Area

The scenic spot is located 16 kilometers west of Zhongwei City, Ningxia, on the southeastern edge of the Tengger Desert. The scenic spot has successively won honors such as "the first batch of national 5A-level tourist attractions", "the top 500 global environmental protection units", and "the first batch of national tourism standardization demonstration units". The three major cultural elements of the scenic area include the "Yellow River Culture" based on the intangible cultural heritage sheepskin rafts, the "Desert Culture" based on straw grids and Desert Legend Park, and the "Starry Sky Culture" based on the Desert Star Hotel. The tourism resources of these three elements have created a unique and magnificent landscape of "sunset over the long river and starry sky in the desert". The "six major ways to play" are highly praised and loved by tourists. Among them, the Yellow River projects include sheepskin rafting, Huangtengda, Yellow River speedboat, drift boat, passionate sandboarding and high-altitude bungee jumping, etc. The desert projects include Desert Camel, Desert Flying (Stepping into the Blue Clouds), and Sand Sea. Surfing, etc., starry sky projects include stargazing lectures, meteor feasts, sand therapy experiences, star cakes and other special products. In addition, there are also privately customized products for hiking, desert expansion, and educational and entertaining study experiences. The scenic area not only has diverse cultural elements and fun project experiences, but also multi-level accommodation experiences waiting for you: the butler-style Diamond Hotel, the quiet Desert Star Hotel for stargazing, the quiet Yellow River Courtyard in the bustling city, and finally the economical and affordable business-style Tourist Service Center Hotel and other differentiated tourist accommodations for you to choose from.

zhong guo gong nong hong jun di yi er si fang mian jun hui shi ji nian ta

No. 1 of Family-friendly Attractions in Gansu

Lanzhou Danxia Geological Park

Lanzhou Danxia Geological Park is a key cultural tourism project in Gansu Province and a comprehensive cultural tourism initiative prioritized by the Lanzhou Municipal Committee and Government. Located by the Yellow River, the park is just 13 km from downtown Lanzhou and 30 km from Lanzhou Zhongchuan International Airport, making it one of the closest Danxia landform clusters to a major urban center in China. With a total planned area of 400 sq km and a core visiting area of 25 sq km in its first phase, it ranks among the largest discovered landscapes of its kind in the country. The park primarily features red mountain bay formations, along with spectacular Danxia cliffs, isolated peaks, secluded valleys, narrow gorges, and balancing rocks. Its colorful mountains set against winding waterways create a masterpiece of Danxia landform scenery. The attraction features seven viewing platforms showcasing the Danxia landforms: Silk Road Glow, Silk Road Eagle, Flying Apsaras Exploration, Nine-Colored Danxia, Danxia Reflecting Sky, Emerald Peaks Rippling Sky, and Danxia Summit Scenic View. It also includes the Ancient Silk Road Gateway, Shajing Tribe Cultural Square, Desert Bells Scenic Boulevard, and a 2,550m Danxia boardwalk viewing area. As a key cultural tourism project in the province, Lanzhou Danxia Geological Park adheres to the principles of "ecological protection, green development, preserving original features, and moderate development." Leveraging Lanzhou's unique resource advantages and focusing on the domestic tourism market, it aims to cultivate new growth drivers for Lanzhou's cultural tourism industry and establish a new highland for cultural tourism in the city.

Huining Nanchuan Red Army Village Tourist Scenic Area

No. 1 of Night Attractions in Gansu

Zha Ga Na

Zha Ga Na, also known as Zha Ga La, is located in Yiwa Town, Diebu County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. In Tibetan, the name means "stone box." Surrounding limestone cliffs enclose the area like natural city walls, and Tibetan-style wooden houses are arranged in tiers along the slopes, forming a unique stone-city Tibetan village view. In the 1920s, the Austrian-American botanist and explorer Joseph Rock visited and stayed here many times, marveling that it resembled "the birthplace of Adam and Eve." Zha Ga Na consists of four natural villages arranged sequentially from bottom to top—Dongwa Village, Yeri Village, Dari Village, and Daiba Village—connected by a winding road. At the entrance of Dongwa Village at the foot of the mountain stands a massive rock known as the Great Stone Gate, and the small hillside beside it is a vantage point for capturing low-angle panoramic shots of the village built along the mountain. At the higher elevation of the village sits Lasang Temple, a Gelug Tibetan Buddhist monastery originally built during the Shunzhi era of the Qing Dynasty, with its assembly hall and Guanyin Hall nestled among the rocky peaks. Following the road upward to Yeri Village, Tibetan villagers can often be seen working in the open highland barley fields nearby, and the village also has a "Rock's Cabin" homestay where visitors can stay. Continuing upward past Dari Village, there is a viewing platform with an expansive field of view that overlooks the entire village and the full face of the cliff behind it—the ancient wooden roofs and earthen-wall buildings are clearly layered within the surrounding precipices, making it an ideal spot for panoramic photography. In the early morning, clouds and mist often swirl among the cliffs, while at night the sky is filled with brilliant stars—two of the most recognizable natural scenes here. A walk of about one hour up the mountain behind Dongwa Village leads to a hilltop temple, and the Tibetan-style houses passed along the way retain traditional mortise-and-tenon wooden structures. There is another hiking route of about two days behind the mountain leading to stone forests and alpine lakes, with pristine scenery along the way, suitable for outdoor enthusiasts; it requires one night of camping, and you can rent a horse in the village and hire a groom to guide the way.

No. 2 of Family-friendly Attractions in Gansu

Gansu Provincial Museum

Gansu Provincial Museum is a large comprehensive museum centered on the civilization of the Silk Road. Located at a strategic point along the Silk Road and a convergence zone of Han and Tibetan cultures, its collections embody the diverse characteristics of the Central Plains, Western Regions, and the Tibetan Plateau. The three treasured artifacts—the Galloping Bronze Horse, the mural brick of a courier, and the painted pottery vase with a human-head-shaped mouth—serve as iconic representations of the museum. The museum has three floors, featuring permanent exhibitions on themes such as the civilization of the Silk Road, Buddhist art of Gansu, painted pottery of Gansu, paleontological fossils, and revolutionary Gansu. The Silk Road civilization exhibition on the second floor is the museum's centerpiece: the bronze galloping horse unearthed in 1969 from the Leitai Han tomb in Wuwei is displayed here. The horse has three hooves in the air and one stepping on a flying bird, standing steadily on a single hoof. Its image is now the symbol of Chinese tourism. In the same hall, the mural brick depicting a courier from the Wei-Jin tombs in Jiayuguan shows a messenger galloping on horseback, notably without a mouth, symbolizing the need for couriers to "keep their mouths shut." This pattern was later adopted as the emblem of China Post. The exhibition also features a procession of chariots and horses excavated from the same tomb as the bronze horse, along with Han and Tang dynasty silk textiles, gold and silver artifacts, making the prosperity of Silk Road trade vividly tangible. The Buddhist art exhibition hall on the third floor features replicas of caves from the Mogao Grottoes and Maijishan Grottoes, alongside statues, ritual objects, white pagodas, and prayer wheels from both Han and Tibetan Buddhism. Stepping into the hall feels like entering a temple, and this harmonious blend of Han and Tibetan styles is rarely seen elsewhere. On the same floor, the painted pottery exhibition showcases ceramics from cultures such as Dadiwan, Yangshao, and Majiayao, with intricate and fluid patterns like spiral and sawtooth designs. Among them, the painted pottery bottle with a human-head-shaped spout unearthed at Dadiwan in Qin'an, which integrates facial sculpture with the pottery vessel, is a highly popular exhibit. If you're interested in natural history, the paleontological fossils exhibition hall features the impressive skeleton of the Yellow River ancient elephant unearthed in Heshui, and the dinosaur fossils and reconstructed models are also popular with children. The revolutionary Gansu exhibition hall showcases historical artifacts and materials from periods such as the Nanliang base area and the Shaan-Gan-Ning border region, narrating the modern history of this land. The museum houses a large quantity of exhibits, and even a quick tour would take half a day. It's recommended to start with the Silk Road exhibition on the second floor, then proceed to the third floor for Buddhist art and painted pottery, following a logical route. In the exhibition halls, you can scan to listen to the audio guide, and at certain times, volunteers also provide guided explanations.

No. 12 of Fall Viewing Attractions in Gansu

Maijishan Scenic Area

The Maijishan Scenic Area is located in the southeast of Tianshui, Gansu Province, within the Xiaolong Mountain forest area of the western Qinling range. A ridge extending from southwest to northeast separates the Wei River, a tributary of the Yellow River, from the Jialing River, a tributary of the Yangtze, placing them to the north and south respectively. The northern mountains boast majestic peaks, while the southern streams are serene and picturesque, blending both temperaments within the same landscape. The entire attraction comprises five major sections: the Maijishan Cave-Temple Complex, Xianren Cliff, Shimen Mountain, Quxi, and Jieting Hot Springs, with over 180 attractions scattered across more than 200 square km of forested terrain. Ancient Qinzhou scenes like "Maiji mist and rain," "immortals offering lanterns," "night moon at Shimen," and "pine waves in pure land" all originate from these mountains. The core of the attraction is the Maijishan Cave-Temple Complex, renowned alongside the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, and the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang as one of China's four great cave-temple complexes. Maiji Mountain is an isolated peak in the Xiaolong range, named for its resemblance to a farmer's wheat stack. Its sheer red cliffs—over 100 m high on the eastern, western, and southern sides—are densely honeycombed with caves, connected by tiered aerial walkways spiraling upward to the Upper Seven-Buddha Pavilion, colloquially called "Sanhua Tower," where railings frame panoramic views of forested peaks. First excavated during the Later Qin period of the Sixteen Kingdoms, the complex saw continuous construction for over 1,600 years through the Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, and up to the Ming and Qing dynasties. With over 200 surviving caves and 10,000 clay and stone sculptures, it's hailed as the "Oriental Sculpture Gallery." Particularly lifelike are the life-sized round sculptures, including the smiling novice monk in Cave 133, celebrated as the "Oriental Smile." When rain clears during summer and fall, mist coils around the cliffs, veiling the grottoes in ethereal beauty—a spectacle enshrined as "Maiji mist and rain" among the Eight Views of Qinzhou. The other areas each have their own highlights: Xianren Cliff, located over 10 km from the grottoes, consists of three cliffs, five peaks, and six temples. The halls beneath the cliffs preserve nearly 200 statues dating back to the Northern Wei dynasty, and with the lake reflecting the red cliffs, the old scene of "immortals offering lanterns" has been passed down to this day. Shimen Mountain features a granite peak forest landscape and is known as "Little Huangshan." Juxian Bridge spans the north and south peaks, and on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the bright moon hangs right over the bridge, creating the "night moon at Shimen" scene. Quxi is hidden deep in the Xiaolong Mountain forest, where a stream winds through nine bends, featuring small bridges and flowing water—a secluded spot full of wild charm. The hot spring water in Jieting Ancient Town maintains a temperature of about 40 degrees year-round. The ancient town is said to be related to the Three Kingdoms allusion of "losing Jieting" and also preserves traces of Du Fu's stay in Qinzhou, making it a perfect place to soak and relax after touring the mountains and waters. The major areas are spaced 10 to over 20 km apart, so it's recommended to plan your itinerary priorities in advance. If time is limited, prioritize the Maijishan grottoes. The grotto walkways are suspended with steep and narrow steps, so travelers with acrophobia or limited physical strength should proceed within their capabilities. The walkways become slippery after rain, so take your time ascending—it's also a perfect opportunity to enjoy the mountain mist.