The Gansu Provincial Museum was built in 1959,encompassing 21 000 square metres,with an exhibition space of 13 000 square metres. The museum is in the shape of Chinese character “山"meaning “mountain".
The Gansu Provincial Museum was built in 1959,encompassing 21 000 square metres,with an exhibition space of 13 000 square metres. The museum is in the shape of Chinese character “山"meaning “mountain". The museum has 5 floors in the middle,three floors on both sides. In the museum exhibit historical relics,the Wei (220-265) and Jin (264-240) murals, the chart of the Silk Road,and other revolutionary cultural relics. The museum boosts nearly 100 000 relics and specimens. A bronze horse poised as if flying,and one of his hooves rests lightly on a swallow with wings outstretched ,suggesting in a beautiful and imaginative way the almost divine power which the Chinese at this time believed the horse to possess from an Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220) tomb discovered in Gansu in 1969 has been selected as a graph symbol of China's tourism.
Located at the foot of White Pagoda Mountain, the Suspending Bridge was first built in the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In 1907,it was rebuilt with iron,therefore it was renamed Yellow River Iron Bridge. It is the first big iron bridge over the Yellow River in Chinese history. The length of the bridge totals 250 metres with four bridge piers. Since the new China was founded in 1949,the bridge has been reinforced by adding curve steel arch beams, which looks more magnificent.
Great Wall of Han Dynasty began in the east from Lintao County, Gansu Province,the terminus of the Great Wall of Qin Dynasty, and ended in the west at Lop Nur of Xinjiang. The section of this Great Wall north of the minor Square City is the most intact of the Great Wall of Han Dynasty preserved so far in China.
The major Square City was called Hechang City in ancient times,established in West Han Dynasty on a natural terrace of the ancient Shule River. Its name means “ riverside warehouse", and it is a city of military warehouse in northwestern China rarely found elsewhere in the nation.
Three scenes of the city are worth visiting. The first is the survived city base,with the remaining area of about 600m2. Those of the walls on the four sides are fairly well preserved,with the city gates,sidewalks,and horse road easily recognizable. The second attraction is the beacon tower of the city,standing near in the west of the city base. The third is the heaps of burning materials of the beacon scattered around the beacon tower, 15 in number. The largest of the heaps is about 2m long,1. 5m wide, and 13m high,lying neat as the best preserved heap of burning materials in China for beacon towers.
Jiayuguan Pass is the first pass at the west end of the Great Wall of China and was built during the Ming Dynasty. It is located 6 kilometers southwest of Jiayuguan City which is in Gansu Province. It is located at the foot of Jiayuguan Hill, between two hills of which the Pass lies, so earned the name "The First and Greatest Pass under the Heaven". This is different from "The First Pass under the Heaven" , which is located at the east end of the Great Wall near Qinhuangdao City in Hebei Province.
The Pass is located at the narrowest point of the western section of the Hexi Corridor, and Jiayuguan often has the meaning of ”Nice Valley". It was also a must point of the ancient Silk Road.
The pass is trapezoid-shaped with a perimeter of 733 meters and with an area of more than 33 500 square meters. The total length of the city wall is 733 meters and the height is 11 meters. There are two gates-with one located on each of the east and west sides of the pass. On each gate there is a building. On the building at the west gate, the Chinese inscription of "Jiayuguan Pass" is written on a tablet. The south and north sides of the pass are connected to the Great Wall. There is a turret on each corner of the pass. On the north side inside the two gates, there are wide roads leading to the top of the pass.
The structure was initially built in 1372 during the Ming Dynasty and has a history of more than 600 years. A legend says that when Jiayuguan Pass was to be built, the official in charge of this project asked the designer to count how many bricks and other materials would be used precisely. The designer gave him a specific number. But when the project was finished, one brick was left which was placed on the pass as a symbol of commemoration.
Jiayuguan itself consists of three defense lines—an inner city,an outer city and a moat.
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