Source: CCTV.com
08-15-2006 13:24
My upcoming trip is Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu Province, is located between the Gaolan and the White Pagoda (Baita) mountains.
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This is Lanzhou of Gansu Province, one of the major cities alone the Hexi Corridor by the yellow river. Welcome to the Travelogue. My good friend here, a Cherokee 4x4 will take me thousand of miles along the ancient Silk Road. I am excited. Let's go.
The first bridge at the foot of White Pagoda Hill was built on the Yellow River. During the 14th century, there was a floating bridge here, which served as an important link on the Silk Road.
This is the famous Hexi Corridor. Actually the street is surrounded by the mountains here, beautiful, it has magnificent view.
The Silk Road swiftly multiplied again, spawning hundreds, then thousands of diverging tracks that brought Chinese goods to Persia, Arabia and Europe, then returned the treasures of those faraway lands to eager Chinese connoisseurs
Lanzhou has been a hub of communications between China's Central Plain and northwestern mainland. It is an important point on the Silk Road that linked China's ancient capital Xi'an with Central Asia and the Roman Empire. There are four major cities along the Hexi Corridor, starts from Lanzhou, then Wuwei, Zhangye and Dunhuang.
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Now we are experiencing the beautiful mountain sites. This is the Hexi Corridor, let's go to see the sheep over there. I will go closer to approach them. They are all wild.
Host: Hi, how are you?
Local: Hi, come and sit with me.
Host: Ok, it's quite warm here. It's beautiful. Look at this, this raincoat is made of wool. It is really warm inside. Look at the mountains. My God I love this.
Showered in the snow I had a chat with the farmer. It was the great moment since my heart was connected with the nature.
Now is the beginning of my journey and also is the start of the Hexi Corridor. Now look at the mountain on both sides just like a corridor. From this point we will cover four major cities. Sadly it is raining out there for my first day, but hopefully tomorrow will be sunshine.
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During the Han Dynasty (206 BC--220 AD), after the nomadic Xiongnu were driven out (121 BC), the rulers of that time deemed that victory had shown their military strength, in memory of this, they named the established township "Wuwei" -- "military prowess".
Wuwei is the first large city encountered along the Silk Road when entering the Hexi Corridor from the east. Wuwei has a typical continental climate and long hours of sunshine.
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This is special design of copper statue, it showing the powerful of the horse. It also shows the military force in about 1600 years ago. Look at that, especially a gallop horse over the flying bird. It is unique and shows the greatness.
The Horse and Swallow is the logo of the Chinese tourism industry. The design was taken from a bronze statue of a horse leaping over a swallow in flight, which was unearthed in Leitai, Wuwei County. The logo shows a white gallop horse on top of a spread wins swallow against a sky-blue background with the Chinese characters for China Tourism.
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Buddhist monks came from Northern India, Persia, Kashmir and Inner Asia to China. One station on the long way to the capital Chang'an was Dunhuang. Monks that settled down there started to dig out grottoes (Shiku) for meditation and housing for themselves and for travelers.
Wall decoration behind the main statues of the Buddhist deities is effected by wall paintings. Wall paintings in Tiantishan look very unlike mostly known Chinese art. The persons are painted in dark colors. And blue color -based statues show stories from the Buddha's life
Host: The Buddha is giant, oh my God..Opoos, oh my Buddha!
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The design has so much in detail. Look at the shape and pattern of the cloth, even with wrinkles, but there is something else surprise me, take a good look at this giant toenail, it is about 2 feet long. Let me compare it with... well you cannot compare with the Giant.
The Ming Dynasty was an era of enthusiastic construction of the Great Wall. The emperors of this dynasty were advised to build high walls and to make every effort to resist the nomadic invaders along the nation's borders.
Today many tourists come from all over the world to experience the historical site.
Host: This travel team is from Korea. Now everybody is ready to go al the way alone the Great Wall. One, two, three, four, five, there are five cars. We gonna have some fun. Ready! Let’s go.
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The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, faced with bricks, covered some 7,300 kilometres, stretching from the Yalu River on the east to Jiayu Pass on the west becoming an impregnable barrier.
I am just sitting here watching the cows. This represents the life here. It looks like it goes back a hundred year or a few hundred years. People still live in a simple life and the Great Wall is as its greatness.
Host: This is a wonderful day I've got. I have to leave and go home now.
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The Yugur ethnic minority, one of China's many nationalities, numbers roughly 10,000. They live on the Sunan grassland near the northern foot of Qilian Mountain by the ancient Silk Road.
All Yugur people are adept at riding horses and skilled in singing and dancing. Visitors can taste the local dishes and enjoy such customs as drinking barley wine and eating mutton.
Host: Every family farms horse. How many do you have?
Local: Two, we have more before.
Host: How long will it take to get to Zhangye by horse?
Local: It will take about 6, 7 hours.
Host: My butt will perhaps hurt like hell...
Local: It is all right.
Host: Have you done that before?
Local: Yes, I did it before. If you like fast ride, you can kick his stomach.
Host: Can you give me the direction to downtown?
Local: Sure.
I learned so much from the Yugur girl about local lifestyle. She also gave me a practical lesson of horse back riding.
My real horse could not carry me that far to Zhangye City so, guess what I did? Change it to a metal one, but I still need to feed him.
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Zhangye, known as Ganzhou in ancient times, is the granary of the Hexi Corridor and a national-level historic and cultural city. Marco Polo once stayed there for a year. The city is known for the world's largest indoor statue of Sleeping Buddha
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This sleeping Buddha statue was first established in 196 AD and reconstructed and expanded during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is now the largest temple in Gansu Province. The major building is the Sleeping Buddha Palace in which there is a sculpture of Sakyamuni in the state of nirvana. The sculpture is made of wood and clay and is gilded.
This Palace is also famous for containing a rare Buddhist scripture written in gold and silver powder in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
What we see here are 10 secret closets that use to store 6,000 volumes of Golden Buddha Manuscript that given by the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.
The City is lighted up at night, and its nightlife is colorful. You can either go to Folk Custom Culture Village watching literal and artistic performances, or go to night fair. Besides the still opened shops, tourists can also go to the local bar to experience the unique lifestyle.
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Jiayuguan is an ancient Han Chinese outpost. The Great Wall once extended beyond here, but in 1372, during the first few years of the Ming Dynasty, a fortress was built.
Jiayuguan used to be the last gate of China. It is along the Chinese boundary towards west. It used to be the split point between east and west. Also, it is a very important point on the Ancient Silk Road.
Jiayuguan has the special design to against the intruders. In case the enemy breaks in, the confusion wall will split the power in two.
Host:
It is too bad. It is the dead end. I have to go the other way.
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Finally if the enemy get to the second gate, guess what, this is a trap
It is show time, the stage behind me use to be the entertainment center inside the military station. It showed all kind of operas.
Do you have enough good time? This used to be the best time for the soldiers who were living in the station. Don’t go away, I will be back.
Jiayuguan city is a quite modern setup on the desert. It is not much different than any other small towns in China mainland, although visitors can discover street scene that quite diverse than Beijing and Shanghai.
Travel in China there are many options. If you have time I suggest you to take the train. There is bed. And also you can see a lot more in the train. It is very convenient.
Actually it is fun to take train. This way you can see a lot of views. Actually this is the best way travel in China. Airplane is too fast.
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Host: Travelogue will take us to all the way to the top of the mountain, but at the altitude of 5,000 meter I am too tired, I cannot go any more.
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Ice and snow covers are the basic components of Qiyi glacier. China is the country occupying the most continental glaciers in mid-low latitudes in the world, and there are about 45,375 Glaciers in China.
For a person like me grown up in the city, get up to the top of the mountain is the biggest challenge than anything. First I got the headache, and then my stomach is aching. Here is beautiful though. I need a bottle of wine to get my stomach feel comfortable.
My first trip ended at Jiayuguan, the next exciting journey will be Dunhuang.
This is wild west of China and it is another beauty of the nature. And I got pass to the west. Thanks for being with us. I will see you next time.
Editor:Chen Minji