Jinchang 金昌Jīnchāng

About Jinchang

Jinchang, its name taken from Jinchuan and Yongchang, grew up after a large copper-nickel deposit was found here in 1958 and is known in China as the 'nickel capital'. North of Yongchang two Tang brick pagodas, regarded as the oldest in Gansu, face each other across a gorge at Shengrong Temple, and the old town keeps a Ming bell and drum tower. Newer sights are the lavender fields of Zijin Flower City and Mars Base 1, a science-fiction camp on the red Gobi.

Listed sites in Jinchang

6 sites in Jinchang are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Jinshui Lake 金水湖 4A scenic area · on the map
  A man-made lake park east of central Jinchang, built between 2005 and 2008 as a water-storage and landscape project in this water-short city: five lakes linked by ribbon wetlands, with islands, bridges and jetties, cover about 236 hectares, 60 of them water.
• Mars Base 1 火星1号基地 4A scenic area · on the map
  A Mars-themed experience park on the red-rock Gobi south of Jinchang, built from 2022 because the terrain resembles the Martian surface, with simulated survival bases and science-fiction sets that have also served as film and television locations.
• Zijin Flower City 紫金花城 4A scenic area · on the map
  A flower park of about 38 hectares on the northern outskirts of Jinchang, planted with some 40 kinds of herbs and flowers, among them lavender, verbena and cosmos, that colour the fields purple in the flowering season.
• Beihaizi Pagoda 北海子塔 National heritage site · on the map
  A Ming–Qing brick Buddhist pagoda in Beihaizi Park, also called North Lake, the old temple grounds on the northern edge of Yongchang that grew from the Tang-founded Jinchuan Temple into the town's leading Chan Buddhist complex by the Qing.
• Shengrong Temple Pagodas 圣容寺塔 National heritage site · on the map
  Two square Tang brick pagodas face each other across the Yushan gorge north of Yongchang, regarded as the oldest surviving pagodas in Gansu: the larger, 16.2 m tall and shaped like Xi'an's Small Wild Goose Pagoda, has murals inside with inscriptions naming the temple, and the smaller solid one is 4.9 m.
• Yongchang Bell and Drum Tower 永昌钟鼓楼 National heritage site
  The landmark of Yongchang's town centre, completed in 1587: a square platform of rammed earth faced with brick, 7.2 m high and pierced by four arched passages, carries a two-storey timber tower with three tiers of eaves, 24.5 m tall in all, with a great iron bell on the platform and a large drum inside.

On the map

Open Jinchang on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Wikipedia (Chinese)