Atlas of China
Listed sites in Gansu 甘肃
224 scenic areas and heritage sites from the official lists, by city. 33 have a page of their own; the rest open as cards on the map.
The A-level rating is the national grading of scenic areas, 5A being the top tier; national heritage sites are the buildings, ruins, tombs and carvings protected by the State Council. Both lists are on the lists page.
5A scenic areas in Gansu
- Bingling Temple Grottoes 炳灵寺石窟 5A scenic area · National heritage site
Buddhist caves and niches carved over some 1,600 years into the red sandstone cliffs of the Dasi gully on the north bank of the Yellow River, in the Xiaojishi Mountains 35 km south-west of Yongjing county town; Cave 169, with an inscription of 420 under the Western Qin, is described by the site's conservation institute as the earliest dated cave in China. - Guan'egou Scenic Area 官鹅沟 5A scenic area · on the map
Guan'egou is a set of forested gorges on the edge of Tanchang county town, where Guanzhu Gully, Eman Gully and Leigu Mountain are linked into one U-shaped circuit of about 66 km². - Kongtong Mountains 崆峒山 5A scenic area · National heritage site
Kongtong Shan, a forested spur of the Liupan range just west of Pingliang, is one of the sacred mountains of Taoism: legend says the Yellow Emperor came here to ask the immortal Guangchengzi about the Dao, and it is also known as the cradle of the Kongtong school of martial arts. - Yeliguan Scenic Area 冶力关 5A scenic area · on the map
A mountain and forest scenic area around Yeliguan town in Lintan county, on the north-eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, rated a national 5A area in 2024.
By city
Baiyin (6) · Dingxi (14) · Gannan (12) · Jiayuguan (4) · Jinchang (6) · Jiuquan (19) · Lanzhou (19) · Linxia (15) · Longnan (27) · Pingliang (18) · Qingyang (19) · Tianshui (20) · Wuwei (14) · Zhangye (31)
Baiyin 6 sites
- Daping Fengyuan Flower Park 大坪凤园花海 4A scenic area · on the map
A flower park in the Daping agricultural park at Shuichuan, south-east of Baiyin city, opened in 2018, where beds of verbena, Iceland poppies, petunias and other flowers are laid out in the shape of a phoenix. - Huining Red Army Reunion Site 会宁红军会师旧址 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
In October 1936 the Red Army's First and Fourth Front Armies met at Huining during the closing stage of the Long March, and the protected site in the centre of the town preserves the Huishi gate tower, the venue of the joint celebration meeting and the former headquarters of several Red Army commands. - Shuian Sanhe Scenic Area 水岸三合 4A scenic area · on the map
A riverside leisure park of about 47 ha on the Yellow River at Sanhe village, Dongwan, that combines farm and flower displays with a summer water-play area where water obstacle-course contests are held. - Shuichuan Yellow River Wetland Park 水川湿地公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A wetland park of about 3,000 mu (roughly 200 ha) on the Yellow River at Shuichuan, south of Baiyin city, with lotus ponds that flower in summer, reedbeds, an artificial lake, zigzag bridges and a small tourist train. - Yellow River Stone Forest 黄河石林 4A scenic area
A national geopark on a bend of the Yellow River in Jingtai, where conglomerate beds about 2.1 million years old have been eroded into pillars and spires mostly 80–100 m tall, packed into some 10 km² of gullies. - Yongtai Fortress 永泰龟城 National heritage site
A Ming garrison town built in 1606–08 on the plain of western Jingtai, still enclosed by rammed-earth walls 8–12 m high and about 1.7 km round, whose outline earned it the nickname 'Turtle City'.
Dingxi 14 sites
- Bangluo Conference Site 榜罗镇会议旧址 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
On 27 September 1935 the Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee, then on the Long March, met in the principal's office of the Bangluo central school and decided to make the Shaan-Gan base area in northern Shaanxi the destination of the march; the next day Mao Zedong spoke to the Shaanxi–Gansu Detachment's company-level and higher officers at a threshing ground beside the school. - Changjiahe Hawthorn Town 常家河山楂小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A farm-tourism area in Changjiahe town built around hawthorn orchards planted by a local cooperative from 2018, with blossom in spring and fruit in autumn. - Langdutan Grassland 狼渡滩 4A scenic area · on the map
Langdutan is a broad upland of wetland meadows and grassland at an average height of about 2,600 m around Lüjing town in eastern Min County, threaded by winding streams and grazed by yaks, cattle and sheep. - Lijia Longgong (Li Clan Ancestral Temple) 李家龙宫 4A scenic area · on the map
The Lijia Longgong is the ancestral temple of the Li clan in Longxi, the clan's ancestral seat, said to have been founded in the early Tang and named from an inscription by Emperor Taizong. - Minzhou Conference Site 岷州会议旧址 4A scenic area · on the map
A memorial at Sanshilipu outside Min County town to the Minzhou Conference of 16–18 September 1936, at which the Communist Party's Northwest Bureau, meeting while the Red Army's Second and Fourth Front Armies were in Min County, rejected Zhang Guotao's plan to take the Fourth Front Army west and decided that the forces should go north to join the First Front Army. - Nanping Mountain, Lintao 南屏山 4A scenic area · on the map
Nanping Mountain rises south of Lintao to an average height of about 2,800 m, and its snow-capped summit is the setting of 'Snow on the Southern Hills', one of the old Eight Views of Taoyang. - Shouyang Mountain, Weiyuan 首阳山 4A scenic area · on the map
Shouyang Mountain in Lianfeng town south of Weiyuan is one of several places claimed as the mountain where the brothers Bo Yi and Shu Qi, refusing to eat the grain of the Zhou, starved to death; its nine lotus-like peaks have had Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian cave temples and halls since the Han and Wei. - Weihe Source Scenic Area 渭河源 4A scenic area · on the map
The Wei River is traditionally said to rise here in the Niaoshu ('Bird and Rat') Mountains south-west of Weiyuan, where the Book of Documents records Yu the Great guiding its waters, and the springs that feed it emerge in the wooded headwater valley. - Yuangudui Village 元古堆 4A scenic area · on the map
Yuangudui is a hill village in Tianjiahe township, Weiyuan County, at about 2,440 m, which Xi Jinping visited in February 2013 and which has since developed rural tourism. - Yuelu Mountain, Lintao 岳麓山 4A scenic area · on the map
Yuelu Mountain is the wooded hill on the eastern edge of Lintao town, long a Daoist site and a meeting place for scholars. - Yuexin International Calligraphy and Painting Village 悦心国际书画村 4A scenic area · on the map
A cultural tourism complex in Tongwei county town, in a county known for its calligraphy and painting culture, made up of a long calligraphy and painting gallery with more than 100 commercial galleries, the Yuexin Art Museum, a hot-spring pool complex, a hotel and an organic fruit-picking farm outside the town. - Zheyang and Guiqing Mountains 遮阳山、贵清山 4A scenic area · on the map
Two forested mountain areas in the south of Zhang County that together make up a national forest park. - Baling Bridge, Weiyuan 灞陵桥 National heritage site · on the map
Baling Bridge spans the Qingyuan River in Weiyuan county town, close to the source of the Wei River: a covered timber cantilever-arch bridge 40 m long, with a gallery of 13 bays. - Weiyuan Tower, Longxi 威远楼 National heritage site · on the map
The Weiyuan Tower stands in the centre of Longxi: a three-storey timber drum tower 26 m tall on a brick base, first built under the Northern Song in the 11th century, moved to its present site in 1261 and rebuilt in 1368.
Gannan 12 sites
- Yeliguan Scenic Area 冶力关 5A scenic area · on the map
A mountain and forest scenic area around Yeliguan town in Lintan county, on the north-eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, rated a national 5A area in 2024. - Awancang Wetland 阿万仓湿地 4A scenic area · on the map
A broad wetland grassland around Awancang town in Maqu county, inside the great loop of the upper Yellow River known as its First Bend, where the river's side channels meander through pasture, pools and marsh. - Ciri'na and Mao Zedong's Former Residence 茨日那毛泽东旧居 4A scenic area · on the map
A Tibetan village on the Bailong River in Wangzang town, Têwo county, where the Central Red Army stayed in September 1935 on the first stage of its Long March through Gansu; Mao Zedong lodged in a two-storey Tibetan house of rammed-earth walls and log beams. - Dangzhou Grassland 当周草原 4A scenic area · on the map
A grassland scenic area on the edge of Hezuo, the capital of Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, made up of the Dangzhou grassland park and the forested South Mountain, with natural pasture and summer wildflowers. - Dayu Valley 大峪沟 4A scenic area · on the map
A valley system in the Dieshan range south of Jonê county town, inside the Tao River National Nature Reserve, where a tributary of the Tao River runs for about 70 km through forest, alpine meadow and wetland below Zhayikega, the 4,920 m main peak of the Dieshan. - Ejie Meeting Site 俄界会议旧址 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A Tibetan village house in Gaoji village, Dala township, where the Politburo of the Communist Party of China held an enlarged meeting on 12 September 1935, the day after the Central Red Army's Long March column crossed into Gansu from Sichuan; 'Ejie' is a Chinese rendering of the Tibetan name Gaoji. - Ganjia Grassland and Bajiaocheng 甘加秘境 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A high grassland basin in the north of Xiahe county with pastures, rivers and gorges below the long Baishiya cliff, at whose foot stand Baishiya Monastery and the Baishiya Karst Cave, a Tibetan Buddhist pilgrimage cave where a Denisovan jawbone about 160,000 years old was found. - Laga Mountain 拉尕山 4A scenic area · on the map
A mountain area 33 km west of Zhouqu county town, between Jiuzhaigou and Lazikou, whose Tibetan name means 'a place the immortals love'. - Lazikou Pass 腊子口 4A scenic area · on the map
A narrow gorge in the Min Mountains of Têwo county where the Lazi River runs between sheer cliffs, for centuries the main way between northern Sichuan and southern Gansu. - Zecha Stone Forest 则岔石林 4A scenic area · on the map
A gorge in Larenguan township, Luqu county, where sheer rock walls and pinnacles rise above grassland and dense forest, shaped over a long time by wind, rain and running water; fossils of ancient sea creatures are found on the peaks and in the caves. - Zhagana 扎尕那 4A scenic area · on the map
A cluster of Tibetan villages inside a natural 'stone city' of limestone peaks north of Têwo county town; the name is Tibetan for 'stone box'. - Taozhou Garrison Town 洮州卫城 National heritage site
The walls of a Ming garrison town, rebuilt from 1379 as the seat of the Taozhou Guard on the old Tang–Tibet road, which still enclose the small town of Xincheng in Lintan county; it is regarded as the largest surviving garrison town (weicheng) in China.
Jiayuguan 4 sites
- East Lake Ecological Park, Jiayuguan 东湖 4A scenic area · on the map
A large park in Jiayuguan's southern district, built from 2002 to 2006 as the centrepiece of the new part of the city, covering 165 ha with a 56 ha artificial lake, a 640 m ribbon stream, a central square, waterfall walks, pavilions, bridges and about 90 ha of planted woodland and lawns. - Fantawild Adventure Jiayuguan 嘉峪关方特欢乐世界 4A scenic area · on the map
A theme park of the Chinese Fantawild chain, opened in 2015 on Fangte Avenue in Jiayuguan's southern district, with twenty-odd rides, dark rides and shows built around Chinese stories and 4D and interactive effects, among them a flying-theatre ride, a snow-mountain adventure, a magic-castle show, a log flume and Boonie Bears attractions. - Zixuan Winery Estate 紫轩葡萄酒庄园 4A scenic area · on the map
The winery estate of Gansu Zixuan Wine, part of the JISCO (Jiuquan Iron and Steel) group, on the airport road north-east of Jiayuguan, covering about 65 ha. - Wei–Jin Tombs, Jiayuguan 嘉峪关魏晋墓 National heritage site · on the map
A large cemetery of brick tombs from the Wei and Jin periods (3rd–5th centuries) in the Gobi between Jiayuguan and Jiuquan, known as the 'underground gallery' for its painted bricks.
Jinchang 6 sites
- 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.
Jiuquan 19 sites
- Boluozhuanjing Film Base (Old Aksay Town) 博罗转井影视基地 4A scenic area · on the map
The abandoned former seat of Aksay Kazakh Autonomous County, on the northern slopes of the Altyn-Tagh, left empty when the county town moved down to the plain in 1998 and since used as a film set. - Chijin Gorge Reservoir 赤金峡 4A scenic area · on the map
A scenic area built around the Chijin Gorge reservoir on the Shiyou River in Chijin town, between Yumen's old and new towns, run as a water-conservancy scenic area in the Gobi. - Guazhou Gobi Sculpture Corridor 瓜州戈壁雕塑艺术长廊 4A scenic area · on the map
A group of large outdoor artworks in the Gobi on the road from Guazhou towards the Yulin Caves. - Jinta Desert Poplar Forest 金塔沙漠胡杨林 4A scenic area · on the map
A planted forest of Euphrates poplars on the desert edge north-west of Jinta town, grown through volunteer tree-planting campaigns since the 1960s to stop the sand at what had been the county's worst wind gap; the poplar scenic area covers nearly 10,000 mu (about 6.7 km²). - Jiuquan Park (Western Han Jiuquan Scenic Spot) 西汉酒泉胜迹 4A scenic area · on the map
A lake park on the east side of central Jiuquan around the spring that gave the city its name: legend says the Han general Huo Qubing poured wine from the emperor into it to share with his troops. - Jiuquan Tianbao Ornamental Stone Exhibition 酒泉天宝 4A scenic area · on the map
An indoor exhibition of ornamental stones in a shopping complex in Jiuquan's Suzhou district, presented by its operators as China's largest stone-appreciation attraction. - Qilian Reed Sea 祁连苇海 4A scenic area · on the map
A reed, cattail and marsh wetland in Yinda town on the northern edge of the Jiuquan oasis, at the edge of the Badain Jaran desert, with the Ming Great Wall along its south side. - Suoyang City 锁阳城遗址 4A scenic area · National heritage site
The ruins of a walled Silk Road city in the Gobi south-east of Guazhou, seat of Guazhou prefecture under the Tang and abandoned in the 16th century; the rammed-earth walls of the inner city still stand 9–12.5 m high. - Xueyu Ziting Eco-Cultural Park 雪域紫亭 4A scenic area · on the map
An open park in Dangchengwan, the county town of Subei Mongol Autonomous County, made up of a flower field of about 1,000 mu, Ziting Lake and a fruit and vegetable picking garden. - Yang Pass 阳关 4A scenic area
The site of Yangguan, the southern of the two Han dynasty frontier passes west of Dunhuang, fortified around 120 BC to guard the southern Silk Road route to the Western Regions; the fort had fallen into ruin by about AD 900. - Yumen Oilfield Old No. 1 Well 玉门油田老一井 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
The old oil town of Yumen, regarded as the cradle of China's oil industry, is where in 1939 geologist Sun Jianchu's team drilled the first well beside the small Laojunmiao temple; until the Daqing field was found, the Yumen field was the country's largest. - Yuze Lake Park 玉泽湖公园 4A scenic area
A city park in Yumen's new town, begun in 2000 when the city government moved here from the old oil town, laid out around an inner lake, an outer lake and a newer extension. - Zhang Zhi Calligraphy Culture Park (Caosheng Guli) 草圣故里文化产业园 4A scenic area · on the map
A calligraphy-themed culture park in Guazhou county town honouring Zhang Zhi, the Eastern Han calligrapher from this region who is revered in China as the 'sage of cursive script'. - Changma Grottoes 昌马石窟 National heritage site · on the map
Buddhist cave temples in the Changma basin south-west of Yumen, dated by their national listing (2019) to the Northern Wei through the Qing. - Jianshui Jinguan and Diwan Fort (Juyan Han Frontier Sites) 肩水金关遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The Gansu part of the Juyan frontier sites: Han dynasty forts and a checkpoint on the east bank of the Ejin (Hei) River in northern Jinta county, part of the Han defences that run on into Inner Mongolia. - Jiuquan Drum Tower 酒泉鼓楼 National heritage site
The landmark tower at the central crossroads of Jiuquan: its rammed-earth base was the east gate tower of the city rebuilt under the Former Liang in the 4th century, found itself at the centre of town when the walls were extended east in the Ming, and was faced with brick in 1725. - Xuanquan Post Station Site 悬泉置遗址 National heritage site
A Han dynasty relay station on the Silk Road between Dunhuang and Guazhou, in use from about 111 BC until the Wei–Jin period to lodge envoys, officials and foreign guests. - Yulin Caves 榆林窟 National heritage site
Buddhist cave temples cut into both cliffs of the Yulin River gorge south of Guazhou, regarded as a sister site of the Mogao Caves and managed by the Dunhuang Academy. - Yumen Pass 玉门关 National heritage site
The Jade Gate, the Han dynasty frontier pass at the western end of the Hexi defence line beyond Dunhuang, through which the northern Silk Road left for the Western Regions; it is traditionally said to be named after the jade brought in from the west.
Lanzhou 19 sites
- Hekou Ancient Town 河口古镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A former Yellow River ferry and trading town on the western edge of Lanzhou, where the Zhuanglang River joins the Yellow River, restored since 2014 as a historic district around Hekou village. - Jincheng Pass Cultural Park 金城关 4A scenic area · on the map
A riverside cultural park on the north bank of the Yellow River at the foot of Baita Mountain, centred on a reconstruction of Jincheng Pass, the fortified gate that guarded the old river crossing. - Lanzhou Shuimo Danxia 水墨丹霞 4A scenic area · on the map
A badlands landscape of banded red and grey hills in Shuping town in the north-west of Lanzhou municipality, opened on a trial basis in 2020 after the brickworks that once dug its red clay were closed. - Lanzhou Waterwheel Expo Park 兰州水车博览园 4A scenic area · on the map
A riverside culture park on the south bank of the Yellow River, opened in 2005 to recall the giant wooden waterwheels that once lined the river at Lanzhou, lifting water to irrigate the fields along its banks. - Qingcheng Ancient Town 青城古镇 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
An old river town on the Yellow River at the northern tip of Yuzhong County, listed as a national historic and cultural town, whose Ming-to-Republican courtyard houses are protected as a national heritage site. - Qiyun Pastoral Town, Yuzhong 栖云田园小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A rural leisure complex built around Lijiazhuang village on the edge of Yuzhong county town, with flower fields, farm restaurants, guesthouses, play attractions for children and craft workshops. - Renshou Mountain, Anning 仁寿山 4A scenic area · on the map
A hill park on the north side of Anning District in western Lanzhou, set among peach orchards. - Shichuan Ancient Pear Orchard 什川古梨园 4A scenic area · on the map
An orchard of centuries-old pear trees on the Yellow River flats around Shichuan town in Gaolan County, where the Ming set up a garrison fort in 1495. - Shifogou National Forest Park 石佛沟 4A scenic area · on the map
A national forest park in the wooded hills of Agan town on the southern edge of Lanzhou, the closest of the city's forest parks. - Tulugou National Forest Park 吐鲁沟 4A scenic area · on the map
A national forest park in Liancheng town in the north-west of Yongdeng County, where gorges, streams, waterfalls and dense forest make it one of Lanzhou's main summer retreats. - Western Dinosaur Water Park, Lanzhou New Area 西部恐龙水乐园 4A scenic area · on the map
A large water park in Lanzhou New Area, about 7 km south of Zhongchuan Airport, built in 2017 as part of a resort district developed with the company behind Changzhou's China Dinosaurs Park. - Xinglong Mountain 兴隆山 4A scenic area · on the map
A forested mountain range in Yuzhong County south-east of Lanzhou, protected as a national nature reserve since 1988, whose seven peaks rise to 3,021 m. - Five Springs Park (Wuquan Mountain) 五泉山 National heritage site
A hillside park on the northern slopes of Gaolan Mountain in southern Lanzhou, named after five springs that legend says appeared when the Han general Huo Qubing struck the ground with his whip. - Former Lanzhou Office of the Eighth Route Army 八路军兰州办事处旧址 National heritage site · on the map
The Eighth Route Army's office in Lanzhou from August 1937 to November 1943, during the wartime cooperation between the Communists and the Nationalists against Japan. - Gan'en Temple, Hongcheng 红城感恩寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Tibetan Buddhist temple built in Chinese style in Hongcheng town, founded in 1492–1494 by the fifth Lu chieftain of Liancheng and named Gan'en ('Gratitude') by the Hongzhi Emperor in 1495. - Jintian Taoist Temple 金天观 National heritage site · on the map
A Taoist temple complex founded in 1400 outside the old west gate of Lanzhou, whose surviving halls, mostly of Qing date, stand on three parallel axes. - Lanzhou Prefecture City God Temple 兰州府城隍庙 National heritage site
Lanzhou's City God temple, dedicated like Tianshui's to the Han general Ji Xin, dates back at least to the Song and took its present layout after a rebuilding in 1837. - Lu Tusi Yamen and Miaoyin Temple 鲁土司衙门 National heritage site · on the map
The seat of the Lu chieftains, descendants of a Mongol Yuan prince who submitted to the Ming and ruled Liancheng for nineteen generations until 1931, with a residence first built in 1378. - Zhongshan Bridge 中山桥 National heritage site
Lanzhou's best-known landmark, a steel truss bridge across the Yellow River completed in 1909 by a German firm as the first permanent bridge over the river at Lanzhou, replacing a pontoon bridge on the same crossing.
Linxia 15 sites
- Bingling Temple Grottoes 炳灵寺石窟 5A scenic area · National heritage site
Buddhist caves and niches carved over some 1,600 years into the red sandstone cliffs of the Dasi gully on the north bank of the Yellow River, in the Xiaojishi Mountains 35 km south-west of Yongjing county town; Cave 169, with an inscription of 420 under the Western Qin, is described by the site's conservation institute as the earliest dated cave in China. - Bafang Thirteen Lanes 八坊十三巷 4A scenic area · on the map
The old Hui Muslim quarter of Linxia, the historic Hezhou, where eight mosque communities (fang) grew up around their mosques and thirteen lanes took shape from the early Qing; some 2,000 households still live here, more than 98 per cent of them Hui. - Dadun Gorge 大墩峡 4A scenic area · on the map
A system of four gorges about 13 km long, forming a Y shape below Heida Mountain (3,300 m), 6 km west of Dahejia town in Jishishan, the autonomous county of the Bonan (Bao'an), Dongxiang and Salar peoples. - Fataishan Resort 法台山 4A scenic area · on the map
A year-round resort in Songming town next to the Songmingyan scenic area, with the Songmingyan International Ski Resort for winter sport and, in summer, a glass walkway, mountain rafting, grass-sliding and children's play areas such as go-karts. - Hezheng Paleozoological Museum 和政古动物化石博物馆 4A scenic area · on the map
A museum of fossil animals in Hezheng county town, founded in 2003 and now a national first-grade museum, holding more than 40,000 fossils from the late Cenozoic beds of the Linxia Basin. - Hualin Fossil Site (Wanshou Valley) 桦林万兽谷 4A scenic area · on the map
A fossil site in a farming valley at Hualin, south-east of Hezheng county town, whose in-situ fossil hall (opened 2013) shows about 3,200 m² of Hipparion-fauna bones, some 11 to 5 million years old, as they lay when buried. - Kangle Birch Forest 白桦林 4A scenic area · on the map
A scenic area of natural forest at Liewa village in Basong township, on the Taizi Mountains tourist highway in southern Kangle County, where some 3,000 mu (200 ha) of birch woods cover the hillsides and forest cover reaches about 95 per cent. - Liujiaxia Dinosaur National Geopark 刘家峡恐龙国家地质公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A geopark in Yanguoxia town protecting Early Cretaceous dinosaur trackways found in 1999 in the rocks above the Yellow River, with footprints of sauropods, theropods, ornithopods and pterosaurs as well as resting traces, tail drags, ripple marks and plant fossils. - Liujiaxia International Paragliding Camp 刘家峡国际滑翔营地 4A scenic area · on the map
A paragliding base on the north shore of the Liujiaxia Reservoir (Bingling Lake) in Yangta township, with its launch on Huangjia Mountain at about 2,300 m and a height difference of some 580 m to the landing ground. - Songmingyan 松鸣岩 4A scenic area · on the map
A national forest park and provincial scenic area in the foothills of the Taizi Mountains in Songming town, named for the roar of the wind in its pines echoing off the cliffs. - Yanzhi Lake Park 胭脂湖 4A scenic area · on the map
A town park in Kangle county town at the meeting of the Yanzhi, Zhongdi and Suji rivers, laid out around Yanzhi Lake with three stone arch bridges and a three-storey pavilion standing in the middle of the lake. - Zhuzigou Valley 竹子沟 4A scenic area · on the map
A valley inside the Taizishan nature reserve at Bazigou village, Minglu township, in southern Kangle County, with alpine meadows, forest and streams, which joined the 4A list in January 2026. - East Mansion and Butterfly Building, Linxia 东公馆与蝴蝶楼 National heritage site · on the map
Two Republican-era mansions in Linxia city: the East Mansion (Donggongguan), completed in 1947 as the residence of Ma Buqing, a north-western warlord general, and the smaller Butterfly Building in the Bafang quarter about 1 km to the west-south-west. - Linjia Neolithic Site and Painted Pottery Centre 林家遗址 National heritage site · on the map
A Neolithic settlement of the Majiayao culture on the loess tableland at Linjia village in Dongyuan township, excavated in 1978, where a small bronze knife of about 3000 BC, promoted locally as the earliest in China, came to light. - Qijiaping Site (Qijia Culture) 齐家坪遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The type site of the Qijia culture (about 2300–1500 BC), one of China's earliest Bronze Age cultures, found in 1924 by the Swedish geologist Johan Gunnar Andersson on a terrace of the Tao River at Yuanziping village in Qijia town; it is described locally as the only site to have yielded all five kinds of early artefact, in stone, bone, pottery, jade and bronze.
Longnan 27 sites
- Guan'egou Scenic Area 官鹅沟 5A scenic area · on the map
Guan'egou is a set of forested gorges on the edge of Tanchang county town, where Guanzhu Gully, Eman Gully and Leigu Mountain are linked into one U-shaped circuit of about 66 km². - Bikou Old Town 碧口古镇 4A scenic area · on the map
Bikou is an old trading town on the Bailong River near the Sichuan border, long a landing where goods such as medicinal herbs were loaded for shipment downriver, and most of its merchants came from Sichuan, which gave it a Sichuan-flavoured dialect and a taste for Sichuan opera. - Chenyuan Eco-Park 陈院生态园 4A scenic area · on the map
An 8.7 km² rural leisure park in Chenyuan town, just west of Chengxian, laid out with orchards, woods and flower-lined roads. - Du Fu Thatched Cottage, Chengxian 杜公祠 4A scenic area · on the map
The Du Gong Shrine at the mouth of Feilong Gorge, south-east of Chengxian, commemorates the poet Du Fu, who stayed briefly at Tonggu, as the town was then called, in 759 before moving on to Chengdu; it is promoted as the earliest of China's many Du Fu 'thatched cottages'. - Gansu Qin Culture Museum 甘肃秦文化博物馆 4A scenic area · on the map
The Gansu Qin Culture Museum on Qinren Square in Li County town has a collection of several thousand objects, many recovered from the early Qin cemetery at Dabuzishan and the Xichui area. - Hadapu Long March Sites 哈达铺会议旧址 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Hadapu, a town on the old route between Sichuan and the north-west, is where Red Army columns on the Long March halted and reorganised in 1935, and where the Party leadership decided to head for the Communist base in northern Shaanxi. - Huaqiao Village, Kang County 花桥村 4A scenic area · on the map
Huaqiao is a village in Changba town, in the hills of western Kang County, that has been developed as a rural tourism area with countryside walks, holiday and retirement stays, folk-culture experiences including traditional liquor-making, and a centre where local farm produce is processed and sold. - Jialing River Gorges, Hui County 嘉陵江峡谷群 4A scenic area · on the map
A large scenic area of 217.6 km² along the gorges of the upper Jialing River in south-eastern Hui County, with cliffs, forest, caves and waterfalls, among them the Meiya Falls, which drop more than 400 m. - Jinhui Liquor Culture Park 金徽酒业 4A scenic area · on the map
The landscaped brewery park of Jinhui, a strong-aroma baijiu maker whose roots go back to a state distillery formed from local workshops in 1951, in Fujia town north-west of Hui County town. - Jinhui Mining Industrial Tourism Area 金徽矿业 4A scenic area · on the map
An industrial tourism site at Jinhui Mining's lead–zinc mine north of Hui County town, on the Xicheng lead–zinc belt. - Liangdang Mutiny Memorial Hall 两当兵变纪念馆 4A scenic area · on the map
This memorial hall in Liangdang county town commemorates the Liangdang Mutiny of 2 April 1932, when Xi Zhongxun and other Communist organisers led about 200 soldiers of a Nationalist battalion stationed in the area into revolt and reformed them as a Red Army guerrilla detachment, which was later broken up. - Qishan Fort and Wuhou Shrine 祁山堡 4A scenic area · on the map
The Qishan scenic area east of Li County town is built around Qishan Fort and its Wuhou Shrine to Zhuge Liang, one of the earliest shrines to him, rebuilt in the Ming and Qing dynasties, on the ground where Shu Han armies campaigned against Wei in the Three Kingdoms period. - Shanwan Menggu Valley 山湾梦谷 4A scenic area · on the map
A valley resort of about 240 ha in Lianghekou town, Tanchang, built around the Qiang and Tibetan culture of the area, with flower fields and farmland on the valley floor and forest above. - Wangba Rural Scenic Area, Kang County 王坝 4A scenic area · on the map
A rural scenic area of villages and wooded valleys around Wangba town, 10 km from Kang county town, centred on Dashuigou village, with a village-life exhibition hall, log-cabin lodgings and the cliffs of Qinglin Gully. - Wanxia Lake 晚霞湖 4A scenic area · on the map
Wanxia Lake is a reservoir lake of about 120 ha just west of Xihe county town, with reed beds, water birds and boat trips on the water. - Wanxiang Cave 万象洞 4A scenic area · on the map
A large karst cave on the south side of the Bailong River east of Wudu, filled with stalactites and other formations along the visitor route, whose walls carry inscriptions and poems left by visitors since the Northern Zhou. - Wenxian Tianchi Lake 文县天池 4A scenic area · on the map
Wenxian Tianchi, also called Yangtang Tianchi, is a long, winding mountain lake formed where faulting dammed the Yangtang River in the mountains north of Wen County, its shoreline broken by headlands and ringed by forested peaks. - Xixia Ode and Ancient Plank Road 西狭颂 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
In the Tianjing Mountain gorge west of Chengxian, the Xixia Ode was cut into the cliff in AD 171 to praise Li Xi, governor of Wudu, for building a plank road through the gorge; its 385 characters of clerical script under a seal-script heading, beside a carved panel of five auspicious omens, make it one of the 'Three Odes of Han' prized by calligraphers. - Yangba Scenic Area 阳坝 4A scenic area · on the map
Yangba, in the far south of Kang County, is a humid, forested valley area of bamboo groves, streams, tea gardens and palms, promoted as the 'Xishuangbanna of Gansu' for its almost subtropical feel. - Yunhua Mountain 云华山 4A scenic area · on the map
Yunhua Mountain, north-east of Xihe, is a steep danxia-type peak shaped like a jade tablet, which gave it the old name Guishan, with more than ten small Daoist temple halls, including one to the Xuanwu emperor, packed onto its narrow summit. - Yunping Three Gorges 云屏三峡 4A scenic area · on the map
The Yunping Three Gorges, Tudi, Guanyin and Xigou, cut through forested mountains south-east of Liangdang and form a provincial scenic area of cliffs, overhanging pines, waterfalls and caves with more than 60 named sights, among them a temple and two rock 'gates'. - Zhang Guolao Scenic Area, Liangdang 张果老养生文化景区 4A scenic area · on the map
A rural scenic area of about 320 ha in the hills of Yangdian town, north-east of Liangdang, built around the Guolao Dengzhen Cave, which legend links with the Daoist immortal Zhang Guolao. - Zhujiagou Old Village, Anmenkou 朱家沟古村 4A scenic area · on the map
Zhujiagou is an old village on the Yanzi River near Anmenkou town, listed as a Chinese traditional village in 2016, whose main sights are the Qing-style Zhu family compound, a covered 'wind-and-rain' bridge and an ancient Chinese wingnut tree said to be a thousand years old. - Dabuzishan Qin Royal Cemetery 大堡子山遗址 National heritage site
On the hills above the Western Han River east of Li County town lies the Dabuzishan cemetery of the early Qin lords at Xichui, the Qin people's first centre, with the earliest tombs of Qin rulers yet excavated. - Fujin Guangyan Temple 福津广严院 National heritage site · on the map
Fujin Guangyan Temple in Sanhe town, Wudu, is a Buddhist temple founded in the Song whose timber hall dates from the Southern Song, with Qing repairs. - Lichuan Brick Pagoda 栗川砖塔 National heritage site · on the map
A Northern Song brick pagoda, also called the Lichuan White Pagoda, in Xunzhuang village west of Hui County town, the surviving part of the White Pagoda Temple built in the Chunhua era (990–994). - New Baishui Road Cliff Inscription 新修白水路记摩崖 National heritage site · on the map
A Northern Song cliff inscription at Wangjiahe village south of Hui County town, recording in 883 characters of regular script, set out in 26 columns, how the Baishui road through these mountains was built and later rerouted.
Pingliang 18 sites
- Kongtong Mountains 崆峒山 5A scenic area · National heritage site
Kongtong Shan, a forested spur of the Liupan range just west of Pingliang, is one of the sacred mountains of Taoism: legend says the Yellow Emperor came here to ask the immortal Guangchengzi about the Dao, and it is also known as the cradle of the Kongtong school of martial arts. - Ancient Lingtai and Jingshan Forest Park 古灵台荆山森林公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A wooded hill park on Zhongtai Hill in the middle of Lingtai town, around the 'Ancient Lingtai', the terrace that legend says King Wen of Zhou raised for offerings to Heaven after his campaign against the state of Mixu. - Guanshan Lianhuatai Scenic Area 关山莲花台 4A scenic area · on the map
A forested mountain area in the Guanshan, the old Long Mountains on Huating's western border, rising to 2,748 m at Wutai Shan, with birch and pine forest over more than 90 per cent of the land, meadows, rock pinnacles, waterfalls and old Buddhist and Taoist temples. - Haizhaigou Scenic Area 海寨沟 4A scenic area · on the map
A rural valley at Dazhai, south-east of Pingliang, developed as an activity resort. - Huangfu Mi Culture Park 皇甫谧文化园 4A scenic area
A traditional-medicine themed scenic area at Zhang'aopo village, the home district of Huangfu Mi (c. - Jieshipu Long March Memorial and Mao Zedong's Former Residence 界石铺红军长征毛泽东旧居纪念馆 4A scenic area · on the map
A memorial in Jieshipu town marking the Red Army's passage on the Long March: in October 1935 Mao Zedong and other leaders camped here with the Shaanxi–Gansu column, and in October 1936 Red Army units again passed through while the three main forces gathered in the Huining–Jingning area. - Longquan Temple, Chongxin 龙泉寺 4A scenic area · on the map
A wooded valley just north of Chongxin town, a provincial scenic area and geopark named after the temple at its heart, where the Guanzhu Spring feeds a waterfall and an ancient cypress coils along the cliff, a scene called the 'coiling dragon cypress'. - Mijiagou Scenic Area 米家沟 4A scenic area · on the map
A wooded valley and provincial forest park on the edge of Huating, run as a family leisure area with streams, peach and flower fields, a climbing wall, adventure courses, a children's playground and live-action combat games, plus cave-dwelling restaurants and yurts. - Tianjiagou Soil and Water Conservation Scenic Area 田家沟 4A scenic area · on the map
A loess gully system just north of Jingchuan that decades of soil-conservation work have turned green, now a national water-conservancy scenic area and soil-conservation demonstration park. - Wangmu Palace and Dayun Temple, Jingchuan 王母宫·大云寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
Jingchuan's Queen Mother of the West culture area joins two sites in the town. - Yunya Temple Grottoes 云崖寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A forested gorge in the Guanshan mountains of Zhuanglang where red sandstone cliffs hold Buddhist caves begun in the late Northern Wei and restored up to the Qing: on the main cliff, about 300 m long and 80 m high, 19 caves in three tiers keep stone and clay statues and fragments of murals, with well-preserved Ming clay figures in Caves 6 and 7. - Chengji Ancient City Site 成纪故城遗址 National heritage site · on the map
Remains of Chengji, a county town founded under the Western Han on a terrace where the Nan and Lidian rivers meet; after an earthquake in 734 the county moved to present-day Qin'an, and a fort was rebuilt here in 1067. - Jingning Confucian Temple 静宁文庙 National heritage site · on the map
A Ming-dynasty state Confucian temple, rebuilt on its present site in the Jiajing reign, whose Lingxing Gate, semicircular pool, Dacheng Gate and seven-bay Dacheng Hall stand on a north–south axis, with the Minglun Hall of the old school to the west. - Niujiaogou Palaeolithic Site 牛角沟遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The gully at Baijia village in eastern Jingchuan where a human fossil about 50,000 years old, known as 'Jingchuan Man', was found in 1974, the first early human fossil from Gansu. - Shigong Temple Grottoes 石拱寺石窟 National heritage site · on the map
A small group of Buddhist cave shrines cut into a hillside near Shangguan in southern Huating, begun under the Northern Wei and carved on into the Sui; 14 caves and niches survive, known for their finely carved flying apsaras. - South Grotto Temple 南石窟寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Buddhist cave temple on the north bank of the Jing River, begun in 510 by Xi Kangsheng, prefect of Jingzhou, and often paired in local accounts with the North Grotto Temple near Qingyang as the 'twin pearls' of eastern Gansu's cave art. - Temple of the Prince of Wukang 武康王庙 National heritage site · on the map
A temple on Chongxin's East Street to Li Yuanliang, the Tang general and Prince of Wukang who built Chongxin's walls and garrisoned them against Tibetan Empire raids; it existed before 797 and was moved to this site in 1370. - Yan'en Temple Pagoda 延恩寺塔 National heritage site · on the map
A seven-storey octagonal brick pagoda some 33 m tall on Baota Ridge in eastern Pingliang, built between 1535 and 1546 and long called the Daming Pagoda after the stone plaque reading 'Da Ming' over its arched south door.
Qingyang 19 sites
- Huanzhou Old Town and Huanxian Pagoda 环州故城 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A scenic area of 518 mu (about 35 ha) at the north gate of Huan county town, opened in September 2021 and laid out in Song style around the Huanxian Pagoda and the remains of the walled Song-era town of Huanzhou, a frontier post against the Western Xia in the time of Fan Zhongyan. - Longqi Valley (Heilaoguo) 龙栖谷 4A scenic area · on the map
A narrow rocky gorge more than 1 km long at Maosi village in the Pu River valley south of Xifeng, whose winding course is said to look from above like a coiled dragon; it is also called Heilaoguo, the "black pot", because the stream sinks underground and has scoured the dark rock into a pot shape. - Nanliang Revolutionary Sites 南梁革命旧址 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
In 1934 Communist organisers led by Liu Zhidan, Xie Zichang and Xi Zhongxun made Nanliang, in the Ziwuling hills of eastern Huachi County, the base of a Soviet government for the Shaanxi–Gansu border area; it took the name Shaanxi–Gansu Border Region Soviet Government in November 1934 and moved to Xiasiwan in Shaanxi in April 1935. - North Grotto Temple 北石窟寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A Buddhist cave temple cut into a sandstone cliff about 20 m high and 120 m long on the east bank of the Pu River where it meets the Ru, south-west of Xifeng, begun in 509 under the Northern Wei and extended under later dynasties into the Qing. - Yaowangdong Wellness Town 药王洞养生小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A modern tourist town in old-street style on the east bank of the Rouyuan River at Qingcheng, about 3.2 km long and below the Zhouzu Mausoleum; it takes its name from a cave associated with the legendary physician Qibo. - Zhouzu Mausoleum 周祖陵 4A scenic area · on the map
A forest park on the East Hill above Qingcheng, named after the tomb traditionally held to be that of Buzhu, the Xia-period ancestor of the Zhou royal house, who is said to have brought his people here and taught them farming. - Ziwu Huaxi Valley 子午花溪谷 4A scenic area · on the map
A flower-valley leisure area at Lianjiabian in Taibai town, on the edge of the Ziwuling forest in eastern Heshui County, laid out around a visitor centre and car park. - Dong Laoye Shan (Xinglong Shan) Temples 东老爷山 National heritage site · on the map
A Daoist mountain, 1,774 m high, in north-eastern Huan County near the meeting point of Gansu, Shaanxi and Ningxia, also called Xinglong Shan and known for the saying that a cock's crow here carries into three provinces. - Donghuachi Pagoda 东华池塔 National heritage site · on the map
An octagonal brick pagoda of seven storeys on Baota Hill above Donghuachi village in Linzhen township, built in 1099 under the Northern Song and repaired under the Jin and the Ming. - Former Shaanxi–Gansu–Ningxia Provincial Soviet Government, Helianwan 河连湾陕甘宁省苏维埃政府旧址 National heritage site · on the map
Helianwan village in Hongde town was the seat of the Communist Party's Shaanxi–Gansu–Ningxia Provincial Committee and Provincial Soviet Government from July 1936 to September 1937, after they moved here from Wuqi in northern Shaanxi, with Li Fuchun as party secretary and Ma Xiwu as chairman. - Luochuan Old Town: Zhao Stone Archways and Confucian Temple Hall 罗川古城 National heritage site · on the map
Luochuan, now a village on the Silang River in Yonghe town, was a county seat for many centuries, and three red-sandstone memorial archways of the late Ming stand on the axis of its main street, carved with scenes from the career of the official Zhao Bangqing, auspicious motifs and inscribed boards, one board a gift of the Wanli Emperor. - Ningshou Temple Pagoda 凝寿寺塔 National heritage site · on the map
A square brick pagoda of five storeys in the pavilion style, 21.2 m high and 6 m wide at the base, built in the Five Dynasties to Northern Song period at Zhengping village on the north bank of the Jing River. - Qin Straight Road (Qingyang Section) 秦直道 National heritage site · on the map
A military road that the First Emperor of Qin ordered General Meng Tian to build from 212 BC; its Qingyang section, a national heritage unit of roughly 300 km, follows the forested Ziwuling ridge through Zhengning, Ning, Heshui and Huachi counties, and scholars still debate whether the Gansu line was the main road or a branch. - Shanchengbao Battle Site 山城堡战役旧址 National heritage site · on the map
The site of the Battle of Shanchengbao in November 1936, the first major engagement fought by the Red Army after its three main forces had joined up at the end of the Long March, in which troops under Peng Dehuai defeated part of Hu Zongnan's Nationalist First Army around Shancheng. - Shuangta Temple Sculpted Pagodas 双塔寺造像塔 National heritage site · on the map
Two red-sandstone pagodas carved all over with Buddhist figures, the only standing remains of a temple founded in 1156–89 under the Jin in Linzhen township and destroyed by an earthquake in the Qianlong era. - Ta'erwan Sculpted Pagoda 塔儿湾造像塔 National heritage site · on the map
A slender octagonal stone pagoda of thirteen tiers of close-set eaves, 10.93 m high, carved from local red sandstone in 1102–06 under the Northern Song and moved from Ta'erwan village in Taibai to the courtyard of the Heshui County Museum, also called the Longdong Ancient Stone Carving Art Museum. - Xiangle Brick Pagoda 湘乐砖塔 National heritage site · on the map
A hexagonal brick pagoda in the pavilion style in Xiangle town, begun under the Song and described as seven storeys, now about 22 m high with its top collapsed. - Xiaojin Pagoda 肖金塔 National heritage site · on the map
A Song-dynasty brick pagoda, also called the Jincheng Temple Pagoda, on the south street of Xiaojin town; the temple around it has gone and only the tower survives, patched up in the Qing. - Zhoujiubang Wooden Archway 周旧邦木坊 National heritage site · on the map
A Ming-dynasty timber memorial archway, built in 1505 on South Street in Qingcheng, the old county town, by the Qingyang prefect to honour Buzhu, the ancestor of the Zhou royal house who tradition says brought his people to this valley.
Tianshui 20 sites
- Daxiangshan (Big Buddha Mountain) 大像山 4A scenic area · on the map
A hillside of temples and grottoes on Wenqi Mountain just west of Gangu town, named after the large Buddha carved into the cliff near its summit. - Fengshan Hill, Qin'an 凤山 4A scenic area · on the map
A hill on the eastern edge of Qin'an town covered by the Taishan Temple complex, 41 Ming and Qing halls, pavilions and cave shrines built on nine terraces, with Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist figures side by side. - Fuxi Temple, Tianshui 伏羲庙 4A scenic area · National heritage site
A Ming-dynasty temple to Fuxi, the legendary forefather of Chinese civilisation, laid out as a series of courtyards along one axis on Fuxi Road in the old part of Tianshui. - Gupo Grassland 古坡草原 4A scenic area · on the map
Upland meadows, forest and rocky peaks around the headwaters of the Ji River in southern Gangu County, between about 1,760 and 2,700 m above sea level. - Nanguo Temple (Nanshan Scenic Area) 南郭寺 4A scenic area
A Buddhist temple in a fold of the hills about 2 km south of central Tianshui, already a sizeable monastery in the Tang dynasty and visited by the poet Du Fu in 759, who wrote verses about it. - Ping'an Grassland 平安草原 4A scenic area · on the map
An expanse of high mountain meadows, valleys and streams in the Guan Mountains of Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County, where the early Qin state is said to have pastured its horses. - Qingjuanshan Resort 青鹃山 4A scenic area · on the map
A countryside resort around Sunji village in Pingnan town, south of Tianshui, laid out around a lake lined with themed wooden cabins where visitors can fish, go boating and cook their catch in the cabins' kitchens. - Shuiliandong Grottoes and Lashao Temple 水帘洞石窟 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A group of cave temples in a narrow gorge north-east of Wushan town, named after a natural cave about 50 m high whose overhang turns into a curtain of water when it rains. - Suwan Folk Manor 苏湾民俗庄园 4A scenic area · on the map
A rural folk-culture park in Sujiawan village, Pingnan town, in the hills south of Tianshui, which became a 4A scenic area in 2025. - Yuquan Taoist Temple 玉泉观 4A scenic area · National heritage site
A Taoist temple complex climbing the foot of Tianjing Mountain on the north side of Tianshui's old city, founded in the Tang dynasty and rebuilt by Quanzhen Taoists from the Yuan onwards. - Dadiwan Site 大地湾遗址 National heritage site · on the map
One of the key Neolithic sites of the Yellow River basin, occupied from about 7,800 to 4,800 years ago, where excavations from 1978 uncovered more than 700 features, among them house foundations, hearths, kilns and graves, and nearly ten thousand artefacts. - Heyu Cliff Inscription 河峪摩崖石刻 National heritage site · on the map
An Eastern Han inscription carved into a rock face at Heyu in eastern Zhangjiachuan County, listed as a national heritage site in 2019. - Houjie Mosque 后街清真寺 National heritage site · on the map
A working mosque of Tianshui's Hui community in Qinzhou District, whose buildings date from the Ming and Qing dynasties. - Hu Family Residences (Tianshui Folk Museum) 胡氏古民居 National heritage site · on the map
Two Ming-dynasty courtyard mansions facing each other across a street in Tianshui's old city, built in the Jiajing era (1522–1566) by the scholar Hu Laijin and lived in by his descendants for generations. - Ji Xin Temple, Tianshui 纪信祠 National heritage site
Tianshui's City God temple, dedicated to Ji Xin, a general of the founder of the Han dynasty who is worshipped as the city god in Tianshui and Lanzhou. - Majiayuan Site and Chariot Museum 马家塬遗址 National heritage site · on the map
Majiayuan, in the hills north of Zhangjiachuan town, is a Warring States cemetery of Western Rong chieftains, a people drawn into the state of Qin, whose tombs held richly decorated chariots and gold and silver ornaments in a style linked to the steppe cultures further west. - Mutisi Grottoes 木梯寺石窟 National heritage site · on the map
A cave temple high on the slopes of Bailin Mountain in Mali town, west of Wushan, named, legend says, after a wooden ladder that was once the only way up the cliff to it. - Qin'an Confucian Temple 秦安文庙 National heritage site · on the map
Qin'an's Confucian temple, founded before 1297, keeps a Ming-dynasty Dacheng Hall under a single-eaved hip-and-gable roof of glazed tiles, one of the better-preserved Ming timber buildings in Gansu. - Shengshou Temple, Wushan 武山圣寿寺 National heritage site · on the map
A temple in Wushan County whose surviving buildings date from the Yuan dynasty to the Republican era, listed as a national heritage site in 2019. - Xingguo Temple, Qin'an 兴国寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Yuan-dynasty Buddhist temple in the centre of Qin'an town whose main building, the Prajna Hall, is dated by an inscribed board of the Zhishun era (1330–1333) found inside its wall in 1974.
Wuwei 14 sites
- Baita Temple Site and Liangzhou Assembly Memorial Hall 凉州白塔寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
The site of a Yuan-period Buddhist monastery at Wunan, south-east of Wuwei, where in 1247 Sakya Pandita, head of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, met the Mongol prince Köden (Godan), a grandson of Genghis Khan who held Liangzhou as his appanage. - Binggou River Scenic Area 冰沟河 4A scenic area · on the map
A mountain valley at the eastern end of the Qilian range in the Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, named after its glacier-fed river, with alpine meadows grazed by white yaks, conifer forest and wild iris grassland. - Gulang Battle Memorial Hall 古浪战役纪念馆 4A scenic area · on the map
A memorial park in the south-west of Gulang town on the battlefield of November 1936, when the Western Route Army of the Chinese Red Army fought the forces of the Ma clique around Gulang during its advance west along the Hexi Corridor. - Leitai Han Tomb 雷台汉墓 4A scenic area · National heritage site
A brick tomb of the late Eastern Han with front, middle and rear chambers, found in 1969 under Leitai, an earthen terrace topped by a Ming Taoist temple in northern Wuwei; it yielded more than 230 objects, among them a procession of bronze horses, chariots and figures and the Bronze Galloping Horse (Flying Horse of Gansu), later chosen as China's tourism emblem. - Shajing Culture Folk Museum and Village 沙井文化民俗旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
A village folk-culture centre in a former school at Xintao, Sanlei, built around a museum set up by local villagers, said to be the largest privately run folk museum in Gansu, with thousands of objects of rural life and several hundred pottery, stone and bone finds of the Shajing culture, the early first-millennium BC culture named after a site in Minqin. - Shenzhou Desert Wildlife Park 神州荒漠野生动物园 4A scenic area · on the map
A wildlife park on the desert edge east of Wuwei that specialises in desert animals of north-west China, notably Przewalski's horses, Tibetan wild asses and wild Bactrian camels, alongside zoo species such as golden snub-nosed monkeys, African lions, brown bears and Amur tigers. - Suwu Desert Scenic Area 苏武沙漠 4A scenic area · on the map
A desert leisure area on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert near Minqin, named after Su Wu, the Han envoy of the famous sheep-herding exile story, whom local tradition links with Minqin. - Tiantishan Caves 天梯山石窟 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Among the earliest Buddhist cave temples in China, cut into cliffs above the Huangyang River in the Qilian foothills from the time of the Northern Liang ruler Juqu Mengxun in the early fifth century and reworked up to the Qing; 19 caves survive in three tiers. - Wuwei Confucius Temple 武威文庙 4A scenic area · National heritage site
Built in 1437–1439 and enlarged up to the Republican era, this is one of the largest Confucian temples in north-west China, laid out in three courts side by side: the Wenchang Palace to the east, the temple proper with its semicircular pool, Lingxing Gate, Dacheng Hall and Zunjing Library in the middle, and the old Confucian school to the west, with more than 30 steles from the Tang to the Qing. - Wuwei Desert Park 武威沙漠公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A desert-themed park on the desert edge east of Wuwei, billed as the first in China built around desert scenery, that mixes sand dunes with planted woodland, grassland and landscaped gardens across more than 530 hectares. - Dongda Monastery, Tianzhu 东大寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Tibetan Buddhist monastery at Saishisi in southern Tianzhu, nearly 400 years old, whose Tibetan name means 'great monastery of the Datong'; its buildings blend Han Chinese and Tibetan styles and it was once a leading monastery of the Tibetan Huarui area. - Haizang Temple 海藏寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Buddhist temple on the north-western edge of Wuwei whose surviving halls and painted beams date from the Ming to the Republican era, set among pines and cypresses several centuries old, many of them protected trees. - Ruian Fort 瑞安堡 National heritage site
A fortified manor begun in 1938 at Santao village south-west of Minqin, where a landowner's family compound sits inside high rammed-earth walls with honeycomb battlements; it is one of the best-preserved fortified farmsteads in north-west China, nicknamed the 'Palace Museum beyond the frontier'. - Shengrong Temple, Minqin 圣容寺 National heritage site · on the map
A Buddhist temple in Minqin whose surviving buildings date from the Ming dynasty to the Republican period, listed as a national heritage site in 2013.
Zhangye 31 sites
- Biandukou 扁都口 4A scenic area · on the map
Biandukou, called Dadoubagu in the Sui, is a pass of over 3,500 m on the old route across the Qilian Mountains between Minle and Qinghai, linked by Chinese sources with Huo Qubing's army, the monk Faxian and Emperor Yang of Sui. - Binggou Danxia 冰沟丹霞 4A scenic area · on the map
The second major scenic area of the Zhangye Danxia geopark, opened in 2014 on the north bank of the Liyuan River in Sunan: in contrast to the striped hills of Qicai Danxia, it is a landscape of red sandstone cliffs, walls, pillars and spires. - Binhe Jiuliangye Distillery 滨河九粮液 4A scenic area · on the map
The Binhe distillery in the Minle eco-industrial park, maker of Jiuliangye baijiu, is open to visitors as a liquor-culture scenic area covering its starter-making, distilling and bottling halls, blending cellars and a large storage cellar. - Dafo Temple, Zhangye 张掖大佛寺 4A scenic area · National heritage site
The temple was founded in 1098 under the Western Xia, and its two-storey Great Buddha Hall shelters a painted clay reclining Buddha about 35 m long, often described as the largest indoor reclining Buddha in China, with his ten disciples standing behind him. - Dahuwan Scenic Area 大湖湾 4A scenic area · on the map
A lake and wetland leisure area in the Heihe valley near Gaotai, centred on the Chongwen Tower, a 41.7 m five-storey timber tower in southern Ming–Qing style built in 2011–12, with a lakeside plaza, boardwalks and bridges. - Danxiakou Tourist Town 丹霞口文旅小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A modern tourist town built in old style near the north entrance of the Qicai Danxia scenic area, mixing grey-tiled Huizhou-style houses with the walls and gate towers of the north-west. - Ganquan Red History and Culture Area 甘泉红色历史文化旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
A 50 ha district in central Zhangye that joins red-history sites, including the Gao Jincheng Martyr Memorial Hall and an exhibition on the Western Route Army's 1936–37 campaign in the Hexi Corridor, with the Ganquan spring, rebuilt traditional gardens, the Sanyuan Museum and two lakes. - Liushahe Scenic Area, Linze 流沙河景区 4A scenic area · on the map
A riverside park of about 230 ha on the south side of Linze town, with lakes including Swan Lake, a Danxia-style hill and square, a Journey to the West garden and a 'hundred stones' garden carved with poems. - Lushuiwan Scenic Area 芦水湾 4A scenic area · on the map
A chain of man-made lakes with lakeside parkland on the north-western edge of Zhangye, with bridges, promenades and the Shuitian Yise square, and sightseeing carts running between them. - Mati Temple Grottoes 马蹄寺石窟群 4A scenic area · National heritage site
A group of Buddhist cave temples in the Qilian foothills of Sunan, begun in the Northern Liang in the early 5th century and used into the Qing, spread over seven sites including the Mati North and South temples, the Thousand Buddha Caves and Jinta Temple. - Minle Silk Road Pastoral Park 民乐现代丝路田园综合体 4A scenic area · on the map
An agri-tourism park in northern Minle built around fruit-picking orchards, flower fields, a folk-culture village and street and a farming-culture study area. - Pingshanhu Grand Canyon 平山湖大峡谷 4A scenic area · on the map
A canyon of red sandstone and conglomerate cut into the desert hills north-east of Zhangye, opened to visitors in 2014, where trails and viewpoints lead along the ridges and down into narrow gorges of a 95 km² scenic area. - Qilian Mountain Deer Park 祁连山鹿文化生态旅游区 4A scenic area · on the map
An alpine valley on the Jinchang River at 2,700–3,500 m in Sunan where more than 600 farmed Qilian red deer (white-rumped deer) graze on high grassland below snow peaks, and visitors can see them at close quarters. - Wenshushan Grottoes 文殊山石窟 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
A cave-temple complex in the Wenshu Mountains south-west of Jiuquan, spread over a front and a back hill, with over 130 caves recorded, including about 30 from the Wei and Jin to the Qing that keep more than 500 statues and some 1,200 m² of murals. - Western Route Army Memorial Hall, Gaotai 中国工农红军西路军纪念馆 4A scenic area · on the map
A memorial to the Western Route Army, the Red Army force of about 21,800 that crossed the Yellow River in October 1936 and was defeated by Ma clique forces in the Hexi Corridor over the following months; its Fifth Army was destroyed at Gaotai in January 1937. - Wulan Ancient Town 屋兰古镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A modern tourist town built in old style at Gucheng village in Jiantan, east of Zhangye, whose centrepiece is the Jiuqu Huanghe lantern maze: a 2.4 km labyrinth laid out on the nine palaces and eight trigrams, with 365 lanterns, nine halls and more than 700 walls decorated with themes from traditional cosmology and Hexi history. - Yanzhi Mountains 焉支山 4A scenic area
A forested outlier of the Qilian range south of Shandan, rising to 3,978 m, which the Han general Huo Qubing won from the Xiongnu and where Emperor Yang of Sui is said to have received envoys from 27 states in 609. - Yueya Lake Park, Gaotai 月牙湖 4A scenic area · on the map
A town park on the western edge of Gaotai, built since 1992 around a natural reed-marsh lake that was long counted among the county's ten sights as 'the lake reflecting the crescent moon'. - Yugur Culture Corridor 裕固风情走廊 4A scenic area · on the map
A 27 km scenic road through the Qilian foothills around Kangle in Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, home of the Yugur, a people of about 15,000 who speak Turkic and Mongolic languages and mostly follow Tibetan Buddhism. - Yugur Folk Culture Resort, Sunan 裕固族民俗度假区 4A scenic area · on the map
Sunan's county town, Hongwansi, and its surroundings form this scenic area, which includes the Yugur Fengqing Yuan cultural park, ethnic villages, a red-history theme park, the Xiliugou folk-culture street and the Solangge racecourse. - Zhangye National Desert Sports Park 张掖国家沙漠体育公园 4A scenic area · on the map
An 18 km² park in the desert dunes 13 km south of Zhangye, laid out for outdoor sport, sightseeing and children's play, with a motorsport circuit that has staged a round of the China Rally Championship nine years running. - Zhangye National Wetland Park 张掖国家湿地公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A wetland park on the northern edge of Zhangye, where boardwalks wind through reedbeds, ponds and stands of tamarisk and oleaster, and lotus ponds bloom in midsummer. - Han and Ming Great Wall at Xiakou, Shandan 山丹汉明长城 National heritage site · on the map
In Shandan county two Great Walls run side by side along the narrow 'waist' of the Hexi Corridor, often only 10–80 m apart: the Han wall to the north, mostly trenches and beacon towers, and the Ming wall of rammed earth to the south. - Heishuiguo Ruins 黑水国遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The 'Black Water Kingdom' is a 16 km² spread of ruins in the sands north-west of Zhangye, where the eroded rammed-earth walls of a southern and a northern town still stand among dunes, with Han bricks, Han–Jin tombs and prehistoric finds scattered around them. - Luotuocheng Ruins 骆驼城遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The rammed-earth walls of one of the largest Han–Tang town sites in the Hexi Corridor stand in farmland west of Gaotai: built here after an earthquake destroyed the earlier county town in AD 180, it became the seat of Jiankang commandery under the Former Liang and, in 397, the first capital of the Northern Liang. - Tongzi Temple Grottoes 童子寺石窟 National heritage site · on the map
A small cave-temple site on two cliff faces east of Minle, first cut in the Northern Wei: the southern caves have murals of Journey to the West stories, and the northern ones Bodhisattvas and a thousand-armed Guanyin. - Xilai Temple 西来寺 National heritage site
A working Chan (Zen) Buddhist temple in the lanes of Zhangye's old town, said to date back to the Tang and rebuilt under the Ming, which took the name Xilai Si after a Qing restoration in the Kangxi reign. - Xusanwan Ancient Fort and Tombs 许三湾古城 National heritage site
A small rammed-earth fort standing alone on the gravel plain west of Gaotai, with corner towers and a square barbican outside its south gate; the area belonged to the Han county of Biaoshi, and the fort was reused as a Ming–Qing outpost before being abandoned. - Yuantong Temple Pagoda 圆通寺塔 National heritage site · on the map
A Tibetan-style stupa of brick and earth about 23 m tall at Liuba in Minle, said to have been founded in the Northern Song and restored several times under the Ming and Qing, when a Qianlong-era rebuilding raised it by more than 3 m. - Zhangye Drum Tower 张掖鼓楼 National heritage site
Zhangye's Drum Tower, also called Zhenyuan Tower, rises 28 m at the crossroads in the middle of the old city: a brick-faced platform pierced by four arched passages carries a two-storey timber pavilion under a pyramidal tiled roof. - Zhangye East Granary 张掖东仓 National heritage site · on the map
A Ming state granary founded in 1392 in Zhangye's old town, whose nine surviving storehouses, with ventilation and rat-proof holes at the foot of their walls, make it one of the more complete old granaries in China.