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Zhangye is a town that has lost much of its former glory. It lies about 450km northwest
of the capital Lanzhou, and nowadays is most famed as both a small station on the
Lanzhou-Urumqi rail line, and for its production of lethal liquor, including Zhangye
Rice Wine (Zhangye huangjiu), Zhangye Nan Wine (Zhangye
nanjiu) and Siluchun Spirits (Siluchun baijiu). Things were
not always this way. As early as 5,000 years ago, Zhangye was a popular dwelling place, a natural area of
plain, surrounded by twin mountains, Qilianshan and Helishan.
At this time the area was considered Tibetan, part of the large area of influence that the
present day province struggles to remember. Even today the Tibetan influence is still
here, especially a little to the south around the village of Mati.
In 111 BC, during the Western Han Dynasty, Zhengye was officially designated as an
administrative town. The town grew to prominence along with the famed Silk Road,
when virtually every merchant and traveler planning on going to Xinjiang and beyond, from
central China (Zhongyuan), had to pass through Zhangye. By the Ming Dynasty
(1364-1644 AD), the town had grown into a critical garrison for soldiers guarding the Great
Wall. For a period in the Ming, the town even served as the capital of Gansu
province. The signs of this glory are now all but faded in the city itself. A few attractions
remain to signify this, most notably China"s largest indoor reclining Buddha, a large minority population,
including a scattering of Tibetans, and the crumbling Great Wall that runs to the south of
the town. Most visitors here seem content with no more than a day here. Of more interest
are the areas out of town, and while the tourism industry is happy to promote the famous Horse"s
Hoof Temple (Mati si) some 60km away, of better value are the villages
and little, lesser known temples, of the Sunan Yugu (Tibetan) Autonomous
Prefecture, around Mati. |
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