Qingyang 庆阳市

Setting and landscape

The land is higher in the north than the south, between 885 and 2,082 m: loess tablelands cut by gullies in the centre and south, gullied loess hills in the north and loess hills in the east. The Dongzhi Yuan alone covers 960 km² at an average of 1,421 m. In the southeast, the forested Ziwu Ridge (子午岭) is valued as a 'natural reservoir'.

History

The city government traces the Zhou royal line to its ancestor Buzhu (不窋), who settled around today's Qingcheng (庆城) and Ning County (宁县) and taught farming more than 3,000 years ago. The Yiqu (义渠), which the city government calls the strongest of the early local states, lasted until the Qin destroyed them and set up Beidi Commandery (北地郡) in 271 BC; under the Song it became Qingyang Prefecture in 1125. In the 1930s Liu Zhidan (刘志丹), Xie Zichang (谢子长) and Xi Zhongxun (习仲勋) built a revolutionary base centred on Nanliang (南梁), which gave the Long March armies a foothold. The city government adds that archaeologists call the Nanzuo site (南佐遗址) 'China's earliest Forbidden City'.

What to see

The Zhou Ancestor Mausoleum (周祖陵) on East Mountain (东山) in Qingcheng is named for Buzhu's tomb on the summit; 822 stone steps climb to its halls, and a stele forest carries the medical classic Huangdi Neijing (黄帝内经) in the hands of more than a thousand calligraphers. The Northern Grotto Temple (北石窟寺), about 25 km southwest of the city on the east bank of the Pu River (蒲河), was begun in 509 under the Northern Wei; with nearby caves it counts 308 caves and more than 2,000 carved figures.

Food and local products

Hele noodles (饸饹面) are pressed through a traditional press from wheat or buckwheat dough and served with a meat sauce; buckwheat hele demands more care in mixing, pressing and boiling. Qingyang sachets (庆阳香包), locally called chuchu (绌绌), are embroidered in coloured thread on silk from paper-cut patterns and stuffed with silk floss and spices as charms for luck and health. Huan County's Daoqing shadow puppetry (环县道情皮影戏) has been on the national intangible heritage list since 2006; Longdong puppet figures show the influence of local paper-cutting.

Getting oriented

The Yinchuan–Xi'an high-speed railway has six stations in the city, including Qingyang, Qingcheng and Ning County, and Qingyang Airport serves the area.

Highlights

• Zhou Ancestor Mausoleum 周祖陵: A national 4A scenic area; the Qi Bo (岐伯) area within it draws on the legend that the physician Qi Bo was born at Qinglongzui (青龙咀) in Qingcheng.
• Northern Grotto Temple 北石窟寺: Extended under the Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang and Song; the site also has steles, painted murals and ink inscriptions.