Zhangye 张掖市

Setting and landscape

The corridor runs between the Qilian range to the south and the Heli (合黎) and Longshou (龙首山) mountains to the north, and is crossed by the Hei River (黑河) and its tributary the Shandan River (山丹河). Summers are short and hot and winters long and severe, while the Qilian highlands have an alpine climate.

History

People have lived here for more than 4,000 years. The Han founded Zhangye commandery in 111 BC, naming it for the aim to “stretch the state’s arm to reach the Western Regions” (张国臂掖，以通西域); the Western Wei renamed it Ganzhou in 554 after a sweet spring. Three branches of the Silk Road met here, and the city counts Zhang Qian’s (张骞) mission to the west, Huo Qubing’s (霍去病) defeat of the Xiongnu and Marco Polo’s stay among its history. Zhangye was also the main Hexi battlefield of the Red Army’s Western Route Army, remembered at the Western Route Army Memorial Hall (中国工农红军西路军纪念馆), a national first-grade museum. Yugur folk songs (裕固族民歌) from Sunan Yugur Autonomous County (肃南裕固族自治县), sung by a people who speak a Turkic and a Mongolic language, were on the first national intangible heritage list in 2006.

What to see

The Zhangye Danxia (张掖七彩丹霞), 40 km west of the city in Linze (临泽县) and Sunan counties, is a national 5A scenic area and a World Geopark: bands of purple-red, grey-green and yellow-green mudstone and shale, Cretaceous red beds carved by water and wind. The Giant Buddha Temple (张掖大佛寺), a Western Xia royal temple in the southwest of the old city, holds what the city’s tourism bureau calls Asia’s largest indoor reclining Buddha, of clay over wood. The Mati Temple Grottoes (马蹄寺石窟群), 65 km south of the city in Sunan County, date from the Northern Liang and spread over seven sites with more than 70 niches.

Food and local products

Zhangye grows a lot of wheat, so its snacks are mostly made of dough. Saozi noodles (臊子面), served in a thickened broth with floating diamonds of tofu, are the favourite breakfast; xiaofan (小饭) mixes small pieces of dough, meat and tofu with red beans and starch sheets; and cuoyuzi (搓鱼子) are hand-rolled, fish-shaped noodles of buckwheat, highland barley or wheat flour.

Getting oriented

The city government sits in Ganzhou District (甘州区). The Lanzhou–Xinjiang Railway (兰新铁路), the Lanzhou–Xinjiang high-speed railway (兰新高铁) and the Lianyungang–Khorgas Expressway (连霍高速) cross the prefecture, and Zhangye has its own airport.

Highlights

• Zhangye Danxia 张掖七彩丹霞: Banded Cretaceous red beds in Linze and Sunan counties; a national 5A scenic area and World Geopark.
• Giant Buddha Temple 张掖大佛寺: Western Xia royal temple in the southwest of the old city with a large indoor clay reclining Buddha.
• Mati Temple Grottoes 马蹄寺石窟群: Northern Liang grottoes in Sunan County, seven sites with more than 70 niches.
• Cuoyuzi 搓鱼子: Hand-rolled, fish-shaped noodles of buckwheat, highland barley or wheat flour.