Tianshui 天水市

Setting and landscape

The prefecture straddles the Yangtze and Yellow River basins: the city drains to the Yellow River, but the far side of South Mountain (南山), a few li away, lies in the Yangtze basin. Citing its pleasant climate, the city’s culture and tourism bureau calls Tianshui the Jiangnan of Gansu (陇上江南).

History

Excavations at the Dadiwan Site (大地湾遗址) in Qin’an County (秦安县) show people living here 8,000 years ago; finds include painted pottery the city government counts among China’s oldest, broomcorn millet over 7,000 years old and F901, a palace-style building over 5,000 years old. The bureau calls Tianshui, also known as Qinzhou (秦州), the cradle of the Qin people. Many battles of Zhuge Liang’s (诸葛亮) Three Kingdoms campaigns were fought here, and battlefields such as Jieting (街亭) survive. Official Fuxi rites began in the Ming dynasty, centred on the Fuxi Temple (伏羲庙); the Taihao Fuxi Ceremony (太昊伏羲祭典), held each summer solstice, entered the first national intangible heritage list in 2006.

What to see

The Maijishan Grottoes, in hills southeast of the city, take their name from a wheatstack-shaped peak. Carving began under the Later Qin (384–417); its caves, best known for clay sculpture, are linked by plank walkways across a sheer cliff. This World Heritage site lies in a national 5A scenic area that also includes Xianrenya (仙人崖). With Daxiangshan (大像山) in Gangu County (甘谷县) and Shuiliandong (水帘洞) in Wushan County (武山县), it forms what the bureau calls a “hundred-li grotto corridor”.

In the city stands the Fuxi Temple, first built in the Ming Chenghua reign; Nanguo Temple (南郭寺) is where the poet Du Fu (杜甫) stayed. Guatai Mountain (卦台山), 17 km from the city above an S-bend of the Wei, is where legend says Fuxi devised the eight trigrams.

Food and local products

Tianshui guagua (天水呱呱), a breakfast staple, is buckwheat starch stirred in a pot for about an hour; its name is a sound-shift of guoba (锅巴), the pot crust, and its making technique entered Gansu’s provincial intangible heritage list in 2017. The viral Tianshui malatang (天水麻辣烫) pairs hand-rolled starch noodles, tofu and vegetables with local Sichuan pepper and Gangu chili. Jiangshui noodles (浆水面) and hot-and-sour tripe soup (酸辣肚丝汤) are other local foods, and Tianshui carved lacquer (雕漆) has been on the national intangible heritage list since 2008.

Getting oriented

Tianshui lies midway between Lanzhou, Xi’an, Yinchuan and Chengdu, and the Longhai Railway (陇海铁路), the Baoji–Lanzhou high-speed line (宝兰客专) and the Lianyungang–Khorgas Expressway (连霍高速) cross it east to west.

Highlights

• Maijishan Grottoes 麦积山石窟: Cliff caves begun under the Later Qin (384–417), noted for clay sculpture and on the World Heritage list.
• Dadiwan Site 大地湾遗址: Neolithic site in Qin’an County with early painted pottery, carbonised millet and the palace-style building F901.
• Fuxi Temple 伏羲庙: Temple in the city’s Xiguan (西关) area, first built in the Ming Chenghua reign; a national key protected site.
• Tianshui guagua 天水呱呱: Buckwheat-starch breakfast whose making technique entered Gansu’s provincial intangible heritage list in 2017.