Wuwei 武威市

Setting and landscape

The prefecture lies between the Qilian Mountains (祁连山) and the Tengger Desert (腾格里沙漠), where the Loess, Qinghai–Tibet and Mongolian–Xinjiang plateaus meet. The south has glaciers and high ranges such as Wushaoling (乌鞘岭); oases alternate with gobi along the corridor in the middle, and gobi, desert and low hills fill the north. Most rivers rise in the Qilian and belong to the Shiyang River (石羊河) system.

History

In 121 BC the Han general Huo Qubing (霍去病) defeated the Xiongnu, the Hexi Corridor came under Han rule, and the new commandery was named Wuwei, “martial might”, to display the army’s prowess. Its seat, Guzang (姑臧), is today’s Liangzhou District (凉州区). The Former, Later, Southern and Northern Liang states of the Sixteen Kingdoms period and the Da Liang of the late Sui all had their capitals here, and the Buddhist translator Kumarajiva (鸠摩罗什) spent 17 years here. In 1247 the Sakya leader Sakya Pandita (萨迦班智达) and the Mongol prince Godan (阔端) held talks in Liangzhou that set the terms of Tibet’s submission to the Mongol Empire; the Liangzhou Meeting Memorial (凉州会盟纪念馆), in the former Baita Temple (白塔寺), commemorates them. Liangzhou Xianxiao (凉州贤孝), storytelling in song traditionally performed by blind singers who accompany themselves in the local dialect, entered the first national intangible heritage list in 2006.

What to see

The Leitai Han Tomb (雷台汉墓), inside the city, yielded the bronze horse in September 1969. The Wuwei Confucian Temple (武威文庙), founded in 1439, joins a Wenchang Palace, the temple proper and a Confucian school, and the city government calls it the “crown of the academies of Longyou”. Both are national key protected sites, as are the Tiantishan Grottoes (天梯山石窟), 50 km south of the city, begun under the Northern Liang and dubbed by the city government the “forefather of grottoes”; the main cave holds a 28-metre seated Buddha. In Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County (天祝藏族自治县), Tiantang Temple (天堂寺) grew from a Bon monastery founded in the Tang.

Food and local products

The local set meal known as the “three carts” (三套车) combines hand-pulled xingmian noodles (行面) in a braised-meat broth, braised pork, and fu tea (茯茶) brewed with rock sugar, red dates and longan, nicknamed Liangzhou’s “local coffee”.

Getting oriented

The city government sits in Liangzhou District; Minqin (民勤县) and Gulang (古浪县) counties and Tianzhu make up the rest of the prefecture. The Lanzhou–Xinjiang Railway (兰新铁路) and the Gantang–Wuwei Railway (干武铁路) meet here, and the Zhongchuan–Wuwei section of the Lanzhou–Zhangye high-speed railway (兰张高铁) is in service.

Highlights

• Leitai Han Tomb 雷台汉墓: Han tomb inside the city where the bronze Horse Treading on a Flying Swallow was unearthed in September 1969.
• Wuwei Confucian Temple 武威文庙: Temple complex on Chongwen Street founded in 1439, with a Wenchang Palace, the temple and a Confucian school.
• Tiantishan Grottoes 天梯山石窟: Northern Liang grottoes 50 km south of the city, with a 28-metre seated Buddha in the main cave.
• Three carts set meal 三套车: Xingmian noodles, braised pork and fu tea served together as one meal.