Yuquan District 玉泉区

History

The district's name comes from a legend of a spring dug out by an imperial horse's hoof. In 1571 the Tumed (土默特) leader Altan Khan (阿勒坦汗) reached a tribute-and-trade agreement with the Ming, and the next year he began building a walled town south of the Daqing Mountains (大青山), modelled on the Yuan capital. Finished in 1575, it was named Kokegota, "blue city", and the Ming called it Guihua. After it was destroyed at the end of the Ming, the Qing rebuilt it; when Suiyuan (绥远城) was built to the north-east in the early Qianlong reign, Guihua became known as the "old town", a name still used. The name Yuquan dates from June 1954, when the city's Third District was renamed.

What to see

Dazhao Temple (大召寺), a Gelug lamasery founded by Altan Khan in 1579, is the earliest Yellow Hat monastery built in Hohhot and is also called the Silver Buddha Temple for the silver statue it houses. Xilitu Temple (席力图召), begun in 1585, takes its name from the Mongolian for "seat"; it was once the seat of the third and fourth Dalai Lamas, and two Kangxi-era stelae survive there. The Five Pagoda Temple (五塔寺) keeps only its Qing Diamond Throne pagoda: five small towers on a platform, the Diamond Sutra in Mongolian, Tibetan and Sanskrit, 1,119 small gilded Buddha figures in its thousand-Buddha niches, and a stone star chart labelled in Mongolian, with more than 1,550 stars. The district government describes Guanyin Temple (观音寺) as the only intact Qing-dynasty Chinese Buddhist temple left in the city.

The district also holds the Zhaojun Museum (昭君博物院), the Dashengkui (大盛魁) creative park on the history of the Mongolia trade, and Saishang Old Street (塞上老街), listed among the first national tourism and leisure streets.

Food and local products

The district's culture and tourism bureau promotes Hohhot's old-style dishes through "Hohhot's first shaomai street" (呼和浩特烧麦第一街), a food street on Tongshun Lane (通顺大巷) and the old Deshunyuan (德顺源) brand. Its shaomai street has been named a municipal intangible-heritage street.

Setting and landscape

Yuquan lies on the Tumochuan (土默川) plain at an average of about 1,035 m, sloping from north-east to south-west. The Dahei River, a Yellow River tributary, runs 19.37 km through the district. Its tributary the Xiaohei (小黑河) also crosses the district and is fed by the Zhadagai (扎达盖河), known locally as the Niuqiao River, which comes down from the Daqing Mountains.

Highlights

• Dazhao Temple 大召寺: Gelug lamasery founded by Altan Khan in 1579, the earliest in Hohhot; national protected site since 2006.
• Xilitu Temple 席力图召: Lamasery begun in 1585, once seat of the third and fourth Dalai Lamas; two Kangxi stelae survive.
• Five Pagoda Temple 五塔寺: Diamond Throne pagoda of a Qing temple, with 1,119 small gilded Buddha figures and a Mongolian-labelled stone star chart.
• Guanyin Temple 观音寺: The district government describes it as the only intact Qing Chinese Buddhist temple remaining in Hohhot.
• Saishang Old Street 塞上老街: Historic street listed among the first national tourism and leisure streets.