甘肃英语导游词汇总
甘肃概况
A Survey of Gansu
Gansu Province, lying in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, is in the heart of China. Tell you its neighbors. Neighboring Shaanxi to the east and Sichuan on the south, Gansu is adjacent to Qinghai and Xinjiang by the west and linked up with Ningxia and Inner Mongolia in the north. The outline of Gansu is shapped like and dumbbell, which means it’s very long from east to west, but at the narrowest place, the north-south distance is only 25kilometers. In ancient China, Gansu’s important geographical position made Gansu a key junction in ancient Silk Road. Now tell you some numbers. Gansu covers an area of 390,000 square kilometers, taking up about 4.72% of the total land territories of China. And the province has a population of around 25.18 million consisting of 44ethnic minorities and most of them are Hui, Tibetan, and Dongxiang ethnic people. Under the administration of the province are 14 cities, prefectures and autonomous prefectures consisting of 86 countries with Lanzhou as the capital city of the province.
Climate：Climate in Gansu province has specific features. Belonging to north temperate monsoon climate, featuring a distinctive transitional tendency to continental climate. Dry and short of rain it sees great differences in temperature. The distinctive features of the four seasons are as follows: Lack of rain and snow in winter with longer time cold but the spring witnesses a fast rise of temperature and a drastic change of warm and cold days. It is hot in summer with a concentration of rainfalls and the autumn features a quick falling of temperature and an early frost fall. However, compared with other cities in China, cities of Gansu are cool in summer, so summer is appropriate for your travel.
Resources and Mountains：The geomorphology in Gansu is quite complicated featuring mountains, plateaus, plains, river-valleys and deserts and Gobi as well. Moreover, Gansu’s great plateaus and mountains have plentiful mineral resources. These treasures are widely spread over the province in large quantities of high grade and good quality. The mining conditions are also favorable.
Rivers：“The water of the Yellow River comes from the heavens”, wrote by Li Bai, a famous poet of the Tang Dynasty of ancient China. The Yellow river, known as the mother river of China, together with other rivers provide Gansu with abundant waterpower resources.
Large hydropower stations are dotted here and there like bright stars. They produce electrical power day and night for the development of Gansu’s economy. You know there are many favorable advantages for waterpower development such as less inundation, convenient transportation, comparatively low investment costs, and shorter time for return on the investment.
Culture and ethnic minority：Gansu has a long history. In ancient times, especially in the Han and Tang Dynasties, Gansu, as an important passageway, made great contributions to the culture exchange and commercial trade between China and western countries. Along the Silk Road can still be seen many ancient grottoes, structures and other historic or cultural relics. Up to now, more than one thousand such relics have been found belonging to different historic periods.
Gansu is a multinational province. Living in the province are Hui, Tibet, Mongol, Yugur, Dongxiang, Manchu, a total of over 44 minorities with a population of around 1.5 million. In addition, the ethnic Dongxiang, Yugur and Bonan are the three unique ethnic minorities in Gansu Province.
Tourist Resources：Gansu lies at the eastern section of the Silk Road, which extends some 1,600 kilometers in the precinct of the province. So it has left over many footprints of historical figures and colorful tourist resources, such as Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Maiji Mountain Grottoes in Tianshui, Bingling Temple in Yongji Country, as well as Jiayu Pass known as “Magnificent Pass under heaven”, which is the western end of the Great Wall and some other attractions all along the way. Besides there are still some local special products, refreshments and ethnic folk customs that are all here waiting for you to make an appreciation of them. Finally, the satellite-launching center at Jiuquan is a spot of great importance catching
the world attention. It is the glory and pride of the Chinese nation.
炳灵寺
Bingling Temple
Bingling Temple Grotto is located on the Small Jishi Hill, about 35 kilometers (about 22 miles) west of Yongjing County in Lanzhou City. Being one of the very noted four caves in China, it is the second to Mogao Caves in respect of artistic value.
The Bingling Temple Grotto is located at a transportation hub on a feeder line of the ancient Silk Road leading from China to the western countries. Buddhists started to cave grottoes and sculpture as early as the western Jin Dynasty. During the period of the Sixteen states, the nobles of the Xianbei enthnic trible established the Western Qin Regime here. They were for the Buddhist cult and so many eminent monks from inland and western regions swarmed to the place, preaching and sermonizing. The Dasi Valley in the Minor Jishi Hills within the territory of the Western Qin ,namely the area where Bingling Temple located came to be the Buddhist venue of the time.
According to historical records, the Bingling Lower Temple used to be called the Lingyan Temple during the Tang (618-917) and Ming (1368-1644) dynasties. Bingling is a Tibtan expression, which means “ten thousand Buddha” and equivalent to “Thousand Buddha Hill” or “Ten thousand Buddha cave” of literary translation in Chinese. The formal construction of the Bingling Temple took place in the 420, the first year under the reign of the Western Qin dynasty. And it was carried on during the ensuing dynasties of Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang, and murals and decorations were made even in the Yuan and a Ming dynasties. So it has a history of 1,600 years.
There are now 183 niches, 694 stone statues, 82 clay sculptures and some 900 square meters' (about 1,076 square yards') of murals, which are all well preserved. Famous for its stone sculptures, Bingling Temple Grotto stretches about 200 meters (about 600 feet) on the west cliff in Dasi Gully. Among the caves, the main characters are Sakyamuni, Kwan-yin, Amitayus Buddha, Maitreya Buddha, and other Buddhas. With elegant postures, flying robes and ribbons, the statues are life-like. Among the caves, Cave No.169 is worthy of a particular mention. Made in the Northern Dynasties (386-581), it is the most imposing and delicate one which holds the clay sculptures of Kwan-yin, Dali Buddha (Dali means powerful strength in Chinese), etc. Dali Buddha has a round face, sitting with legs crossed. When we see this
sculpture we will feel its expression as being very solemn. On its two sides stands Bodhisattvas with their hair bound, waving bare arms. The colors present us vivid Bodhisattvas and Buddhas. Cave No.125, which holds the stone sculpture of Sakyamuni, is also one not to be missed.
The stone sculptures in Bingling Temple Grotto represent the social situations and customs during ancient times. In the vicinity of the caves are green hills, crystal water, grotesque stones and precipitous cliffs, which adds more beauty to this artistic site.
After the founding of People's Republic of China, the State Council designated the site as a key cultural relic, and placed it under state protection.
武都万象洞
This paper presents the stable isotopic compositions from the cave dripwater and actively forming soda straw stalactites collected from Wanxiang Cave, Wudu,Gansu, located on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and Loess Plateau transition zone, China. The δ18Odw and δDdw of dripwater samples in the cave plot directly on the local MWL,constructed by using GNIP data from 3 sites surrounding the cave regions (Lanzhou, Xi'an, and Chengdu), the nearest site to the cave, suggesting that there is a close relationshi p between the δ18Odw of the cave water and the δ18O of the pre cipitations. Using the measured δ18Odw and δ18Omc values from the mid-farthest parts from the cave entrance and the carbonate paleotemperature equation, the calculated temperatures range from 8.9 to 12.4℃, with the mean value of 10.7℃ and the temperature calculated at 8 locations in the farthest part of the cave is in the range of 10.1-12.4℃, with the mean value of 11.5℃, being consistent with the survey value(10.99℃)in the cave, slightly lower than the mean annual temperature (14.4℃) in Wudu. This suggests that modern speleothems are forming under isotopic equilibrium and their isotopic composition accurately reflects the mean annual temperature at the surface, indicating that the isotopic composition of the modern speleothems records local temperature change with credibility.
崆峒山
Kongtong Mountain Scenic Area
Situated some 15 kilometers to the west of the Pingliang City, Kongtong Mountain is celebrated as "the first Taoist Mountain under Heaven". It is said that it was here that Guang Chengzi, an immortal, cultivated himself to attain immortality, and the Emperor Huang the first civilized Chinese ancestor, came here to consult him, about how to administer a country and cultivate himself. Since than the Kongtong Mountain became one of the famous Taoist mountains of the country. After Emperor Huang, Emperors Qinshihuang and Wu of the Han Dynasty had as said ever been here doing the worshipping. Kongtong Mountain has been also highly praised by many historical notables So it has been called "the first mountain on the western tour ","a wonder among western towns" since ancient times.
The Kongtong Mountain, part of the Liupan Mountain Ranges,has Guan Mountain by the north and Taitong to the south with Cock’s Head at its Cock’s Head at its back and the Jing River in front. With an elevation of 2,123 meters the Kongtong Mountain covers an area of over 30 square kilometers. Kongtong Mountain, 90% of which is covered by forest, is a natural kingdom for its 1,300 species of animals and plants. Ridges and peaks are high, steep and imposing cliffs towering to the skies seem to be made by superlative craftsmanship.
Why the mountain named Kongtong? There are several versions. One version is Kongtong means caves, since there’re a lot of caves in this mountain, the mountain was given the name Kongtong. Another was said the name of the mountain was derived from a Taoist expression, real emptiness and vacancy, a natural seclusion in quietness.
As early as in the Qin and Han periods, here used to be a religious venue. Taoist and Buddhist temples were found put up here one after another during the Tang and Song periods and all the way down to the Ming and Qing dynasties. It formed an architectural community featuring " e ight terraces, nine palaces and twelve temple compounds”, and 42 Taoist and Buddhist temples and buildings, which present a picture of boundless variety.
Tell you more information to the scenic spots of the mountain.
Leisheng Feng(Thunder Peak), to the south of Horse's Mane, has dangerously sheer cliffs. The wind roars loudly down in the gorge, while the clouds and mist move swiftly up the peak. During midsummer, when it rains, the gorge vibrates with roaring wind and crashing thunder,
giving rise to the name Thunder Peak.
Huang Cheng(Imperial City) is on Horse's Mane, the summit of Kongtong Mountain. A "sky ladder," comprising 378 stone steps, leads to it. Huang Cheng is the most magnificent of the temples on Kongtong Mountain. Most of its buildings are in good repair.
雷台旅游区
Wuwei City in central Gansu once occupied a strategic position on the famous Silk Road. In 1969 a farmer discovered a tomb dating from the Han Dynasty and which has become a main tourist attraction in the city.
The tomb is situated in Leitai Park so called, as there was a Temple built to honor the Chinese god Leishen on the ten-meter high earth platform that was erected during the middle Ming Dynasty. The inscription on the tomb shows that it was constructed circa 186-219BC for an officer from Zhangye, another major town on the Silk Road. The tomb comprises three main chambers of brick construction placed one behind the other. Each room has a smaller annex on each of its sides. This has proved to be a very important find as the tomb contained some two hundred and thirty outstanding relics of gold, silver, copper and jade as well as pottery. The funerary artifacts included ninety-nine copper chariots complete with horses and soldiers. The most important find was the Bronze Galloping Horse. Known in Chinese as 'Ma Chao Long Que', the horse is depicted in a full gallop supported on just one foot upon the back of a bird in flight. The statuette is roughly 35 centimeters high and 45 centimeters long, weighing 7 kilograms. The artist is unknown but the vitality and exquisite modeling of the piece has meant that it has been adopted as a symbol for Chinese tourism. The horse may be seen in the Gansu Provincial History Museum.
伏羲庙
Fuxi Temple
Fuxi Temple, also called Taihao gong，is the biggest of its kind in China in memory of a legendary figure named Fuxi who is known as the ancestor and a great emperor in many Chinese legends. Fuxi was said half human and half snake. The snake was a popular totem of the time and is the origin of the dragon. In addition, Fuxi was born here in Tianshui and that's why we have a temple for him here. The temple is a Ming dynasty construction that, despite renovations in the Qing dynasty, still retains its basic Ming format. The temple was completed in 1490 during the reign of the emperor Hongzhi of the Ming dynasty, and covers a total area of 6,000 square meters.
Facing the street, the temple consists of three rows of buildings with two temple gates. Ranging from south to north include the Archway, Moon Terrace, Tablet Tower, Main Hall and other buildings. The buildings are symmetrically laid out in regular order.
The Main Hall is named the Xiantian Hall. In the middle of it sits the statue of Fuxi. On his right is a queerly shaped dragon-horse with wings, which is about to fly while on the left is a 8 Trigram carried by the dragon-horse to come out from the river. Legend has it that his acute observation of nature inspired him to come up with 8 Trigrams that were believed to explain all the laws of the world. But apart from being a philosopher, Fuxi was also a great inventor. It's said Fuxi developed the net, allowing people to catch fish and wild animals. It's also about this time that the domestication of animals takes place. Fuxi was obviously a busy man. The list of his achievements goes on and on and his reign marked the dawn of civilization for the people of the time. But his most incredible claim to fame is his legendary status as the ancestor of the Chinese people. He apparently married his own sister Nvwa and started populating the planet. What Nvwa couldn't produce herself, she made from clay.
It's really difficult for people today to understand the legend of a brother-sister marriage. Actually a lot of folklore has a strong cultural background. Fuxi and Nvwa were not real people. We believe they are the names of two ancient Chinese tribes. Fuxi-Nvwa account reflects the earliest form of marriage in human society-marriage between brothers and sisters. At that time, there were actually such unions. It's a roundabout reflection and a mysterious interpretation of history.
Sixty-four cypress trees used to grow in the temple's courtyard. Now there are just 37 left. They were planted according to points dictated by the 8 diagrams. Many local people still believe these old trees have the power to cure and heal. Actually the idea of old trees having supernatural powers is a common theme in Chinese superstition so it's easy to understand that these trees have earned this reputation.
Every 16th of the first month in the lunar calendar is said to be the birthday of Fuxi, and on that day, people in Tianshui come here one after another to pay homage to him, the ancestor of the Chinese nation.
魏晋壁画墓
Wei-Jin Art Gallery
Located about 15 kilometers northeast of Jiayuguan, Wei-Jin Mural Brick Tomb is a big tomb group with over 1,400 tombs built between the 3rd Century and 5th Century during the Wei and Jin dynasties.
Renowned as the largest subterranean art gallery in the world, housing a great deal of colorful murals, the gallery has attracted tourists from both home and abroad since 1972 when it was excavated. Most tombs are of families, housing bodies of three or four generations, and now only Grave 6 and Grave 7 are open for tourism.
Entering the cold stone tomb, you will marvel at the vivid murals and special layout inside. Each Wei-Jin tomb generally has two or three chambers which are connected by corridors paved with tiles in various flower patterns. The gate was decorated with delicate patterns and easy lines symbolizing clouds, water, fire, gods and weird animals. The exquisite murals on the inner chamber walls tell the master and mistress's contemporary carefree life, and servant's hard working one. Most reflect the political, cultural, military, and scientific developments of the Wei and Jin Dynasty age...an insight into this ancient Chinese feudal society. Mainly painted realistically and earlier than Mogao Grottoes, Wei-Jin Art Gallery provides an example of unmixed Chinese realism art - filling in gaps in the fields of painting between the Wei and Jin periods, and so considered highly valuable for historic research.
五泉山
Five Spring Park
Five Spring Park, standing in the south part of the downtown area in Lanzhou City, occupies 266,400 square meters on Five Springs Mountain. Five Spring Park is a famous scenic attraction with its name derived from a legend of ancient China. There are always legends and stories behind beautiful scenic spots in China. Five Springs Park is no exception. It was said that in the Western Han Dynasty, a famous general, Huo Qubing, was on a punitive expedition to the Hun people, a minority group who lived in the northwestern part of China at that time. Since the troops had traveled from Chang'an, General Huo and his soldiers were thirsty when they arrived at the foot of Gao lan Mountain. They couldn't find any water nearby, so General Huo jabbed his horsewhip five times into the ground. Abruptly five springs spurted water into the air. Thereafter the locals called the mountain Five Spring Mountain. While this story sounds surreal, the quality and the quantity of the five springs are true. These springs have never dried up since then. These five springs are Ganlu spring, Juyue Spring, Child-Seeking, Benefit-giving and Meng sping.
When you pass the Mani Monastery, you will see the first spring, Ganlu Spring, on the top of the mountain. Ganlu means sweet dew or timely rain in English. Ancient Chinese emperors and officials often asked the god in charge of agriculture in heaven to bring rain to assure a harvest in the coming year. They prayed and offered sacrifices at an altar on the mountaintop. Thus when it rained, people considered it timely rain or sweet dew.
Juyue Spring is the most magical one among the five springs because of its unique location. This spring is in the shape of a well. Ju means to hold something in two hands, while Yue means the moon. When combined, these two characters mean this spring could hold the moon in her hands. What a beautiful picture! Especially around the time of Middle Autumn Day, you can see the shadow of the moon reflecting in the spring very clearly.
Child-Seeking Spring is found inside the cave by the side of the Grand View Tower .At the bottom-end of the cave, there’s a pool of spring full of motley pebbles and broken pieces of tiles.
A saying has it if one has no baby, she gets into the cave to fumble in the pool. Should she get
out a pieces of pebble she’s going to have a son. Whe reas the one getting a piece of broken tiles, it’s meant for her to have a girl.
Meng Spring is under the Eastern Dragon Mouth named under a paragraph in the Book of the changes. Meng is a divinatory name. It reminds visitors not overstep the limit for the re’s danger at downhill.
Benefit-giving Spring is under the Western Dragon Mouth is shaped round with water and sand so limpid and clear that one is able to see right to the bottom of it .The spring water of the Benefit-giving is considered to be the best among the five springs for making tea, hence greatly appreciated by visitors from all over.
Aside from those mentioned above, kept in the Five Spring Park are still such cultural objects of importance as the Taihe Iron bell and the Copper welcoming Buddha. They are all very exquisite and lifelike.The two pieces of relics are under the protection and preservation of the province.
Various recreational activities are held in the park including flower shows, colored lantern displays, painting, calligraphy, acrobatics and magic performances. On every eighth of the fourth month in Chinese lunar calendar, temple fair is held with thousands of pilgrims and visitors and the park is seething with interesting scenes .
文庙
Confucian Temple
The Confucian Temple is known also as the Wenmiao Temple in Chinese, and is situated in the southeast of Wuwei City. It was initially built in 1439, the 4th year under the reign of Zhengtong of the Ming Dynasty. The construction of the original temple took just two years but various extensions have been added over succeeding centuries. With a large scale of buildings, the temple was known as the “Crown Academy on the Right of Long”.
Facing south the temple covers a total space of 15,000 square meters and is a place where men of letters and scholars of different dynasties were here paying homage to Confucius. Besides，it is the largest and best-preserved temple dedicated to Confucius in Gansu Province.
The two groups of ancient buildings disposed respectively on the east and west are well preserved. Among the existing buildings the Confucian Hall and the Wenchang Temple are in perfect condition.
The Confucian Hall occupies a central position in the Confucian Temple complex and it is here that offerings are made in honor of Confucius. To the north there is the Sutra pavilion and in the west is the Liangzhou Mansion that houses the Confucian Academy.
The part on the eastern side is called the Wenchang Temple and is accessed via the Mountain Gate (Shanmen). Here you will find a stage for dramatic performances. The courtyard with an array of various lush green pine trees has a collection of highly prized and famous stones steles. The most famous of these is the Western Xia Stele, a listed Chinese national treasure. The Western Xia Stele, inscribed in 1094, the 5th year under the reign of the Fourth Generation of the Western Xia Kingdom. Standing 2.6 meters high the stele is one meter in width with a thickness of 30 centimeters. Inscribed on the front and reverse side of the stele are the Western Xia Scripts with corresponding Chinese characters, totaly some 1,600 words. The Western Xia Scripts were created by Yuan Hao, the founding ruler of the Western Xia, who knew well the two writings of the Chinese and the Western Xia scripts. The Western Xia Stele inscription has provided a precious material for the study of the Western Xia history. The well-preserved and symmetrically aligned historic buildings together with the collection of stone steles and fine collection of scriptures means that Confucian Temple occupies a very important position in the cultural heritage of the Chinese nation as a whole.
The Confucian Temple is now used as the Wuwei City Museum. The Museum has a magnificent collection of artifacts that include in excess of 36,000 books, scriptures, calligraphies, paintings and other cultural relics. Notable items are Wooden and Bamboo Slips of the Han Dynasty, Wooden Scriptures, a Mummy, the Galloping Bronze Horse and a Bronze Cannon of the Western Xia Dynasty. Moreover, with tall juniper trees towering in the temple yard they present a quiet and pleasant atmosphere. Therefore, it is an ideal place for visitors to have a walk and look around while taking repose here.
Tiantishan Grottoes
Wuwei City, also called Liangzhou, is located in the east of the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province, China. She was an important section of the ancient Silk Road. Wuwei owns the centuries-old history, rich cultural heritages, particular natural sceneries and multiform ethnologic amorous -feelings. There are 543 relics and historical sites in the city. There are 543 relics and historical sites in the city. Among the relics, the Tiantishan Grottoes, is considered “the senior ancestor of the Chinese ancient grottoes”.
The Tiantishan Grottoes are situated on the Huangyang River, about 60 km south of Wuwei (originally Liangzhou) and Tiantishan Grottoes were excavated during the Northern Liang dynasty (397–439 CE). Carving and decoration of the grottoes continued throughout the Northern Wei, Tang, and Ming dynasties, leaving many precious cultural relics inside these grottos.
On the basis of the style, content, and inscriptions on the wall paintings and landforms, archaeologists believe that the Tiantishan grottoes may be the Liangzhou grottoes mentioned in historical documents, such as the Fa Yuan Zhu Lin. According to historical records, the Liangzhou grottoes were ranked with the Yungang and Longmen grottoes as the three major cave temple sites to have exerted profound influence on the development of Chinese painting and sculpture.
If the Tiantishan and Liangzhou grottoes are actually one and the same, research and protection of this site becomes even more meaningful and important. Because of the construction of the Huangyang River reservoir in 1960, the Gansu People’s Government approved moving the wall paintings and polychrome statues of the grottoes, with the exception of seven Statues to the Gansu Provincial Museum for preservation.
Maiji Mountain Grottoes
Located some 45 kilometers from Tianshui City, Maiji Mountain Grotto is one of the four famous grottoes in China. It lies in Maiji Mountain scenic area, which covers an area of 215 square kilometers. It includes several such scenic attractions as the Maiji Mountain, Immortal Cliff, Stone Gate, Twisting Streams and the Old Town of Jieting.
Since the mountain looks like a huge wheat straw pile from afar, it is called Maiji Mountain. It is a single, distinct peak of the Xiaolong Mountain of the Western Qinling Range. The Maiji Mountain enjoys a typical Danxia landform. It is a wind-eroded formation. Rising abruptly from the ground the mountain stands 150 meters high in a secluded area of all greens. As early as the end of the Western Han Dynasty here used to be the summer resort of a well-known general named Wei Xiao. The construction of grottoes and temples here began in the period of the Sixteen States (about 384AD) and came to be of certain scale in Northern Wei. Continued to be caved in Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. A total of dozen of dynasties lasting 1,500 years the Maiji Mountain Grotto became one of the renowned grottoes of a grand scale in China.
In existence here are 194 caves overhanging on the southern side of the cliff with more than 7,200 stone carvings and over 1,300 square meters of murals housed in them. The contents tell a thorough reflection of secular world with a rich expression of everyday life. Therefore, they are of very high artistic value and renowned as the “Oriental Sculpture Treasure House”. As the stone of Maiji Mountain is unfit for fine carving, most statues here are clay sculptures, but they are quite exquisite. Moreover, compared with climate in Dunhuang, Tianshui is a wet city,. Thus murals in Maiji Mountain are easily damaged. So clay sculptures here are more famous than stone carvings and murals.
Maiji Mountain Grottoes were dug in rows 20 to 30 meters and 70 to 80 meters above the foot of the mountain and give it the appearance of a huge honeycomb. An earthquake which occurred in 734AD resulted in the collapse of the Cliffside and grottoes were subsequently divided into sections: Eastern and Western with 54 and 140 grottoes respectively.
Eastern section is famous for Thousand-Buddha Corridor, the Seven-Buddha Pavilion, Cattle Cave. The Thousand-Buddha Corridor is 32.74 meters long, with 258 clay sculptures of Wei
Dynasty. Through the corridor now you can see the Seven-Buddha Pavilion, which is famous for its flower-flying building. If you sprinkle some scrip like a fairy, you will find a strange scene: the scrip will fly without falling. Why? There are many legends about this. Well, the reliable version is Maiji Mountain lies in a basin thus wind can be changed.
The name Cattle Cave, you know is from a legend about a God and a Cattle. The cattle always brings people disasters. So the God sit on the cattle’s back for sake of people’s safety. Now the western section, which is precipitous. The most renowned cave are the Ten-Thousand-Buddha Cave and the Heaven Cave. The No.10 Cave of the Ten-Thousand-Buddha Cave tell us a story about Sakyamuni, which is similar with the expressing method in the oil painting “The Last Super”.
This cave is the toppest one, so it named the Heaven Cave. All the carvings in it are clay carvings made at the northern Wei Dynasty.
The earliest sculptures of Maiji Mountain Grottoes grave in expression and stiff in their costumes, obviously bearing the influence of the India style. By the time of Song Dynasty, this has changed greatly. The facial expression are lively and the dress is soft and natural. In the later periods, there are incessant renovations and improvements on the basis of the current vogue and the sculptures are vivid and expressions full of the interest of worldly life.
That’s all. Thank you!
莫高窟
The Mogao Caves
The Mogao Caves, also known as the Mogao Grottoes or the Caves of A Thousand Buddhas, are set into a cliff wall of Echoing Sand Mountain about 25km southeast of Dunhuang, the oasis city in the Gobi desert. This honeycomb of caves was constructed over a millennium, from the 4th to the 14th centuries, and represents the height of Buddhist art and the world's richest treasure house of Buddhist sutras, murals and sculptures.
During its heyday, the cave complex had thousands of caves, and today, a total of 492 grottoes, 45,000 square-metres of murals, 2,400 painted statues and over 250 residential caves remains. Almost every grotto contains a group of colorful paintings of Buddha and Bodhisattvas and other religious paintings, or social activities of different dynasties. The caves carved on the cliff wall provide voluminous research material for the study of all aspects of Chinese medieval society, in areas such as religion, art, politics, economics, military affairs, culture, literature, language, music, dance, architecture and medical science. The rich culture and art unearthed in the caves has even given birth to a new field of study, called "Dunhuangology"!
The mural paintings in existence today can be divided into seven categories, including the jataka stories depicting beneficence of Sakyamuni in his previous incarnations, sutra stories depicting suffering and transmigration, traditional Chinese mythology and so on. Although the religious scriptures are primarily Buddhist, written in Chinese, Uygur, Tibetan, Turkic and other languages, Taoist, Manichean and Confucian scrolls are also part of the collection. (Unfortunately, due to the corrupt and impotent governments after the later Qing dynasties, many of the treasures of the Mogao Caves were plundered by heinous thieves like Aurel Stein, Paul Pelliot, Langdon Warner and Albert von Le Coq, mainly by theft but also through unfair transactions. These treasures can now be found in places like Britain and Germany.) According to historical records, in the year 336, a monk called Le Zun came near the Echoing Sand Mountain and suddenly had a vision of golden rays of light shining upon him like thousands Buddhas. He started to carve the first grotto to memorize the accident and show his respect to the Buddha. Other pilgrims and travelers followed for the next thousand years. During the Northern Wei Dynasty founded by the Turkic-speaking Toba tribe, pilgrims
restarted to hewing grottoes after the preceding years of turmoil, to depict their ideal heavenly world which contrasted with their painful material world. Forty of the Northern Wei caves remain today. Shades of Indian Buddhism still can be seen from the clothing, hair and facial features of Buddhas. The finely chiseled sculptures in the Wei caves show large heads, wide faces, large noses, thin lips, high cheekbones and curly hair, with slim and ethereal figures. The females are high breasted. The Buddhas, bodhisattvas and disciples are quite and serene, in strong contrast with the aggressive and fierce devils. The Wei paintings often depict the patrons who paid for cutting caves, as servants of the Buddhas or as supplicants, usually small in size.
During the short Sui Dynasty, the Mogao Caves continued to boom and mark the end of the foreign influence, slowly transitioning to the more indigenous styles of central China. There are now 78 Sui caves left. The statues produced during the Sui Dynasty are mostly in good condition and more formal than the Wei statues.The Sui style shows statues with fuller faces, longer earlobes, loosely draped clothing and disproportionate upper bodies. Jataka stories are still the main theme while more varied subjects appear. The feitian, or asparas, become more pretty and elegant. Lotus flowers and other symmetrical patterns are frequently used as decorations on the ceilings.
The grottoes of Tang Dynasty represent the most splendid period of the caves, reflecting the highest level of artistic achievement. Today, 220 of the Tang caves remain. Most of the caves are square and have three levels to lodge bigger sculptures which were artistically brilliant, gentle and realistic.
The Buddhas became more like men, wearing ornaments and jewels and dressed like Tang nobles. The images of patrons became bigger and tended to occupy important places in the murals. The themes of the murals focused more on Buddhist scripture stories instead of jataka stories. This Dynasty introduced scenes of cruising aristocrats.
During the Five Dynasties, there was no space left on the cliff, so some caves were enlarged or repainted. As a result, old paintings are now being discovered lying under new
ones. Discovering the hidden caves has been the main legacy left by this Dynasty.
Many caves were restored during the Yuan Dynasty. The murals depict various Indian mandalas and bodhisattvas. Some caves were decorated in Tibetan style. After the Mongol
reign, there was no artistic development. In the Ming Dynasty, Dunhuang was once abandoned, and the caves gradually faded into the sand of the Gobi desert until a Taoist priest discovered the treasure house in beginning of the 19th century.
张掖大佛寺
Giant Buddha Temple
Located in the southwest corner of Zhangye City, the Giant Buddha Temple derived its name from the fact that there exists a Buddha in a state of nirvana in the temple, the biggest of its kind in China. According to archeological research, it was first established in 1098, the first year under the reign of Yong’an of the western Xia Dynasty. It means the temple has a more than 900 years history. According to a record in history, saying that Wei Mie, the national master monk of the Western Xia Dynasty once found a reclining Buddha under a piece of green tile when digging at the place, then the Giant Buddha Temple was put up. After years, it was reconstructed and expanded during Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is now the largest temple in Gansu Province.
The buildings now in existence include the Giant Buddha Hall, the Buddhist Sutra Storage Hall, and an Earth Tower.
The two-storied Giant Buddha Hall is the main building. It is 33 meters high, 49 meters wide and 24 meters long, with a total area of 1,770 square meters. The gold-plated and painted Giant Buddha lies in the Nirvana situation in the middle of the hall. The whole Buddha is 34.5 meters long and 7.5 meters wide between its two shoulders, with feet of 4 meters and ears of 2 meters. The Buddha's calm expression moves visitors. Behind the Buddha are 10 disciples, and in two side halls stand 18 Saintly Warriors. The walls of the hall are covered with colorful murals, which depict episodes from the Mountain-sea Sutra (an ancient Chinese encyclopedia) and from Journey to the West (a celebrated novel written in the Ming Dynasty). Sutras in the Buddhist Sutra Storage Hall were granted by Emperor Yingzong of the Ming Dynasty in 1445. There are altogether 336 letters, about 6361volumes, 1621 sections totally.
It’s the most intact
The Earth Tower, also called thousand Buddha tower, which was built in the Ming Dynasty. The main tower is 33.3 meters high, with the base shaped like a square platform. The tower is divided into two layer., with double-layer winding corridor between wood eaves. There is a small tower at the four corners of the platform, with the seat of Xumi in the middle. There are also four small towers at the four corners of the seat, with the main tower in the middle. There also set the seat of Xumi on the top of the tower, with five shrines at the four sides of the seat, with Buddha statues in them.
It is said that the Bieji Queen (a famous queen of the Yuan Dynasty) once lived in the Giant Buddha Temple, giving birth to Kublai Khan there. At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Emperor Gongzong by the name of Zhao Xian was ordained here for avoiding political disturbances after he was taken a captive. The Italian traveler Marco Polo, impressed by the magnificent architecture of the Giant Buddha Temple and by the prosperity of Zhangye city, lived here for more than a year.
Magnificent, mysterious, and unique, the Giant Buddha Temple belongs on every visitor's itinerary.
拉卜楞寺
Labrang Monastery
The Labrang Monastery is located at the foot of the Phoenix Mountain northwest of Xiahe County in Gannan Tibetan Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. A propitious place in the hearts of the Tibetan, it stands by the Daxia River and faces the Dragon Mountain. As for the Dragon and Phoenix Mountains, there is a beautiful legend. A long time ago, this place was a boundless sea. After countless changes, mountains and lands appeared. One day, a golden-wing phoenix flew here and rested on one of the mountains in the south. It was so thirsty that it drank all the water; thus the sea dried up. A dragon in the sea was greatly
shocked, so it cavorted out of the water, which led to the emergence of a spring at the site where the phoenix drank. As the spring water effused more and more, the Daxia River was formed. So the dragon became the Dragon Mountain and the phoenix became the Phoenix Mountain. And the Daxia River flowed from west to east through the two mountains, eroding the hollow into a basin. The Labrang Monastery was built on the Zhaxiqi (means auspiciousness) shoal which is in the north of the basin.
The architectural layout of the Labrang Monastery belongs to the Tibetan style and the construction patterns are mostly Tibetan, Han's mode and a compound style of both Han's and Tibetan. The symbols of the whole construction are the White Towers both in the northeast and in the northwest. The grand sutra and Buddha halls are located in the northwestern part centered around the Grand Sutra Hall. Other halls spread in a shape similar to a crescent moon.
The Grand Sutra Hall is the dominant place for the religious activities of the Labrang Monastery and for the adherents' worshipping. On the inside walls there are portraits of Buddha and built-in shrines of Buddha and bookcases. The elegantly decorated hall is splendid enough to give you real enjoyment.
Located in the northwest of the Grand Sutra Hall, the Grand Golden Tile Hall is the highest building in the Labrang Monastery and is strongly tinged with a Nepalese flavor. It is six-storied and the roof is covered with bronze bricks that are washed by gold. In front of the hall gate, a stele hangs on which the Han, Tibetan, Manchu and Mongolian characters were written by the Emperor Jiaqing (1760-1820) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Inside the hall there is a bronze figure of Buddha created by Nepalese artisans.
The Labrang Monastery boasts tens of thousands of statues of Buddha made of gold, silver, copper, and aluminum. There are statues with ivory, sandalwood, jade, crystal and clay as the basic materials. These Buddha statues are all lifelike with kind-looking faces, which give you a real enjoyment of beauty. In addition, the monastery possesses many Buddha hats and many Buddhist treasures adorned with pearls, jadeite, agate and diamonds.
The Labrang Monastery holds seven large-scale summon ceremonies a year, among which the Summons Ceremony in the first lunar month and the Buddhist Doctrine Explaining Ritual in the seventh lunar month are the grandest ones.
嘉峪关文物景区
The Cultural Scenic Zone of JiaYuGuan Pass Town
A variety of scenic spots are included in Jiayuguan Scenic Zone such as Jiayuguan Pass Town, The First Beacon Tower of the Great Wall, Overhanging Great Wall and Great Wall Museum and so on. Jiayuguan Pass was not so much as the “Strategic Pass Under the Heaven” as an important communication center in Chinese history. Cleft between the snow-capped Qilian Mountains and the rolling Mazong Mountains, it was on the ancient Silk Road. Zhang Qian, the first envoy of Emperor Wu Di of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.
C. ～25 B. C.), crossed it on his journey to the western regions. Later, silk flowed to the west through this pass too.
Jiayuguan Pass Town, the western starting point of the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty, was initially built in 1372, is reputed as the “Impregnable Pass Under Heaven” or “The Frontier Throat” for its strategic commanding position and grand structures.
The Pass Town is composed of the internal wall, the external wall and the moat. These three defense lines overlap and link with each other. With the exposed wall joined the No.1 Beacon Tower and the hidden one linked the Overhanging Great Wall, the solid military defense system of the western Great Wall of Ming Dynasty came into being. On the Jiayuguan's rampart stand 14 turrets, towers and strobes. Inside the Pass Town there are General's Mansion and Well Pavilion, Wenchang Palace. The Temple of Guan Yu, Archway and Theater stand outside the east entrance. The architectural composition of the town as a whole is ingenious and grand, which echoes to Shanhaiguan Pass, the eastern starting point of the Great Wall at a distance of thousands of miles away.
As a cultural heritage, the Wall belongs not only to China but to the world. The Venice charter says: “Historical and cultural architecture not only includes the individual architectural works, but also the urban or rural environment that witnessed certain civilizations, significant social developments or historical events.” The Great Wall is the largest of such historical and cultural architecture, and that is why it continues to be so attractive to people all over the world.