Getting there: You can walk up (via White Pagoda Mountain) or take the chairlift from the south side of the river. See the half-day walk.
Lanzhou Steles Forest (兰州碑林 Lánzhōu Bēilín) is perched on top of the hills on the north side of the Yellow River. Entrance is free, if you bring ID. For some reason this is very important to the people at the gate, who were very reluctant to let us in last time we were there without ID. The steles here are stone tablets carved with poetry and calligraphy (in a variety of styles), related to life in the northwest of China. If you can't read Chinese you probably won't get much out of it. That said, the gardens are pleasant, and it's an impressive building, with a fantastic view of the city on a fine day.
Getting there: You can walk up (via White Pagoda Mountain) or take the chairlift from the south side of the river. See the half-day walk. Chinese name: 兰州光辉布料市场 (Lanzhou Guanghui Buliao Shichang)
Location: Nánchāng Lù (南昌路), north of the Square, next to the Bonsai Park (map) Town God's Temple (城隍庙 Chéng Huángmiào), is know to Lanzhou locals more simply as Huáng Miào. The writing over the entrance reads: "Number 1 Worker's Club" (第一工人俱乐部 Dìyī Gōngrén Jùlèbù). Huáng Miào is an old temple complex of four courtyards, converted into a huge outdoor and indoor antiques centre (古玩, gŭwán). There are also shops for the sale of calligraphy equipment, tea sets and local craft specialities such as carved gourds and 'luminous' wine glasses. Weekends are especially busy. For more ideas of places to find antiques, arts and crafts, click here. One of the things I like doing at Huáng Miào is going up to the 3rd floor tea-house, where there are sometimes afternoon performances of the local Chinese opera Qínqiāng Xìqǔ (秦腔戏曲). Look out for the flight of stairs on the west side of the second courtyard. Entrance is free, but you will be expected to order a drink.Sānpāotáichá tea (散泡台茶) is 5 RMB with constant refills. You will probably be approached by the organisers, or even the performers, and 'invited' to give a donation. 10 RMB is acceptable. Click on the play buttons to hear some recordings. There are a couple of very popular noodle restaurants on the plaza outside the gate, as well as a Uighur Muslim restaurant where you can get lamb kebabs, flat breads, noodles and pilao rice (抓饭, zhuāfàn, slow-fried rice, baked with carrots and lamb). Getting there:
Zhāngyē Lù Zhōngduàn, 500m east of Xīguān Shízì 张掖路中段,西关什字往东边走500米 Map There is an impressive-looking Tiger lantern in the Children's Park (儿童公园 értóng gōngyuán), on the south side of the Huáng Hé Dàqiáo bridge (黄河大桥). See map.
In an earlier post on mountain biking, I mentioned that the hills to the north of Anning District were a good place to explore. I've finally got around to scanning some photos of the area (taken around 2003): There is access into the hills from the following places (from east to west):
Péilí Guăngchăng (培黎广场) Back gate of the Jiāotōng Dàxué (交通大学) Fèijiāyíng (费家营) Tiānfǔ Shāgōng (天府沙宫) location: here Originating in Shaanxi Province, the local variety of Chinese opera is Qínqiāng Xìqǔ (秦腔戏曲). You will come across locals singing Qínqiāng in the parks, and there are more formal performances in the afternoons in the teahouse at Huáng Miào which sound like this: Now you can find out more about this regional Chinese opera by visiting the new Qinqiang Opera Museum in Lanzhou, on the north bank of the Yellow River. It is part of the ever-developing Lanzhou 'Golden City Pass' Culture and Customs Quarter (兰州金城关文化风情区 Lánzhōu Jīnchéngguān Wénhuà Fēngqíng Qū). It is good to finally see this area taking shape. It certainly looks impressive at night, but up until now there hasn't been a great deal to see and do there.
Read more about it here and here. Not being in Lanzhou these days, I won't have a chance to visit this museum in the near future. So, if you do visit, please comment below. Chinese: 中国秦腔博物馆 (Zhōngguó Qínqiāng Bówùguǎn) Getting there: Map Other museums: See here I came across this set of photos taken on a birdwatching trip to Xinglong Shan in December. I presume the photographer moderates the Chinese Currents group on Flickr, which is worth checking out. Obviously I wasn't paying close enough attention on the days I visited Xinglong Shan (here and here)...
These dramatic photos were taken in Lanzhou during the Battle of Liberation (August 20-26, 1949), when the Communist army defeated the Nationalists. Over the course of a six-day battle, 8000 lives were lost. As part of the national celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, a film about this ("Lanzhou 1949"《兰州1949》) has just been released. UPDATE (27 Nov): You can watch a CCTV9 report about "Lanzhou 1949" here. Trivia: Compare the top photo above with the bridge scene in the film clip. It looks like they filmed on today's bridge, although it would have looked different in 1949. The bridge didn't get the rounded arches until 1954 (see page 6 of this article). There are more photos of the original bridge on the history map. An additional bit of trivia: a nationalist truck containing explosives ignited and burned down the wooden sections of Zhongshan Bridge, cutting off the north and south banks of the Yellow River. This was first brought to my attention by Bill Schoerner, whose family lived in Lanzhou during the 1940s. He contacted me after an earlier post on this site ("Visitors to Lanzhou in the Early - Mid 1900s") featured his father, Otto Schoerner. He has kindly contributed his recollections: "At the time of this incident I was four years old and living near the north bank of the Yellow River. My father was the business manager at the Borden Memorial Hospital where I was living with my parents and sister. My older brother was away at boarding school. The Zhongshan iron bridge was the only bridge then and the only route into the city on the other side of the river. One morning in August of 1949, we woke up to much commotion with the news that the bridge was on fire. I remember huge plumes of black smoke and being terrified of the events that were unfolding. While the bridge was being repaired, the only way to cross the river was on a raft made from inflated sheepskins. It is amazing that these photos have been found which confirm my recollections and that this event is being commemorated 60 years later." In the following photo, you can see the repairs being carried out: These are just three of over 30 photos that I have mapped onto an online map of Historical Lanzhou, showing how today's sites looked several decades ago. See the History page, for more information.
Photos: Fighting at Zhongshan Bridge: "Battle to Settle the fate of the Northwest" Fighting at Shuangchengmen: "60 Years of Photos" Repairing Zhongshan Bridge: "100 Years of Zhongshan Bridge - 10 Stories" (see page 5) World AIDS Day is approaching (December 1st). Last year I was a bit late with this post, so this year I thought I'd get it in early.
Last year I showed a few posters that I came across on the street, and mentioned the widespread TV coverage (including news presenters wearing red ribbons). The standard of coverage in the Chinese media gets better and better each year. That said, it's difficult to find tables with easily comparable statistics, so I have taken the following information from a couple of articles roughly one year apart. Gansu HIV/AIDS figures 1993 - 2008* People living with HIV: 626 New cases of HIV infection: 160 (January - October 2008), an increase of 26.3% on 2007 AIDS cases: 187 Deaths: 107 The overall percentages of transmission by cause are as follows: Drug use: 33.87% Heterosexual sex: 20.93% Homosexual sex: 9.11% Blood transfusion: 15.97% Mother-to-child: 2.5% Don’t know: 17.73% (estimated that sex is the main cause) Significant points: 86.42% of all infections are within the 20-49 years age group Cases due to sexual transmission are rising (40.63% of new cases in 2008) _____________________________________ 1993-2009* People living with HIV: 889 New cases of HIV infection: 207 (January - September 2009), an increase of 29.4% on 2008 AIDS cases: 281 Deaths: 144 Transmission (less detailed than the previous year): Heterosexual sex: 20.97% Homosexual sex: 10.56% Significant points: Most new infections are through sexual transmission The two groups most at risk are 19-25 years old, and males over 60 years old HIV infections in 3 locations: Lanzhou (232 in 2008, rising to 347 in 2009) Tianshui (115, rising to 148) Linxia (83, rising to 96) Sources 2008: http://www.chain.net.cn/zhxw/xwbd/22093.htm 2009: http://news.pharmnet.com.cn/news/2009/10/21/280780.htm More information HIV/AIDS in the People's Republic of China (Wikipedia) HIV/AIDS hits 740,000 Nationwide (China Daily, November 24 2009) *The first recorded case of HIV infection in Gansu was in 1993 Xībù Huānlèyuán (西部欢乐园) is a mini theme park in Xīgù District (西固区), west Lanzhou. There are fairground rides (carousel, pirate ship, and so on), a roller-coaster, swimming pool, golf driving range, and a 'panorama tower'. It's pretty-much closed down in the winter months, so head there on a summer weekend.
Location: Map Getting there: From Anning, take buses #3, then #80 (route). From the city centre, take buses #26 or #127 (which departs from the train station, route) Cost: Entrance to the park is free. There is a ticket office where you can buy books of tickets for the rides, or you can pay at the rides individually (Y5-30) More on Lanzhou's parks here and here. |
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