THE CAVE OF A 8 JIAYUGUAN FORTRESS 1 THE TURPAN BASIN Before us stands one of China’s best-known 20 JIUQUAN SPACE CENTER THOUSAND BUDDHAS fortresses, a stout brick castle that guarded This enormous hole, almost twice the size 4 the “First and Greatest Pass Under Heaven.” 16 JIUQUAN, THE We’re now in Jiuquan. It’s an 31 of Massachusetts, is 508 ft. (155 m) Welcome to the art gallery of interesting place, but not that 27 DESERT FOREST OF INNER MONGOLIA the desert! The 492 caves near spring OF WINE interesting. So why all the below sea level. It’s the fourth-lowest as looped off to . Dunhuang contain over 2,000 Chinese tourists? They’re on T River h ont the le re place on Earth that’s not underwater We’ve taken the bus a few EUPHRATES POPLARS he Yellow l as it c inues e ft, and we’ sculptures and 484,000 their way to the Jiuquan f he wal astwar e These Euphrates poplar ollowing t er with Inner Mo d along th sq. ft. (45,000 sq m) miles east to Jiuquan, the Space Center! bord ngolia. trees in Ejina are tough of wall paintings. Spring of Wine! enough to create a forest in the desert. 3 FINE VINES Time to stop for a healthy snack: the city of Turpan 12 WEI-JIN BRICK TOMBS on the western edge of the 6 Th ese painted tombs are really 17 SHANDAN HO Turpan Basin produces the an art ga RSE RA 21 llery – in fact, the biggest ve taken a NC KHARA KHOTO best raisins in the world. TAOLAI RIVER undergr We’ break in Sh H ound art gallery in the world. Roa andan Another trip away from the wall, Before the Great old Silk d town, in ord , an er to this time by jeep to the ruined Wall was built, the the famous horse ra visit 9 nch nea city of Khara Khoto. 28 BADAIN JARAN DESERT gorge cut by the rby. 2 FLAMING MOUNTAINS Taolai River marked First Beacon platform What’s that creepy noise in the middle of It’s so hot in this desert that the the western border Hey, look! Our first sight of the Great Wall! It’s part 22 RECUMBENT BUDDH nowhere? It’s the singing sand dunes of the mountains seem to have caught fire! of the Chinese of the Ming wall, built in 1539 under the command A OF ZHANGYE Badain Jaran Desert! Actually, the “flames” are an optical illusion empire. of General Li Han. caused by the heat. 15 G NS The gigantic 30 THE HUANGTU LACIERS IN THE QILIAN MOUNTAI wooden 5 statue in 25 YELLOW-EARTH PLATEAU JADE GATE The gleaming peaks and glaciers Zhangye’s TOMBS OF THE TANGUT kings for of the Qilian Mountains are so This enormous area of around 247 Through these ancient gates on the Silk Road Giant Buddha Beneath these giant beehives (75.4 square miles (640,000 sq km) of passed all caravans heading west with jade beautiful that the ancient Xiongnu Temple is the largest recumbent ft. / 23 m tall), the bodies of the people of this region believed blonde-brown soil is the same color as the markets of India, Persia, Turkey, and Europe. 10 ARCHAN SAN (lying down) Buddha in all China. rulers of the long-lost Tangut the Yellow River that runs through it. B D DUNES they were sacred. Empire were laid to rest. Like the ocean, the face of the desert is always moving, as waves of sand are formed and reformed by the restless wind. 13 WINE FOR THE WORLD 18 ZHANGYE DANXIA The Chinese certainly know how to make wine – NATIONAL PARK they’ve been doing it for over 4,600 years! 26 Stop the bus! This is something we must see MUSLIMS IN NINGXIA – a thousand rainbows made of rock. 14 THE TERRA-COTTA At Yinchuan we Along the Silk Road from the west leave the Great came goods, culture, diseases – WARRIORS OF XI'AN and religion. And this is how Wall for a while 19 and go southeast THE CITY OF XI'AN it was, about 1,400 to see the We’ve come quite far from the years ago, that Islam WING THE wall to visit the Eternal City arrived in China. FOLLO extraordinary 23 Army of Terra- of Xi’an (or Chang’an), FL once one of the YI Cotta Warriors. T NG CHINA largest cities in b his H OF e O LL b A s r R W t o S AT the world. - n E RE is k z G n e O a ow st F sy n i atu WU mb mag e, o WE ol o es ne o I f al in th f the Come on a journey of mystery and l Ch e wo inese rld, 7 DESERT PLANTS art. majesty! We’ll explore the longest 11 Plants as well as people have to be tough to GOB structure ever made by man, from I DESERT 29 SHEEPSKIN RAFTS survive in the Gobi Desert. This saxaul tree is We’ve go t plenty of w 24 YELLOW RIVER Sheep provide us with wool and meat one of the toughest. Our tra ater with us – just in case! the dusty desert of Gansu province to in is traveling – and, in Ningxia, inflatable rafts! for hundreds of miles along As we follow the Great Wall out of Gansu province and into Ningxia, the edge . the rolling waves of the Yellow Sea. of the Gobi Desert. we meet the “Cradle of Chinese Civilization,” the mighty Yellow River 625. TOMBS OF THE 627. DESERT FOREST OF 629. SHEEPSKIN RAFTS 631. INNER MONGOLIA 634. GIANT PANDA 636. WESTERN QING 638. HUKOU WATERFALL 640. DATONG AND 42.6 ZHOUKOUDIAN 644. CHINESE JUMPING 46.6 THE SHANHAI PASS 48.6 THE YOUNG LADY’S TANGUT kings EUPHRATES POPLARS Whoever first came up with the idea was Much of Inner Mongolia is a plateau, like Just about everyone in China loves the giant TOMBS China is big in just about every way – YUNGANG BUDDHIST CAVES MOUSE Ming commanders certainly knew what GATE Crushed first by the Mongols and then by The poplar forests in Ejina deserve our a genius: to make a sheepskin raft, all you the flat top of a mountain about 3,780 ft. panda. Actually, pretty much the whole The Qing dynasty (1644-1912) – also except waterfalls. Strangely for such a STATUES In the early 1920s, Swede Johan Gunnar The Chinese jumping mouse is a strange they were doing when they built a massive The Niangziguan fort in Shanxi is part of need are some sheepskins, a few pieces of (1,000 m) high. Genghis Khan, the fierce world feels the same about these cuddly large country with so many rivers, the fortress in the Shanhai Pass, blocking the the Ming, the Tangut Empire is shrouded respect and admiration. We really shouldn’t known as the Manchu – were the last of Buddhism came to China from India during Andersson found two strange teeth in little creature. It lives largely by itself the Ming wall, built about 1542, and is in mystery. But as this 19.3-square-mile expect trees to survive in this desert wood for a frame, and lots of puff. Mongol leader , is said to be buried here, looking creatures. A word of warning, China’s imperial rulers. For mysterious 65.5 ft. (30 m) descent of the Yellow the Zhoukoudian caves 31 miles (50 km) high up in the mountains, feeding off grass road to Beijing from the north. The “First associated with Princess Pingyang, one of and there are plenty of charming historical however: the black-and-white cuties may River at Hukou is its second highest. And, the Han dynasty (206 bc–ad 220). Pass under Heaven” had been fought over (50 sq km) burial ground suggests, it must region. But the super-hardy Euphrates Shave the sheepskins and soften them reasons, the Qing emperors chose to be Scholars are not sure whether the religion southwest of Beijing. More finds followed, and other juicy greenery. While its body the legendary heroes of Chinese history. have been a spectacular civilization. For poplar , known here as the Huyang poplar with rapeseed oil. Sew the edges of each sites to visit, as well as fascinating wildlife. look sweet and innocent, but if you get buried in alternate places. One emperor to be honest, it’s more like rapids than a including bits of fossilized jaw and skull. is no more than 3.9 in. (10 cm) long, its for centuries, and went on being a place of on the wrong side of them, they can be true waterfall. arrived by sea or overland along the Silk conflict into World War II. We are back in ad 618. The Sui dynasty, reasons unknown, the tombs are lined up or “desert hero,” somehow manages. Its skin tightly together . Don’t forget to leave Unfortunately for the environment, the was buried in the Eastern Tombs, the next Road. An ancient legend gives the story They were of Homo erectus, a previously tail, used for balancing, can add another headed by the vile Emperor Yang, is on its with the sun, moon, and stars. survival technique is nothing new, either: a small hole. Blow into the hole to inflate plateau is a rich source of coal, oil, gas, and just as dangerous as any other 220 lb. in the Western Tombs, the next in the But what the falls lack in size, they make unknown species of very early human. The 5.7 in. (14.4 cm). The fort is known as Shanhaiguan, meaning (100 kg) bear . a more interesting twist. Emperor Ming last legs. A rebellion is underway, led by the So far , archaeologists have uncovered the ancestors of these trees were around the sheepskin like a balloon. When the precious minerals. Mining and other human Eastern, and so on. up for in peculiarity. They almost double in dreamed of a flying god whose body shone media called him Peking Man (“Peking” was To get away from danger , the mouse “between the mountains and the sea.” Now northern nobleman Li Yuan. He needs all tombs of 9 rulers and 253 lesser people. when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. skin is fully blown up, seal the hole. Do the activities have caused terrible damage. Not only do pandas look lovable, they also Seventy-eight members of the royal width when the river floods, and in winter like the sun. When his courtiers told him he the way Westerners used to spell Beijing). doesn’t hide – it stretches its long back legs in the middle of a town, the huge square the support he can get. Enter Pingyang, Together they are popularly known as the The trees in the forest are extremely old. same with all your skins and tie them to the Lakes are shriveling, rivers are polluted, behave in a pretty appealing way. Like Pooh family (plus a few hangers-on) are buried the surface freezes over to create a had seen a vision of the Indian Buddha, the Can we see these fascinating bits of and leaps like a frog! One bound can take fort has 4.5 miles (7.1 km) of walls up to Yuan’s strong-willed and able 20-year-old Western Xia Imperial Tombs. Unfortunately They refuse to die: the trunks of some frame – and you have a light, cheap, and and the desert is taking over the grassland. Bear , all they seem interested in is eating. in the Western Qing Tombs: emperors, fantastic, many-layered wedding cake of emperor sent explorers to that country to fossilized early ape-man? Sadly not. In it an amazing 10 ft. (3 m). A human long 46 ft. (14 m) high and 23 ft. (7 m) thick. daughter . She sells all her possessions and the area has often flooded, causing a have rotted away inside, leaving them seaworthy raft! Action is being taken to halt the environmental Their diet is 99 percent bamboo. When empresses, princes, princesses, servants, ice. In summer the water carries so much learn more about the mystical religion. 1941, in the middle of World War II, they jumper with that sort of spring could clear The five towers on the eastern side were uses the money to raise a 70,000-strong great deal of damage. The beehive shapes, hollow, but the branches and leaves above Sheepskin rafts have been sailing the Yellow disaster – let’s hope it’s not too late. they have found a tasty clump, they sit and etc. And how do we spot the tombs of mud and silt that it pours over the rocks were loaded into a crate for shipment to 180 ft. (55 m) - over half the length of known as the Five Tigers. If we follow the army – commanded by herself. happily munch their way through it. like molten chocolate. The Chinese say it’s The emperor and Buddhism were closely wall south, we come to the Old Dragon’s for example, were once five- or seven- still flourish. Their canopy is pale green in River for centuries. They were used by the emperors? Easy. Not only are they linked from the beginning. Typically, emperors the U.S. for safekeeping – and were never the sprint track. No wonder the Chinese Backed by this new force, the rebellion storied pagodas. the summer before becoming a blaze of traders, farmers, and even by the military They stop only to take a drink, the biggest, but they also have yellow tiles more like a stream of tea, which is what seen again. Fortunately, jumping mouse is not an endangered species Head, where the Great Wall meets its 32. ZHENBEITAI terrace look for another clump, and, Hukou means – “mouth of a teapot”! were not too keen on anyone – even the eastern end at the ocean. triumphs. Emperor Yang is killed, Li Yuan Some extraordinary statues have recently fiery bronze in the fall. when it needed to get its army across a 6 on their roofs. Buddha (called Shakyamuni in China) – being excellent copies – no one can catch it! becomes the first emperor of the new very occasionally, seek out been uncovered showing kneeling people with stream. A normal raft is made from 10- The Zhenbeitai watchtower is the Great Yellow, the color of much of China’s more important than them. That’s why, had been made, Tang dynasty – and the gallant Pingyang is Wall’s largest fortress. It sits high up on a mate. so we’ve got angry faces. Gods? Emperors? Who knows! 28. BADAIN JARAN 12 sheepskins, but they can be lashed soil, is the No. 1 color in China. It 39. THE HANGING when 252 grottoes were carved out of 47. TIGER MOUNTAIN made a princess. together to make what the locals call a Mount Hong, dominating the surrounding Sadly, the high-altitude 6 the Wuzhou Mountain in the 5th and 6th something to look 6 6 represents gold, valor , freedom MONASTERY GREAT WALL The fort at Niangziguan is named the Young DESERT “Sheepskin Raft Warship” 72 ft. x 22 ft. countryside. Its message is clear: if you bamboo forests that centuries ad and filled with 51,000 Buddha at as we go around from care, the center of Lady’s Gate in her honor . We’ve left the Great Wall to our south and (22 m x 7 m). These 600-sheepers can are thinking of attacking China, you’ll have are the panda’s habitat everything. No wonder the Of all the sacred mountains in China, the statues, the five most impressive carvings Zhoukoudian’s The border between China and North come by jeep to explore the extraordinary carry a cargo of 20-30 tons! to capture me first – and it won’t be easy. shrank considerably emperors insisted it was Five Great Mountains (which include Mount were of emperors – as Buddhas! Dragon Bone Hill Korea runs along the Yalu River , including a Stay away! after World War II. Heng) are the oldest and most respected. exhibition hall. 249-mile (400 km) section of the Great Badain Jaran Desert. The third-largest their color . 49. BLACK-FACED desert in China (19,000 square miles / The terrace was built in 1607, one of the This drove pandas to Before they could feel really safe on the Wall. For several centuries, the Hushan 6 30. THE HUANGTU 49,000 sq km) is the oddest place. For 6 Ming dynasty’s many ambitious projects. the point of extinction. throne, Chinese emperors made pilgrimages 41. beijing (Tiger Mountain) Great Wall was lost. But SPOONBILL instance, despite being a desert, it harbors YELLOW-EARTH PLATEAU The danger was realized to all five peaks. 6 in 1989, a section of the Ming wall that The foundations are said to date back Spoonbills get their name from their beaks, Beijing wears two faces. One is the city of had run along the same China-North Korea over 100 little lakes. These are fed by The Huangtu Plateau was created over to Qin times. The four-story building is just in time, and the 37. BACK WITH The Five Mountains originally marked the which are a rather interesting fishing springs, each bubbling up at the heart of a number living in the wild history, founded over 3,000 years ago, 43. MING TOMBS border was found . millennia by windstorms dumping millions and 100 ft. (30 m) high, with many parapets THE YELLOW boundaries of the empire. Mount Heng is the capital of five dynasties and home to 6 instrument. They stand in the shallows, small oasis where herdsmen rest and feed millions of tons of light yellow soil (loess). and loopholes for shooting out of. (currently about 1,800) farthest north and therefore closest to The remains of 13 Ming emperors lie in a The Chinese quickly rebuilt 1,367 yd. open their spoon-shaped bill (beak), and their wandering flocks. The unusual Ruo is gradually increasing. RIVER 34 emperors. The jewel of old Beijing is the 26. MUSLIMS IN NINGXIA The fertile land is excellent for farming, the Great Wall. As far as mountains go, Forbidden City, a vast palace surrounded huge 15.4-square-mile (40 sq km) burial (1.25 km) of the wall at Hushan, sweep it backwards and forwards through 6 Shui River actually flows across the desert ground 26 miles (42 km) north of Beijing. We’re now getting close China, like Europe and the U.S., is a vast mix and is easily hollowed out to make cave it’s impressive but not particularly special. by delightful gardens. The city also boasts overlooking the fast-flowing Yalu. Above it the water . The instant a tiny fish or other to feed two of the lakes. (310 miles / 500 km) to Beijing, The giant tombs are impressive, but what 45. TANGSHAN of peoples. The government recognizes 56 homes. Some of the locals still live in these 33. COMMUNIST BASE, What draws tourists by the busload is a the Temples of Heaven and Earth, the 6 looms Tiger Mountain, so named because creature touches the inside of the bill, it 6 China’s sprawling capital city. But out here make the site really interesting are its EARTHQUAKE different nationalities. It also recognizes Some of the world’s tallest sand dunes caves, though the crumbly walls are not YAN’AN monastery clinging to a cliff face on the 17th-century Cathedral of the Immaculate it resembles a crouching tiger . It’s almost snaps shut. After a quick swallow, the bird tower above the water , soaring to a height very safe. In 1556, over three-quarters 35. YULIN NATURAL GAS in the beautiful hills of north Shanxi, the side of the mountain. It has been there – statues. In early July 1976, water in a village as if the giant animal and the Great Wall carries on fishing. Hour after hour , day a number of religions. Two are ancient To understand the importance of Yan’an, 6 Conception, the Niujie Mosque, towering of 1,600 ft. (500 m). If we’re lucky, we of a million people were killed when an smog and noise seem a million miles away. In perched on wooden poles high above floods well near the city of Tangshan began are both guarding China’s frontier . If you after day. There’s not much variety in a Chinese philosophies: Confucianism and we need to go back to 1911. In that year a FIELD pagodas, and other stunning monuments. The emperors were thought to have come can hear them singing to us. “Singing” might earthquake caused their caves to collapse. Laoniu Bay, one of the country’s loveliest and all other worldly disturbance – since a mysteriously rising and falling. From another walk along this section of the Great Wall, spoonbill’s life. Taoism. The others – Buddhism, Islam, and group of revolutionaries rose up, removed Despite China’s size, population, and natural This is the city the Great Wall was built to from heaven and returned there when be an exaggeration; the mysterious dune- canyons, the Yellow River changes to a monk named Liao Ran started building it at well, gas seeped into the air . Fish in a local you can get very close to the secretive Christianity – have all come from elsewhere. Very light soil is easily eroded (worn away) the emperor , and declared China a republic. resources, the country only began to defend. they died. That explains the 4-mile (7 km) The birds here come from the 27- sound is more like whistling or booming. peaceful green. Around us are fruitful the time of the Northern Wei dynasty. aquarium leaped about wildly as if trying to country of North Korea and even by wind and rain. Together with poor There followed a long civil war between the develop in the 1980s. At that time, things Sacred Way leading into the site – a sort of square-mile (43 sq km) Important The Hui people of Ningxia and Gansu, the Scientists are not sure, but they believe the valleys striped with terraced fields. Many The other Beijing is about now and the escape. Deep down in the earth, something catch a glimpse into its lands! farming methods, this was destroying life Communists and the Nationalists for control began to change: more coal was mined, The prayer hall of this unusually positioned road to heaven. It is lined with huge carvings Bird Area at the mouth of the region we’re now passing through, are noise is produced by electricity generated locals live in cave houses hollowed out of future. It’s the beating political and cultural sinister was brewing. on the plateau. It was saved by a World of the country. When the Nationalists more factories built, more electricity monastery is open to Buddhist, Taoist, and of people and creatures. These were Yalu River . Of the five species of descended from Arab and Persian Silk by falling sand. Whatever its cause, the the soft loess cliffs. heart of the People’s Republic of China. Bank rescue project. Sustainable farming appeared to be winning, Mao Zedong led the generated, and more goods produced. Confucian worshippers. hauled into place when the temperature The unusual happenings were early warnings spoonbill, the black-faced is the most Road traders. The majority of Hui people haunting noise occurs only in summer on Think 2008 Summer Olympics and 2022 was introduced, and desert-stopping trees Red (communist) Army on a famous Long was below freezing: water was poured of a massive, murderous earthquake. endangered – a few years ago there are Muslim. We hear calls to prayer , and dunes where the side away from the wind This remarkable progress did come at a Winter Olympics (the only city to host both and grasses were planted. Gradually, life March from the south of China to reach events), fast food and slow traffic, one of onto the roadway, and, when it froze, the It struck at 4 a.m. on July 28, violently were less than 1,000 in the whole world. notice women with headscarves, as well as slopes at 30˚ or more. cost. The new industries provided jobs and statues slid into position over the ice. ornate, pagoda-style mosques. returned. Farms produced more, incomes Yan’an. Here, they set up his headquarters. the world’s busiest airports, and a massive shaking the ground around Tangshan for Happily, numbers are now increasing. But doubled, and over 2.5 million people were money, but also polluted the country’s land, it’s a slow process, as adult birds produce water , and air . The mining and burning of subway system with helpful signs in English Inside one of the pavilions is a 55-ton stone 14-16 seconds. Tragically, hundreds of The town of Linxia is sometimes called the lifted out of poverty. During World War II, when Yan’an was badly thousands of people died instantly or were young only every other year . Perhaps bombed, Mao and the other communist coal caused the biggest problems. To help as well as Chinese script. statue of Bixi, a son of the Dragon King. “Mecca of China” because it is home to He’s an odd mix – half-dragon, half-turtle trapped within collapsed buildings. they’re too busy spooning for food to think more Muslims than anywhere else in China. leaders lived in the city’s ancient caves. solve them, the government encouraged We might be only a short distance from about a family? When the war ended, the Red Army went industry to use clean-burning gas – great the Great Wall, but the streets of modern – and touching a Bixi statue is supposed to The final death toll is unknown. The official There are more than 80 mosques and bring good luck. shrines dotted all over town. on the attack. By the end of 1949, they for the Yulin area where large gas fields Beijing feel like a different planet. figure was over 200,000; unofficial had declared China a communist country. were found. estimates reckon it was half a million or more.