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Home → China Tours → Silk Road Tours → Tianshui Travel Guide

Tianshui Travel Guide

Location: As one of the essential points on Silk Road, Tianshui city is in the southeast of Gansu Province. It is close with Maijishan Grottoes and cross through Changjiang River and Yellow River.

Population: As the second largest city in Gansu Province, its population is approximately 3,500,000.

Area: Tianshui City, the existing total area of 589.91 hectares of forest, the forest coverage rate to 26.5 percent. Natural forest is mainly distributed in the east, south-east of Long Hill, West Qinling and Guanshan Lin.

Nationalities: Tishui City is distributed by many nationalities, a total of 32. The number of minority occupies 6.9% of the whole population。Hui minority nationality has the largest population, and the others are Manchu, Mongolia as well as Zang minority nationality. Tianshui city is a diocese of the Roman Catholic church.

Hitory: Tianshui is a state-level historical city. This region has been inhabited since Neolithic time, excavated relics has a history of 8120 years. It is the birthplace of Fuxi, the earliest Chinese ancestor. The Qin State, later to become the founding dynasty of the Chinese empire, grew out from this area.

Climate: The place enjoys a temperate climate with well-marked seasons. The annual average temperature is 11.5℃. The hottest temperature is 33.4℃ in July and the coldest in January.

Transportation: Tianshui enjoys a convenient transport. The airline was newly opened, the scheduled flights leading to all major cities in China. The national highway G312 from Lianyungang in the east of Jiangsu Province to Huo’erguosi Port in Xinjiang Province, passes Tianshui. It takes about 4 hours from Lanzhou to Tianshui by train. The railway station offers trains to more than 10 cities such as Beijing, Shijiazhuang, Qingdao, Tianshui, etc.

Local Specialties: Tianshui has been an important distribution center for goods and materials in the southeast of Gansu Province since ancient times, highly reputed as “West China Textile City” and “Electric Equipment Centre”. It is a famous-producing city, producing good-quality and tasteful Huaniu apples, good juicy peach, sweet almond, cantaloupe and watermelon. What’s more, handcrafts like jade carvings, carpets, silk tapestries are famous at home and abroad.

Local Food: With wheat and corn as the main crops, Tianshui food is mainly made from flaour. Tianshui food is noted for its delicious Guagua, Liangpi, Jiangshui Noodle, Jiaotuan and Dalu Noodle and so on.

Major Attractions
Maijishan Grottoes – As one of the four famous Grottoes in China with other three being Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang and Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, the Maijingshan Grottoes are a series of 194 caves cut in the side of the hill Maijishan. This rock cut architecture contains over 7,200 Buddhist sculptures and over 1,000 square meters of murals, all of which built from 384AD to the Qin Dynasty (1644-1911).



Fuxi Temple – Fuxi Temple was built to commemorate Fuxi, who was the earliest ancestors of ancient China. The temple is a Ming Dynasty construction that, despite renovations in the Qing Dynasty, still retains its Ming format. Every year on January 15th (alleged birthday of the emperor) and May 13th (apparent birthday of China’s first dragon) by the Chinese traditional calendar, grand sacrificial ceremonies are held, which draw throngs of Chinese and foreigners to its door.



Travel Tips:
1. as most Chinese towns sell them at streetside newsagents or in bookstores, the only English Language maps of the area are to be found in the gift shop at the China Post Hotel (just northwest of the main square).
2. The Fuxi Temple is easily accessible if you are in the downtown area of Tianshui-simply walk down the street south of Central Square. Temple admission is free from the first day to the seventh day of the first lunar month.

Questions & Answers: