Wow!China

"Central Shaanxi Plain", in Chinese "Guan Zhong", refers to the plain area at the north of Qinling Mountain in Shaanxi Province. Since ancient times, "Guan Zhong" had been the most ideal military defense, because of the gigantic natural protection provided by Qinling Mountain and the fertile soil which can promise the sufficient food supply.

Not only for strategists, "Guan Zhong" is also a good settlement for ordinary citizens. Local culture is always closely related with the life of local folks. Besides Terracotta Warriors and Horses, City Wall, which are well known tourist sites in Xi'an, in my opinion, the travelers to Xi'an shall also pay attention to the culture of Guan Zhong.

The following photos of some historical collections may give you some hints on the life of Guan Zhong citizens.

Although the name indicates that the post is used for keeping horses, actually it is widely believed to protect against evil things and bring good fortune to the house owner. And the number of posts can also reflect the richness of the owner.

The images of the hitching posts are usually monkeys, lions and Notherna barbarin tribes in ancient China.

The courtyard of one of the Guan Zhong houses

The window, which is in the shape of opening book, indicates the house owner is an intellectual.

The drawing room in Guan Zhong house

Bedroom

Reading room

Chinese traditional sedan

The lower ground in the center of the courtyard is used to have the rain water drained out through the gap between the two levels of the ground. How clever is the drainage system!

Kylins are legendary animals in Chinese ancient times, which are believed to keep evils away and bring good luck in. So people in Guan Zhong area put the image of kylin on the wall in the hope of protecting the family against unfortunate harms.

My colleague Ms Wang is a typical travel fun, who always seizes every chance of travelling to view the scenaries of different places. During the seven days of Chinese National Day holidays, she packed up her luggage again and spent totally one week to explore the Gansu province and Inner Mogolia Autonomous Region with her travel companions.

From what she describes and the pictures she took, I can imagine the whole trip is fairly hard. Just think about the thousands of kilometers by bus and most meals had to be prepared by themselves. Even herself said she did not want to travel there any more, just once in life was enough. The itinerary is Xian---Zhangye---Jiayuguan---Yumenguan---Dunhuang---EJina Region---Pingliang---Xian. Here I just want to share some photos with you:

Danxia Landform 1

Danxia Landform 2

Jiayuguan

Yumenguan

Crescent Moon Spring

Echoing Sand Dune

Riding Camel

Walking in the sands

Relic of Black City

Yadan National Geological Park

Sand Rose

Peculiar Trees

Peculiar Trees

Huyanglin Nature Reserve