Territories within Gansu becomes an important study center for archaeologists and cultural anthropologists. It attracts millions of worldwide tourists every year. Though in the past it was greatly influenced by Buddhism, but like Xinjiang, people of Gansu were later assimilated by Islamic teaching from middle east and identified as "Hui Race" in China. Among 1.4b Chinese population, there are about 40 millions Muslims, mainly reside and scatter around north west provinces of China especially in Xingjiang and Gansu.
Jiayu Pass （嘉峪关） of Gansu was the terminal point of great wall in the west. The fortified military stronghold for the ancient kingdom was constructed with wisdom, painstaking effort and sweat of Chinese labors .
The remains of earth structure from the olden great walls.
The Pass city gate （嘉峪关） acted as an immigration office for passengers to go out to the west and more often was not for coming back home. This was a sad point to say goodbye to love ones and friends, as per old Chinese poem said there wont be any old friends after stepping out off this west pass (西出阳关无故人).
Vast area of Jiayu fortress.
The base of platform in front of Jiayu-Guang is known as Jishi-yanming (击石燕鸣) which mean stone beat out the cry of Sparrow. A qiu-qiu sound can be heard clearly during warm and good weather when this part of the site is hit with a stone. The legend says that in the early past, there were great numbers of sparrows making home inside the walls of Jiayu Pass. Everyday, they flied out to look for food and came back in groups in the evening. One day due to Typhoon, they came back late and could not fly freely into the fortress as the gate had closed. They tried to fly higher to get over the walls but it was so dark and the wind was so strong that many of them finally knocked into the walls and died. The spirits of dead sparrow remained there and cried whenever people hit the site with stone. The story actually reflected that the walls of Jiayu Pass are so strong and high that even birds were not able to fly over.
Film shooting at Jiayu Pass
Camels are the only means of transport at the far end of the west great wall. The pavilion standing lonely in the vast blank horizon was the place that friends bid goodbye.
We continued our journey to Huang River Stone Forest which was the shooting place for Jacky Chan's picture "The Myth". Assembled there are hundreds of sand formations in different postures and designs, exposed exclusively within our eye sight, totally uncovered. Men become so tiny in this wonder of nature.
The scenic sight along the mountainous route to Huang River Stone Forest at Jingtai in Gansu Province was amazing.
The sight was as if a huge panoramic picture lively hanged down from the edge of the earth.
Navigate on the Yellow River with sheepskin raft is indeed an unforgettable and exciting experience in the journey. This centuries-old simple water carriage floating on the aged river has become a very special scene of the spot. Sheepskin raft, small in size, simple in structure and light in weight is able to hold a freight of more than 1000 kg on water.
Thick murky brownish water of Huang River starting from Qinghai (青海) flowing through Lanzou, Capital of Gansu, running towards North-east from centuries to centuries, was assigned and respected as mother river of China continent. Chinese civilization began from the delta of Yellow River 5000 years ago.
Donkey carts or horse riding are the only ways of transportation to explore round the entire sand stone forest. To traffic deep into the heart of the Forest took hours and it was quite advisable to traffic by donkey carts as most of its local drivers know the way well and had a lot of information. Most important was providing poor rural people a chance in making some income from tourism.
To preserve and prevent the unnecessary erosion of this nature wonder, modern vehicles are strictly forbidden.
Beautiful posture of the stone and sand along the donkey-ride way.
Date trees are widely planted within Gansu region. Red date is always the love for all Chinese ladies because of its medical benefit. According to Chinese "Sinseh" red dates able to enhance blood reproduction. Today besides dates, huge acres of "Fuji" brand apples farms also become new cash crops for the farmers due to its world-wide economical effect.
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