Qingyang

A cradle of farming culture on the loess plateau of eastern Gansu, known for its cave dwellings, sachets and the Beishiku Temple grottoes.

Qingyang lies in the far east of Gansu, deep in the Loess Plateau and bordering Shaanxi and Ningxia. It is regarded as one of the important birthplaces of the farming culture of the ancestors of the Zhou people. The area preserves many sunken-courtyard cave dwellings, and local folk arts such as Qingyang sachets, paper-cutting and Daoqing shadow puppetry are well known. The Beishiku Temple is a grotto complex carved during the Northern Wei dynasty, while sites such as the Tomb of the Zhou Ancestor carry the memory of early agriculture. Summer and autumn are the best times to see the plateau's gullies and ravines. Gateways are Qingyang Airport and Qingyang Station on the Yinchuan–Xi'an high-speed railway.

Destinations

• Qingyang

Itineraries

• Southeast Gansu Grottoes & Mount Kongtong – Travel north from Tianshui through Pingliang to Qingyang, connecting Maijishan, Mount Kongtong, the North and South Gro…