Jiayuguan Travel Guide

Location: located in the Gobi desert, at the middle of Hexi Corridor, 600 kilometers from Lanzhou, 5 - 6 hours away by bus from Dunhaung .Jiayuguan is known as the 'mouth of China' because of its placement guarding the western boundary of the Ming Dynasty. While Jiayuguan is the 'mouth', the river passage is the 'throat' of China - the Hexi Corridor.

Neighboring Areas: Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Qinghai provinces, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regions

Population: 130,000
Area: 2,935 square kilometers (1,133 square miles)

Nationalities: Han, Hui, Tibetan, Dongxiang, Yugu, Baoan, Hazake, Tu, Sala, Manchu, and Mongolian

 History: historically, a small township engaged in local trading, catering to the needs of the military garrisons stationed at the fort; as a Han outpost and in 1372, during the Ming Dynasty, a fortress was built to protect the last frontier of the Chinese empire

Climatic Features: warm variable zone, aridity climate with the frost-free period of 160 days

Average Temperature: January with temperature as low as - 21C (-5.8F), August with temperature as high as 34C (93F); Sandstorm - March to May; Strong Wind - November and December; annually with the highest of 38.7C (101.7F) and lowest of 0C (32F), annual and daily difference in temperature great.

Rainfall: annual precipitation 100 millimeters, with rainfall concentrated in summer

Mountains: Qilianshan Range

Rivers: Beidahe River

Products: wheat, corn, millet, buckwheat, jowar, white potato, potato, cotton, benne, beet, tobacco, stock raising

Local Highlights: Qinqiang Drama, Jiuquan Cup of phosphorescent jade, handcraft carpet

Located in northwest of Gansu Province, Jiayuguan is the pass of the famous Silk Road. It adjoins the historical and cultural city Jiuquan on the east, the petroleum city Yumen on the west, the snow-capped Qilian Mountain on the south and the vast Badain Jaran Desert on the north.

Jiayuguan has a temperate continental desert climate, with an average temperature of 6.7ºC (44ºF) – 7.7ºC (46 ºF). In a word, it has a very cold winter and a hot summer; seldom rains; and has abundant sunshine. Therefore, tourist activities can be held all the year round.

The city culture is a combination of Great Wall and Silk Road. It boasts many historical relics referring to these two wonders. The famous ones include Jiayuguan Pass, the Overhanging Great Wall, the First Fire Tower of the Great Wall and Wei-Jin Art Gallery.

Jiayuguan Pass
Six kilometers (3.73 miles) southwest of the city, the Jiayuguan Pass is situated in the middle of the narrowest valley. The Great Wall on both sides of the pass crosses the Gobi, neighboring the Overhanging Great Wall on the north and the First Fire Tower of the Great Wall on the south. The Jiayuguan Pass represents the western starting point of a section of the Great Wall constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Overhanging Great Wall
The Overhanging Great Wall is an important part of the defensive work of Jiayuguan Pass. Built in the year of 1539 during the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644), it is 11 kilometers (6.83 miles) from the downtown Jiayuguan, and located 6.5 kilometers (4 miles) northwest of the Jiayuguan Pass. The main body of the Overhanging Great Wall was built with gravel and soil, including three fire towers. Its outline seems similar with the Beijing Badaling Great Wall, so people nickname it 'West Badaling'.

The First Fire Tower of the Great Wall
The First Fire Tower of the Great Wall is also named 'Talai River Fire Tower' (Talaihe Dun in Chinese). It is on the bank of the Talai River, 7.5 kilometers (4.66 miles) from the Jiayuguan Pass. Standing on it, visitors can appreciate the grandeur of an ancient civilization when they see the marvelous view of the vast Gobi.

Wei-Jin Art Gallery
The Wei-Jin Art Gallery is 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the downtown. Surrounded by vast Gobi, it is made up with more than one thousand ancient tombs of Wei-Jin Period (220-420). The murals on the bricks of the tombs are very vivid, including the patterns of farming, taking mulberry, animal husbandry, hunting, banquet, playing music, playing chess, etc. Through these murals, you can understand the politics, economy, military, transport means and many other aspects of the Wei-Jin Period very well.

Besides the above attractions of Jiayuguan City, you can find many other places well worth a visit. For instance, you can go to see the famous July 1st Glacier (Qi Yi Bingchuan) discovered on July 1st, 1958, visit Jiayuguan Museum with the theme of showing Great Wall culture and history, or join the activities provided by Jiayuguan Glider Base in the airport.

Other tour attractions include the “71” glaciers, the Great Wall museum, Gobi desert scenery, the desert mirage, the elegant Dan landform, and red Liulin. Jiayuguan had already held “melon festival” and “the Jiayuguan international glide festival”. Jiayuguan is located 380 kilometers away from the city of Dunhuang.

Getting there and away

Thanks to its footing as a major tourist destination on the Silk Road, Jiayuguan has rapidly become a transport hub only slightly less important than the provincial capital Lanzhou or Dunhuang in recent years. The city can now conveniently be accessed either by air, railway or bus.

By air
There are 5 weekly flights from Lanzhou and Dunhuang to Jiayuguan, not flying on Tuesday and Saturday. Also infrequent flights to Xi'an and Urumqi.

The airport is about 12km northeast of the city proper and a taxi should cost around Y40. A cheaper choice is the CAAC shuttle bus for Y10, which meets every flight.

By train
The Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway line passes the city . with regular trains to Beijing, Chengdu, Korla, Lanzhou, Shanghai, Urumqi, Xi'an and Zhengzhou. For tourists traveling between Lanzhou and Jiayuguan, the tour train leaves one city in the morning and arrives at the other in the evening.

The railway station is 5km from the city center, a taxi ride is around Y10 or a minibus No.1 from Xinhua Nanlu is Y1 only.

By bus
Highway G312 connects Lanzhou with Xinjiang via Jiayuguan. From here, you may either go north to Mongolia or head straight south to Golmud in Qinghai Province.

There are 5 daily buses between Dunhuang and Jiayuguan, about 6 hours. You may also take a daily sleeper coach to Lanzhou, Y160 /16 hours.

Also quite a number of buses to Zhangye. Be careful of the indirect buses, which may double the original 5-hour journey. The long-distance bus station lies on the main highway of the city proper, about 1km southwest of the central roundabout.

Getting around

Taxis, motorbikes, minibuses and buses form a huge pool around the Jiayuguan and Changcheng Hotels.

It is also fairly easy to travel in town by hiring a bike for about Y2~3/hour, so long as you do not mind braving the occasional gusts of sandy and dirty wind. Hotels with bike hire include the Jiayuguan, the Changcheng and the Youth Hotels.

Lodging

Yinbin Hotel (Yinbin dasha): enjoys a good location, just beside the bus station, surrounded by a group of restaurants. It's ranked as one of the best choices or backpackers.

Youth Hotel(Qingnian Lvshe): located on Jianshe xilu, which is designed in an incongruous European Castle style. Dorm beds are about Y35, std. dbl is around Y150.

Wumao Hotel: provides nice and clean rooms and dorms.

Xiongguan Hotel :  Y20/dorm

Liangshiju Hotel : Y25/bed in dbl, Y15/dorm

Dining

The best of the lot for selection is the Fulihua Restaurant in the Wumao Hotel (Wumao binguan), although the restaurant in the Jiayuguan Hotel (Jiayuguan binguan) is also good.

For cheaper and more interesting food, you can explore the Night Market on Jingtie lu, just past the Wumao Hotel heading southwest, where you can find a variety of fast cooked food, mainly noodles and kebabs.

There are also some good restaurants in the area around the railway station, especially the Linyuan Restaurant (Linyuan jiujia) that serves spicy Sichuan cuisine at reasonable prices.

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