8 Days Classic Gansu Photography Tour

Zhangye is a historical medium-sized town located between Lanzhou and Jiayuguan. It used be not only an important stopover of the Hexi Corridor section of ancient Silk Road, but also strategic garrison guarding both the Great Wall and circulation of trade along the Silk Road. According to Marco Polo’s travelogue, he stayed here for a whole year. So what was the magic reason that made him stay for such a long time? The answer no undoubtedly is the rich historical sites and incredible landforms here. Unfortunately, Marco didn’t have a camera during that ancient time to record what he saw and experienced in Zhangye. But now, you have a camera to do what Marco wished to do, to record the colors, smells, experience in your photos.

Zhangye’s history is as old as Chinese history. The brilliant ancestors, including the farmers, artisans, merchants, solders, officers, together created magnificent relics, and inherited the tradition from generation to generation. At the same time, the spectacular geographic environment here formed unique natural wonder.

Best Sites for Photography

Dafo Temple

Dafo Temple was built in 1098 of West Xia Dynasty, is famous for the gently formed Sleeping Buddha with calm expression. The Sleeping Buddha is placed in a large two-story pavilion with regal roof and carving. The statue tells the story of Buddha’s Nirvana. The whole Dafo Temple is a large complex with regal arrangements. The Sleeping Buddha is the centrally seated, symmetric buildings situate along the sides.

Danxia Landform

There are many places in Zhangye with Danxia Landform. While, the most beautiful one is Nijiayi Danxia Landform about 40km away from Zhangye town which is the place can be seen on TV, photos, etc. The barren mountains are covered by a red grit rock stratum. At the same time, some surfaces of mountains appear other colors, such as white, yellow, etc, and form many irregular lines and blocks looking like some abstract oil paintings. You can’t see any other vegetation which is actually not necessary to exist in such a scene.

There are four viewing decks for you to watch and shoot. Sunrise and sunset are the best hours for taking photos. The golden sunlight makes the red mountains morbidezza and soft. The sunrise usually appears around 06:00 in summer and 07:30 in winter. The sunset happens around 19:00~20:00 in summer and 18:00~19:00 in winter.

Jiayuguan is the gate of northwestern China. It is the western terminal point of the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty. Jiayuguan used to play a very important role in ancient Chinese history as a strategic defense to protect inland China from invasion of tribes in northwestern China due to its spectacular location and terrain which is improbable to be invaded from outsiders. Today, Jiayuguan has transformed into a historical site which is also a good place for photography.

Featured Sites for Photography

Fort

The fort is the most significant part of Jiayuguan Pass as well as the last fortress of Great Wall of Ming Dynasty. It is a complex of towers, city walls and other military buildings covering more than 25,000 square meters. The city wall is nearly 11 meters high, and comprises an outer and inner wall. There are two large gates standing at the east and the west of the inner wall. Walkways lead to the top of the wall, allowing horses to climb up the wall.

When taking photos of Jiayuguan Fort, you can set the surroundings as the backgrounds or setoffs. The pleasant views, with the permanently snowcapped Qilian Mountains to the north and the black Mazong Mountains to the south, couldn’t be better scene to shoot. To take the full view of the fortress is very necessary, and you can find the best place for framing from the place 500 meters to the southeast of fort. The best hours are around the sunrise and sunset.

Great Wall

It is a good idea to learn the history of the Great Wall before your shooting. In the Great Wall Museum, you will learn big events happened in the history of Great Wall from the Han to the last Ming Dynasty. Many rare photos and scale models of the Wall are displayed in the Museum.

After visiting the Great Wall Museum, it is time to explore the real Walls. Jiayuguan is famous for the so-called Overhanging Wall which is connected to the fort and Mazong Mountains. The walls were built on lofty cliffs with incredibly large gradient looking like an overhanging cantilever. Climbing up to higher gives you excellent views of the surrounding land and mountains.

Dunhuang is the last stop of Gansu Silk Road photography tour, which is also the most highlighting part. It proudly has the world’s largest colossal sand dunes and boasting Buddhism art works.

Recommended Sites for Photography

Mogao Grottoes

Mogao Grottoes are located 25km southwest of Dunhuang City. The history of Mogao Grottoes can be dated back to more than 1600 years ago. Thousand or more caves were built in cliffs, and only over six hundred survive with recognizable form. So far, there are thirty caves open to the public.

Why the caves are so charming and famous? Because they keep thousands of precious murals, Buddhist scriptures, paintings and other relics from which you can trace the development of Chinese art over 1600 years from one dynasty to the next because each dynasty built own caves to record its own features.

To preserve relics in the caves, it is not allowed to take photos inside the caves. But it is worth exploring the caves one by one to appreciate the beautiful murals. From outside of caves, you can take some great photos of serried caves built in the high cliffs

Crescent Lake & Singing Sand Dunes

Seeing enough gobi desert along the Hexi Corridor? In Dunhuang, you will be pleased by some gentle and beautiful landscapes of real desert – Singing Sand Dunes (Mingsha Shan). The National Geography elected as the most beautiful desert in China. As the name suggests, the desert here sings. Scientifically, it is a resonation of moving sands driven by wind. The sand ridges rise and fall on which you may possibly see the caravan passing by.

The most fabulous scene is the Crescent Lake which is surrounded by sand dunes. The most magical things are: 1. The lake including its surrounding has never been flooded by shifting sands; 2. The lakes has never been drained without water supply from river. The lake shapes like a crescent moon lying in the arms of sand mountains. Near to the lake are some ancient Chinese traditional buildings. To witness the best scenery of the Crescent Lake, you need to climb to the top of the Singing Sand Dunes. The best hours for shooting are around sunrise and sunset. The strong light in the daytime creates strong noise. Besides, the temperature is very high.