Travel Destinations: Tianshui, Gansu Province, China

Within the eastern region of Gansu Province you will find some of the most beautiful area of China. You will find tampered earth houses, terraced wheat fields and lush green forested hills. You will also find what remains of the once well travelled Silk Road.

Tianshiu is home to 400,000 people and one of those places in china that has an incredibly long history – it is, in fact, located near one of the ‘cradles’ of Chinese civilization and the people here are very proud of the heritage. The town is famous for the nearby Maiji Shan Buddhist caves and the Fu Xi Temple.

In addition to this, Tianshui is the perfect place to stop in Gansu and relax before continuing on if following in the footsteps of the ancient traders who walked the Silk Road route.

So, what can you see and do here?

Fu Xi Temple is one of the key attractions here. It was originally constructed in 1483 and the main hall is simply stunning. It is one of the most elaborately decorated main halls in Gansu with its gorgeous wooden carved door panels as well as the beautiful original paintings of the 64 hexagrams located on the ceiling.

Fu Xi is the originator of the Chinese people and some say a Chenji (modern day Tianshui) local, who taught the Chinese people the art of hunting, eight trigrams and how to domesticate animals.

Jade Spring Temple is another place to visit. It is located on the top of the hill above Qincheng. It has a weather beaten look to it due to its age but it is still a nice place to go and see.

Maiji Shan is the main reason that visitors come here. The grottos here are one of the largest group temples in the country. The caves rise out from the lush green landscape to awe the visitors who approach.

The grottos are full of statues and other carvings which date to the Norther Wei and Zhou dynasties and were continually added to throughout the succeeding periods.
There are so many things to see here; the Sui dynasty trinity of Buddha and Bodhisattvas in cave 13 are the highlight here but you shouldn’t miss out on seeing Cave 17 with its excellent protective guardian statues.

A trip to Water Curtain Caves is the image of China that you dream about. 17km from Luomen, you see sandstone dooms dominating verdant canyon walls with Buddhist and Daoist temples hidden within. The key site here is Lashoa Si, where the 31m high painted image of the Buddha sits cross legged on a throne made of the petals of lotus flowers, lions, elephants and deer.

There are so many other things to see here; take a trip to Tianshiu and explore them for yourself. You will not be disappointed.