As a city of mountains and rivers, how attractive is Lanzhou Travel Notes in the Republic of China?

During the Republic of China, many people of insight traveled westward. In addition to Xi 'an, Lanzhou was also an important city that everyone wanted to know.

Today's master is a writer, and his romance novels, The Golden Powder Family and The Cause of Crying and Laughing, are extremely popular. It is said that the manuscript fee is 1, yuan.

He is the famous Zhang Henshui.

Zhang Xueliang wanted to invite him to work in the Northeast, but he was politely refused. Kenji Toshihara, the famous leader of the Japanese invaders, is also his loyal fan. He asked for his autograph, and he cleverly teased him.

Zhang Henshui (1895? 1967)

In 1934, Zhang Henshui came to the northwest and felt a lot along the way. He recorded the places of interest along the way through words.

Originally published in Travel Magazine, Volume 9, No.7, 1935

Let's take a look at Lanzhou written by this great writer.

Journey to the West: Zhang Henshui, the eastern suburb of Lanzhou

We went to Lanzhou from Xi 'an, and we walked for nine whole days because of the rain and the inspection of the project by General Manager Liu. It was refreshing to hear that Lanzhou was coming soon. About 3 miles from the licorice shop, to the pig's mouth, through the triangle city area, the road is flat, the village faces each other, and along the river, the clear water rolls and urges the waterwheel outside the mill, which is a bit of Jiangnan meaning.

go ten miles to Majiasi River. The river is wide, rocky and craggy, with a ray of clear water flowing. People on both sides of the strait use poplars as fences and large bluestones as walls, which is also a scenery that has never been seen for more than a thousand miles.

the map of Lanzhou,

five miles across the river in the Republic of China, is the Yanwanggou, also called Wangwanggou. There was a small crack in the dirt mountain, just to let the car pass. There used to be robbers here. Now the Silan Highway has been changed to go from the top of the mountain. Two peaks, separated by a deep valley, were crossed by a long beam. Under the long beam, there is a Tai Chi-style running water culvert, which lights up and goes in, goes in from the south gate of the culvert, and comes out from the north gate. It takes two or three hundred steps in the culvert, but it comes out in its original place. The project is very clever.

It was introduced by the China Relief Society and supervised by the Swedish Engineering Department. However, Liu Rusong, the chief engineer, said that this was because the foreign engineering department misused the policy of the Relief Society. The charity will only provide relief, not afraid to spend more wages. The Economic Commission used to seek truth from facts, so why waste it? (It is estimated that the salary will be 2, to 3, yuan.) In fact, the highway can pass without taking the hill.

Lanzhou Airport, in 193s

Yanwanggou was ten miles westward, which was Donggang Slope, and Gaolan Mountain outside Lanzhou was far away. Go two or three miles and arrive at Lanzhou airport. The airport here is big, and it is three miles away around. To the north of the airport, there is the Lanzhou Camp, with a castle built at the gate and strict weather. From here to the east gate of Lanzhou, about ten miles, the road is flat, the car is flying, and people are flying when they see the Peiping-style four-storey gate watchtower.

Lanzhou City, 1936

Market in Lanzhou

Although Lanzhou was a provincial government in a border province, it refers to ancient times. Now let's open the map of China and have a look. In the middle, there is a cross. Then, we can find the place name Lanzhou near the center of the cross. So to come to Lanzhou is nominally a prosperous border, but in fact it is in the middle of China.

in the eyes of westerners, this place is also Shanghai in the northwest, Xinjiang, Qinghai and northern Tibet in the west, from which goods are transported. North to Ningxia and Mongolia, there are also businesses, so in business, Lanzhou is very important.

We walked more than a thousand miles of dry and tasteless dry roads, passing through a big place like Pingliang, which is just a straight street, so our ideal Lanzhou is also desolate.

When the bus entered Dongguan, it was not satisfactory. Lanzhou, like other cities in the northwest, has another pass outside the city wall, namely, Dongguan and Nanguan, which are all large city circles. Only the north gate is the Yellow River, which is irrelevant. From the east gate to the front of the provincial government office, it is a dry-shaped street, with a wide place and a narrow place of more than two feet, but it only passes by a car.

The shops are completely old-fashioned, and the counters are mostly like pawnbrokers in the south, with a single column door. All the goods are displayed on a tall wooden frame with many squares. The so-called window decoration is naturally out of the question. Even the style of the goods is rarely shown. The reason is simple, because glass is not easy to move to Lanzhou. The price of glass here is even more expensive, about one foot square, so you have to sell it for a dollar here.

Because of the buildings in Lanzhou, there are very few such things. Merchants use the oldest method to put their goods in a shelf, and some must be displayed, either under the eaves or on the wall for customers to use.

Nine times out of ten, the houses are old-fashioned, low eaves, which protrude into the street, and various signs are lined up under the eaves. The slightly new houses I have seen are just a few newly opened hotels. Northwest China has a continental climate with little rain, so the streets in Lanzhou are also earthy, but the dust is not as severe as that in Xi 'an. Besides, the grinding motor in the provincial government is used here, and the whole city has electric lights, which is better than that in Xi 'an.

Zhongshan Market, which used to be the famous Zhuangyan Temple in the city, was renamed in the hands of the Northwest Army on the East Street of the provincial capital. Now, except for the main hall in the temple, all of them have been converted into shopping malls. The contents of shopping malls are also modeled after various markets in Beiping, but there are more floating stalls and fewer shops. In terms of what is sold, there are probably daily necessities, and what women need is especially well prepared. Therefore, the modern women in Lanzhou City, Zhongshan Market, is a must.

This border town is old-fashioned, and there are no occasions for men and women, and it is rare for men and women to walk together. Only in the Zhongshan market, men and women go, and occasionally they can see men and women walking together. Some people say that in all likelihood, the men and women in this trade are from the East, and the people here are still different from men and women. This is really what gentlemen who stress retro look forward to.

When it comes to Zhuangyan Temple itself, it is of indelible value. Above the main hall, both walls are murals of the Tang Dynasty. The Buddha in the painting is completely Indian. Because the upstairs doors and windows are closed all year round, there is little sunlight in it, so it still retains its original color. According to local people, in a certain period, this mural was in great danger of being completely destroyed. Fortunately, a few smart local people hid the mud board and buried the mural, which saved them.

In addition to murals, some people say that there is a kind of wheel Buddha lamp in this temple, which is in another secluded temple. The revolving lamp is like a wooden tower, the lower part is in the cellar, and the upper part goes straight to the top of the temple. If someone touches the mechanism, the lamp will turn itself. I haven't seen this thing with my own eyes, and I dare not think it is completely real. My friend told me because I swam in Zhuangyan Temple. If you want to see it again, you have to find someone from Guanting to accompany you, so you have to give up. Otherwise, the monk in the temple, he is not open.

Three Wonders of the Great Buddha Temple

When it comes to the solemn Zen Temple, it's time to talk about Hong 'en Temple. This temple, commonly known as the Big Buddha Temple, is because there is a big Buddha statue in the temple. Now Lanzhou Guanting has used this place and turned it into a people's library. The address is in the west street of the provincial government, which is not remote.

There is no need to introduce the furnishings of the library. Here, I just want to talk about the three famous wonders of the Great Buddha Temple. What are the three unique skills? It is the book, the painting and the plastic.

first, books are out of control. Here are the words of Yan Zhenqing and Chu Suiliang.

second, painting is absolutely perfect. In the first hall, there are murals of the Ming dynasty, which are not lacking at all. On the back wall of the temple, there is a statue of Guanyin, which was painted by Wu Daozi himself. The elephant is about seven or eight feet high and completely meticulous. Needless to say, it's just the yarn on Guanyin's body, vaguely revealing the clothes inside, which is a stunt. It's just that the age is too long, and the color is not very clear. Many people tried to take some photos of this mural, but they all failed. Soon, a white man said that he could paint it with paper by spraying a chemical on the wall. However, Lanzhou Guanting, afraid of corroding the original painting, did not agree.

the third is plastic. As I said before, many statues of ancient temples in the north can maintain their original state, and the wall buddhas of the Great Buddha Temple have all been preserved, so the old statues in the temple will naturally not be destroyed. According to my observation, several Buddha statues in the east annex of Houdian are the most swaggering. There are three giant buddhas in the main hall, although the sculptors are not bad, but they are far from those with temples. Some people say that these statues are Tang sculptures, while others say that they are Yuan sculptures. However, there is no textual research, but they are not the products of the Qing Dynasty, which can be asserted.

the yellow river iron bridge is a bridge of the yellow river through the ages? . Before the Jin-Pu Railway and Ping-Han Railway were built, there was only a pontoon bridge outside the gate of Lanzhou on the Yellow River from Qinghai to Haikou, Shandong Province, hence the old saying of these seven words.

Lanzhou pontoon bridge, Republic of China

The bridge is outside the north gate, and you can see it when you leave the city. But it used to be a pontoon bridge, and now it's an iron bridge. The structure of the pontoon bridge is not the same as that of the pontoon bridge in the south. Instead, the wood is floated in the water, twisted into a rope with a kind of Qiancao, which is a specialty of Ganxi, and the wood is bound, and then the board is laid on it. The bridge deck is very wide, in order to pass the mule cart on it. However, there is a layer of trouble. The bridge should be built once a year, because in winter, the Yellow River freezes, and the bridge will be damaged if it is not put away and frozen in the ice.

Lanzhou Railway Bridge, the Republic of China

At the end of Guangxu, a governor in Gansu made a plan once and for all, and spent 5, silver (freight included) to ask the Germans to build this railway bridge. The bridge is about 2 steps long and 1 feet wide, which is roughly the same as the iron bridge on the railway. However, on the bridge deck, there is a thick layer of wood, a heavy mule cart and carriage, and the rolling bridge plate rattles, and it is drilled under the overhead bridge. It is new and old, but it is not funny.

Baita Temple, in the Republic of China

On the north bank of the river is Baita Mountain. There are several temples on the mountain, and the layers of the mountain are staggered. There is no vegetation on it, and the pale yellow soil is illuminated by the strong sun, and it is obviously not the scene of the Central Plains.

upstream and downstream of the bridge, there are large waterwheels with circular wheels in line, which are driven by the water of the Yellow River. The water of the Yellow River is always rushing. People passing by the bridge can hear the water rushing and clattering on the bridge. And the cowhide raft, without anything to support it, went down the river on the surface of the water and went quickly. These, seen on the Yellow River Bridge, are what people in the southeast are most interested in.

when we arrived in Lanzhou, all the eight-character new hotels in the head of the city were declared full, so thanks to the letter of introduction given by President Zhu in Xi 'an, we were entertained by people in the provincial government and stayed in the provincial government garden.

Gansu provincial government, the provincial capital of Gansu province in 193s

, was originally the Su Palace of the Ming Dynasty, with a large place. When Zuo Zongtang was governor of Shaanxi but Gansu, he renovated this place. Therefore, this garden is not only decorated with pavilions and ponds, but also the trees inside are very old, tall and big.

There are more than a dozen pavilions in the garden. The first one is Wanghe Tower, which is on the wall of the back wall of the garden. Looking north from the upstairs, the Yellow River is rolling, just under your feet. There is a stone tablet outside the building, with a slight blush on it. It is said that the king Su was killed by bandits and died in the mansion.

the second is the boathouse, in the rockery, where Zuo Zongtang used to work, and now the provincial government banquets are all here. The third is the tomb of King Su. During the bandit rebellion, Su Wang's family disappeared, but there was no body, so they were buried here. Later generations made a fake grave here to commemorate his family's loyalty, and there was a two-storey pagoda outside the grave. This place is also one of the best in the whole country. The tall locust tree stretches into the air. The rockery is equipped with the winding steps, and with the craggy rocks, there is a ditch flowing in the grass below the mountain, which is very picturesque. The fourth is the stone tablet cave, a square stone door with an original style, which went into the cellar of the square. The walls around it were all embedded with stone tablets, and the words engraved on them were poems written by Su Wang that day. Before his death, the stone tablets were probably put on.

in addition, there are lotus ponds and several platforms. There are several meanders in the water in the pool, and water flows all day long. This water is not spring water, nor is it an open ditch, but it is the Yellow River water pumped up by a water pump in the Yellow River, so it is inexhaustible.

Although this is the garden of the provincial government, this is the only scenic spot in Lanzhou, so every Sunday, the side door to the west of the provincial government is opened and people are free to visit. Just unlike other parks, there are no hotels, tea houses and rest places, which is the only way to keep it clean.

wuquan mountain

wuquan mountain is Gaolan mountain, and the county government of Lanzhou is called Gaolan county, which is the name taken from this mountain. The mountain is about five miles outside the Nanguan of Lanzhou. The mountain is very tall and straight. Although there are still stones missing on the mountain, the mountains and valleys are covered with vegetation. From a distance, it is a lush color. In this place in the northwest, there are such green hills to see, which is very satisfying.

The main road of chariots and horses leads directly to the foot of the mountain, and there is a wooden archway with four characters written on it: Happy to the Famous Mountain. On this mountain, * * * has six or seven state pavilions, all of which are built up with the potential of the mountain. Nine times out of ten, all the houses are new buildings.

according to legend, in the former Qing dynasty, the mountains were just two temples. Twenty or thirty years ago, there was a man named Wu in Lanzhou, who thought this place could be decorated, because it was along the high and low peaks, with houses and the original Wuhou Temple, Thousand Buddha Pavilion, Zuogong Temple and Mani Temple. Several places were really five steps on the first floor and ten steps on the first floor. Trees were planted along the valley, and now it has become a scenic spot.

The small Penglai in the valley is the largest number of trees, blocking the farmland on both sides, crossing the valley as a bridge, and building pavilions on the bridge. The shade is deep, and there is no way ahead, which is the most memorable place. Therefore, there are many tea houses here.

Wuquanshan architecture, in the Republic of China

In addition, pavilions were built around the five springs, but in recent years, there have been two blockages, and Wuquanshan is actually Sanquanshan. There is a house on the front of the mountain, which is a stone fence built in the north of Santaige, commanding and the Yellow River Lancheng, all of which can be pointed out one by one.

The situation in Lanzhou

Lanzhou was already included in the Chinese territory during the Han Dynasty. Huo Qubing stationed troops here to guard against the Huns. From Han Dynasty to Zuo Zongtang's hand, there was always a military relationship here. According to the situation, this place is very important.

The Yellow River is in the north of the city, and Baita Mountain is in Hebei. The mountain meanders eastward, covering more than ten miles away from Lanzhou City. The southwest of the city is Gaolan Mountain, commanding, and you can see clearly the enemy coming from the north bank of the Yellow River. As for the vicinity of Lanzhou, it is just a plain, which is just a few hundred thousand troops. Now, the plain between the two mountains outside the East Gate is still the place where the troops are stationed. After passing here, there is another danger of Yan Wanggou. People who come to visit Lanzhou should understand this point. If they can understand this point, then they can know why Lanzhou is important.

several traffic incidents

there is one thing that people who come to Lanzhou will leave a deep impression on, that is, traffic incidents. The traffic here can be divided into three types: land, water and air.

Only cowhide rafts are used in the water. This thing is very interesting to say. When you use it, you can put it in the Yellow River and take people with you all the way to Baotou in Suiyuan. When not in use, people put this thing on their backs and take it with them.

It's not our ideal cowhide raft. We thought cowhide was covered on a wooden shelf to make a boat. It is to remove the hair from the outside and the meat from the inside of the cow, keep it all except the head and tail, sew it with thread, apply it with ointment, and then