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Wuwei is a prefecture-level city in China's Gansu province.
Wuwei is also a county, Wuwei County, in Anhui province. It is by the Yangtze river, to the north of Tongling and Wuhu, and south of Chaohu.
Wuwei is located in northwest central Gansu province. In the north it borders Inner Mongolia, in the southwest, Qinghai. Its central location between three western capitals, Lanzhou, Xining, and Yinchuan makes it an important business and transportation hub for the area. Because of its position along the Hexi Corridor, historically the only route from central China to western China and the rest of Central Asia, many major railroads and national highways pass through Wuwei.
Geography, geology and climate
Wuwei's geography is dominated by three plateaus, the Loess, Tibetan, and Mongolian. Elevation can be generalized as, the south is high and the north is low, with elevations ranging from 1020–4874 meters above sea-level. Its area is 33,000 km2. Average annual temperature is 7.8 °C. The climate is arid or semi-arid with rainfall between 60–610 mm. Evaporation is from 1400-3000 mm, creating a net loss of water each year. There are 2200–3000 sunlight hours each year and from 85–165 frost free days.
Southwest of Wuwei is the 230 meter thick Tianzhu Formation made of clastics intercalated with sandy shale and shale.Minerals deposits occurring in the vicinity of Wuwei include graphite, iron, titanium, and limestone.
History
In ancient times Wuwei was called Liangzhou and is the eastern terminus of the Hexi Corridor. People began settling here 5000 years ago. It was a key link for the Northern Silk Road,[2] and a number of important archaeological finds derive from Wuwei including ancient copper carts with stone animals. In 121 BC Han emperor Wudi brought his cavalry here to defend the Hexi Corridor. His military success allowed him to expand the corridor west. Its importance as a stop along the Silk Road made it a crossroads of cultures and ethnicities from all over central Asia. Numerous Buddhist grottoes and temples in the area attest to its role as a path for bringing Buddhism from India and Afghanistan to China.
Famous cultural relics from Wuwei include the Galloping Bronze Horse, Western Xia stele, White Tower Temple, Tianti Mountain Grotto, Luoshi Temple Tower, and the Wen Shrine.
Administration
1 urban district, 2 counties, 1 autonomous county, 116 towns, and 41 townships
City district:
* Liangzhou
Counties:
* Minqin
* Gulang
Autonomous county:
* Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County
Demographics
Population 1,930,200, urban 509,600 with 38 ethnic groups represented including Han, Hui, Mongol, Tu, Tibetan, etc.
Economy
Consistent sunlight and fertile soil make agriculture one of Wuwei’s biggest industries. Other important industries are textiles, metallurgy, and construction materials. Melons, vegetables, wine and livestock are all major agricultural products. Organic farming is a trend with more land being set aside for “green farming” each year.
Attractions
Confucian Temple
Known as "Wenmiao" in Chinese, situated in the southeast of Wuwei City. The ancient complex was established in 1439 of the Ming Dynasty. The construction of the original temple took just two years but various extensions have been added over succeeding centuries.The complex covers an area of over 1,500 sqm and is the largest and best-preserved temple dedicated to Confucius in Gansu.
The Confucian Temple occupies a central position in the complex and it is here that offerings are made in honor of Confucius. Other notable structures to be found here are the Dacheng Hall, Hastate Gate (Jimen), Lattice Gate(Lingxingmen), the Bridgeof the "Number One Scholar" (Zhuangyuan Bridge) and the Banchi Pool. These latter features are in the south side of the complex. To the north there is the Sutra pavilion and in the west is the Liangzhou Mansion that houses the Confucian Academy.
The well-preserved and symmetrically aligned historic buildings together with the collection of stone steles and scriptures means that Confucian Temple possesses a very important position in the cultural heritage of the Chinese nation as a whole.
Opening Hours: 08:00 to 17:00
Leitai Temple & Leitai Han Tomb
The temple - The original location of the temple, built high up on impressive mud ramparts and surrounded by beautiful countryside, is unfortunately now losing its attraction as the whole area is being swamped by construction. Nevertheless, the temple remains a pleasantly calm, shady place inside its grounds; and underneath the site, through a separate entrance, you can enter the famous Han-dynasty tomb where the Flying Horse was discovered. There's not much to see - it's a series of very low passageways, with a mock-up of the tomb contents at the back - but the two-thousand-year-old brickwork is still in perfect condition and amazingly modern in appearance. It's worth looking into the two temple buildings outside, which are now used as studios by two local artists.
The tomb - Wuwei used to be a strategic position on the famous Silk Road. In 1969 a farmer discovered a tomb dating from the Han Dynasty and which has become a main tourist attraction in the city. The tomb is situated in Leitai Park so called, as there was a Temple built to honor the Chinese God Leishen on the 10m high earth platform that was erected during the middle Ming Dynasty. The inscription on the tomb shows that it was constructed circa 186-219BC for an officer from Zhangye, another major town on the Silk Road.
The tomb comprises 3 main chambers of brick construction placed one behind the other. Each room has a smaller annex on its sides. This has proved to be a very important find as the tomb contained some 230 outstanding relics of gold, silver, copper and jade as well as pottery. The funerary artifacts included 99 copper chariots complete with horses and soldiers.
The most important piece was the Bronze Galloping Horse. Known in Chinese as "TongBen Ma", the horse is depicted in a full gallop supported on just one foot upon the back of a bird in flight,which may be seen in the Gansu Provincial History Museum.
Opening Hours: 08:00 to 17:30
Getting there and away
Most travellers arrive by bus from Lanzhou or Zhangye. The station lies immediately to the south of the old city. For the town centre, come out of the station, turn left and left again, then walk due north for fifteen minutes until you reach the main crossroads. The train station is far away to the south; from here take a minibus into the centre for a couple of Ys.
Moving on from Wuwei is probably easiest by bus . To Zhangye and Lanzhou there are frequent departures throughout the day. To destinations farther west, there is also a through-bus to Dunhuang. Finally, there's one daily bus to Xining in Qinghai Province. By train , Wuwei is served by all trains on the routes connecting Urumqi and the east. There is also a slow train to Zhongwei (in Ningxia). Try to buy outward tickets from a travel service to avoid long and potentially futile trips out to the train station.
