Liujia Gorge

Visiting Liujiaxia and Bingling Temple | Gansu Travel | China Travel Vlog

The Bingling Temple Grottoes of Yongjing County, also called the Bingling Thousand Buddha Caves or the Bingling Grottoes site is located around 75 or 80 kilometers southwest of Lanzhou.

The Bingling Grottoes are not exactly easy to get to from Lanzhou, but it is one of China's big ancient Buddhist temple complexes with an array of statuary and frescoes dating from about AD 420 to the Ming Dynasty.

Once you get there, one of the highlights is a 27-meter-tall (88 feet) sitting Buddha that is about 1,200 years old. If you are interested in Buddhism or ancient Silk Road history, then this place is for you!

History
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The Bingling Grottoes are deeply tied to the Silk Road routes that passed through the region of the Gansu and Hexi Corridor. The Bingling Grottoes, Mogao Grottoes and the Zhangye Giant Buddha Temple are all pretty closely connected in ancient Chinese history, and it's fascinating to behold.

The name Bingling is a transliteration of the Tibetan name for this complex. During the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) that was the Mongolian dynasty of China, Tibetan Buddhists carved many grottoes in the lower part of the site.

To get there, first take a bus to Liujiaxia. The bus ride takes about two hours. It is best to leave as early as you can in the morning to maximize your stay at the site. Then you have to hire a boat. The cost for private motorboats has to be bargained for. A group of eight may be able to hire a boat for 500 RMB or about 75 USD. It takes about an hour or so, depending on the boat.

Yellow River | Wikipedia audio article

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Yellow River


00:01:07 1 Name
00:02:27 2 History
00:02:35 2.1 Dynamics
00:05:17 2.2 Ancient times
00:06:40 2.3 Medieval times
00:09:26 2.4 Recent times
00:11:02 3 Geography
00:12:51 3.1 Upper reaches
00:16:19 3.2 Middle reaches
00:18:24 3.3 Lower reaches
00:19:33 3.4 Tributaries
00:20:17 4 Characteristics
00:22:47 5 Hydroelectric power dams
00:24:39 6 Crossings
00:26:41 7 Aquaculture
00:27:52 8 Pollution
00:29:03 9 In culture



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SUMMARY
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The Yellow River or Huang He (listen ) is the second longest river in Asia, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth longest river system in the world at the estimated length of 5,464 km (3,395 mi). Originating in the Bayan Har Mountains in Qinghai province of Western China, it flows through nine provinces, and it empties into the Bohai Sea near the city of Dongying in Shandong province. The Yellow River basin has an east–west extent of about 1,900 kilometers (1,180 mi) and a north–south extent of about 1,100 km (680 mi). Its total drainage area is about 752,546 square kilometers (290,560 sq mi).
Its basin was the birthplace of ancient Chinese civilization, and it was the most prosperous region in early Chinese history. There are frequent devastating floods and course changes produced by the continual elevation of the river bed, sometimes above the level of its surrounding farm fields.