Xunhua Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in Apr)

Ningba Ancient Village in Xunhua, Qinghai

Ningba Ancient Village is famous for a huge stone on the river beach of the village. It is said that the Daoxi Tibetan tribe got its name because there is a tent-like huge stone in the river beach of Ningba Village. Daoxi, in Tibetan, means stone tent. Daoxi became their tribal name, and Daoxi stone became their sacred object. The Daoxi tribe originated from the Dankuhe Rongwu area in Tibet. Their ancestor, Ameruji, was a monk who was proficient in Tibetan medicine and had a deep study of Tibetan Buddhism. He was ordered by Sakya Trizin Basiba to carry the Zen stick and golden Buddha given by Basiba to Tongren to promote Buddhism, and then lived here, later proliferating into a large Daoxi tribe. Ningba Village has rare Tibetan architectural materials "green stone slabs", precious medicine village "winter spring summer grass" and other natural resources. It is the fifth batch of traditional villages in China.

Zhangga Mosque in Xunhua, Qinghai

The Zhangga Mosque is located in Zhangga Village, Baizhuang Township, Xunhua Salar Autonomous County, and was established during the Ming Dynasty. It consists of a prayer hall, a wake-up tower, a shadow wall, left and right mountain gates, and south and north side rooms. The main buildings are all on the central axis, forming a quadrangle courtyard complex. On the central axis, the shadow wall, wake-up tower, and prayer hall are arranged in order. On both sides of the shadow wall are the left and right mountain gates, and on both sides of the main hall are the south and north side rooms, covering an area of 2275 square meters. During the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, it was the main temple (ancestral temple) of the Salar Eight Works, one of which was Zhangga. During the Cultural Revolution, religious activities were banned. In 1981, the mosque resumed religious activities. The entire mosque is square in layout, with the main hall being 5 bays wide and 5 bays deep, with a rear hall. It is a palace-style building. The exterior of the hall is in Han style, with a treasure bottle in the middle of the roof ridge and no animal shapes on both sides. The interior structure is a bracket set style, with a large lotus bracket set in the seat, finely crafted. On both sides of the central niche, there are carved Chinese-style scripture patterns, and the front beam of the hall is carved with ring patterns. The door is painted with various forms of "Pine Crane Prolongs Life", "Hundred Fortunes are Blessings" and other eight treasure patterns. In the center of the main hall hangs a plaque given by the governor of Lanzhou during the Qing Dynasty, which reads "Dao Crown Ancient and Modern". The Xuanli Tower is 4 stories high, 30 meters high, shaped like a pagoda, hexagonal in shape, with flying eaves, and a wooden staircase spiraling up in the middle. When you climb to the top, the breeze blows, and the village, small river, and Red Mountain are laid out in front of you from near to far, with a panoramic view of the scenery, presenting a beautiful pastoral scene of the Salar. It is a key national cultural relics protection unit.

The Salars, I believe many people have never heard of it. This is a long-established ethnic minority, mainly concentrated in Qinghai Xunhua and other places. When approaching the Xunhua Camel Spring Scenic Area, I realized that this ethnic group originated in Central Asia. According to folklore, one thinks it is from Turkey, the second thinks it is from Hami, and the third thinks it is from Samarkand. But the consensus in the academic world is that the Salars originated in Samarkand in Central Asia. and Camel Springs is where the Salar ancestors settled.

For a long time, there is a misunderstanding of the Yellow River, thinking that the Yellow River water has always been turbid, not much to see the upper reaches of the Yellow River in Qinghai, the water is very clear. The Yellow River originates from the Bayan Kala Mountains in Qinghai Province and extends over 5,000 kilometers from Shandong to the sea. Xunhua County, Qinghai Province, is a Salar Autonomous County. This ethnic minority is known for its many snacks. Into the Salar family, is a traditional wooden house, a square courtyard, all kinds of snacks are exquisitely made, the color is attractive, and it feels completely inconspicuous with the roughness of the northwest region. The ingenious Salars have long discovered the peculiar beauty of the stones on the banks of the Yellow River. These stones have been further processed into a painting that has become a craft. The Yellow River Stone Art is the pride of the people of Xunhua, and built a Yellow River Stone Art Museum. The Yellow River flows through the river, the water flow is slow and clear, and the river has developed into a park. In the summer, the amount of water increases and the water is rushing. In winter, the river is cold and cold, and there are few tourists in the park. Only a group of sheep come to the river to drink water from time to time. From the source of the Yellow River to the Hekou Town of Tuoketuo, Inner Mongolia, this section is the upper reaches of the Yellow River. The water quality is generally relatively clean. We think that the sediment of the Yellow River mainly comes from the middle reaches, where there is the famous Hukou Waterfall.