14 Days in Changzhi

The Sui-era prefecture gate (rebuilt since the 580s), the city-god temple begun in 1285 and the 1580s Guanyin Hall with some 500 hanging clay figures open the fortnight.

1. changzhi shangdangmen
2. changzhi luanfu chenghuang temple
3. changzhi guanyin hall

About 50 km southeast, the 225-square-km canyon area centres on Baquan Gorge's boat-boardwalk-cableway loop; buy the through ticket early and sleep in the canyon town.

1. changzhi taihang grand canyon
2. changzhi baquan gorge

A gentler canyon day — Taihang Longdong's karst chambers in the morning, the Red Bean Gorge trail in the afternoon; shuttle buses link both from the canyon town.

1. changzhi taihang longdong
2. changzhi taihang grand canyon

Tongtian Gorge's 26-km waterway and glass deck first; then the Hongtiguan gallery road, cut by villagers in the late 1960s along a Ming-era pass, over the ridge to Pingshun's hill country.

1. changzhi tongtian gorge
2. changzhi hongtiguan cliff road

Waterfall walkways at Tianji Mountain in the morning, then the riverside villages of Taihang Shuixiang along the Zhuo river for a slow afternoon among waterwheels.

1. changzhi tianji mountain
2. changzhi taihang shuixiang

The quartzite gorge in Licheng County that sheltered a wartime arsenal in the early 1940s; a valley walk past cliff workshops and a ridge road with wide Taihang views, about two hours from the city.

1. changzhi huangyadong

The memorial in Wuxiang County (opened 1988) lays out the Eighth Route Army's Taihang years in three halls and a reconstructed street; about 90 km north, with valley roads the whole way.

1. changzhi balu taihang memorial

Temple crags and a cableway halfway between Wuxiang and Changzhi; the hilltop halls look over the Zhuo river valley, and the return drive takes about an hour.

1. changzhi xiantang mountain

South into Changzi County — Faxing Temple keeps a Tang stone dagoba and a Tang burning-lamp pagoda beside clay bodhisattvas from 1111, while hillside Chongqing Temple is known for its Song arhat figures.

1. changzhi faxing temple
2. changzhi chongqing temple

A forested reserve in Qinyuan County west of the city, famous for an old pine that splits into nine crowns; boardwalk trails and a hillside temple make an easy walking day, around two hours each way.

1. changzhi lingkong mountain

An honestly labelled cross-province day — the cliff-hung temple complex at Shexian County belongs to Handan, Hebei, about two hours east; its terraces climb toward Northern Qi cliff inscriptions cut in the 550s-570s, and the drive back crosses the Taihang at dusk.

1. changzhi wahuang palace

A slow city day — Laodingshan's forest park on the northern edge carries a 39-metre bronze statue of Yandi, the legendary Flame Emperor, and the evening markets off Hero Road are the place for donkey-meat shuabing and local dumplings.

1. changzhi laodingshan
2. changzhi city markets

The second honest neighbour day — the walled compound at Beiliu, Yangcheng County (Jincheng), about 1.5 hours south, grew around Chen Tingjing (1638-1712), chief editor of the 1716 Kangxi Dictionary with its 47,000-odd entries; its inner city dates to 1633.

1. changzhi huangcheng xiangfu

A market breakfast of shuabing pancakes, one last loop past the prefecture gate, then the HSR from Changzhi East — Taiyuan in about an hour, Zhengzhou about the same.

1. changzhi city markets