7 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 week at street level.

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

The 225-square-km canyon area, about 50 km southeast, is centred on Baquan Gorge's boat-boardwalk-cableway loop; overnight in the canyon town rather than driving back.

1. changzhi taihang grand canyon
2. changzhi baquan gorge

Tongtian Gorge's 26-km waterway and glass deck in the morning; after lunch drive the Hongtiguan gallery road, cut by villagers in the late 1960s along a Ming-era pass, back over the ridge.

1. changzhi tongtian gorge
2. changzhi hongtiguan cliff road

A 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, roughly two hours from Changzhi.

1. changzhi huangyadong

The memorial in Wuxiang County (opened 1988) sets out the Eighth Route Army's Taihang years in three halls and a reconstructed street; Wuxiang lies about 90 km north along a valley road.

1. changzhi balu taihang memorial

Xiantangshan's temple cluster sits below sandstone crags with a cableway up; halfway between Wuxiang and the city, it breaks the return drive, and the hilltop halls carry wide views over the Zhuo river valley.

1. changzhi xiantang mountain

An honestly labelled neighbouring-city 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; return for a late HSR from Changzhi East.

1. changzhi huangcheng xiangfu