14 Days in Handan

Congtai Park's terrace goes back to King Wuling of Zhao (r. 325-299 BC); the museum's Zhao bronzes set up the fortnight. Handan made the Zhao capital in 386 BC and held it for 158 years.

1. handan congtai park
2. handan city museum

The 1617 stone bridge of the "learn-to-walk" idiom, the lane where Lin Xiangru made way for General Lian Po, and the market lanes that feed Handan's idiom-heavy folklore.

1. handan xuebu bridge
2. handan huiche lane
3. handan city markets

A full day about 25 km northeast — 4.5 km of Ming walls around a wetland moat, and the courtyards of Yang Luchan (1799-1872) and Wu Yuxiang (1812-1880).

1. handan guangfu ancient city

A slow morning among the rammed-earth platforms of the palace city west of town, then an unhurried afternoon in the city's parks and teahouses.

1. handan zhaowang city ruins

A first cave day for the north cluster in Fengfeng (Northern Qi, 550-577), where three great caves and the Changle temple ruins sit under the ridge — carvings and carved sutras without the crowds.

1. handan xiangtangshan grottoes

The smaller south cluster completes the caves, then the old Cizhou kiln yards of Pengcheng — the black-and-white ware that fired here for over 1,000 years.

1. handan xiangtangshan grottoes
2. handan pengcheng kiln sites

About 25 km south, Cixian pairs the Cizhou kiln museum with the Northern Dynasties Archaeological Museum (opened 2020), which gathers finds from the era of the Xiangtangshan carvers.

1. handan cizhou kiln museum
2. handan northern dynasties museum

Around 90 km west into the Taihang foothills — the four-storey pavilion, about 23 m high, is tied back to the cliff with iron chains above Northern Qi stone carvings.

1. handan wahuang palace

A canyon lake in the Taihang about 80 km west of town, named for the tale of Zhao Kuangyin escorting a stranded maiden in the 900s; boat decks and cliff walkways fill an honest mountain day.

1. handan jingniang lake

The Cishan site near Wuan, found in 1972, turned up millet remains some 8,000 years old — among the earliest farming traces in North China. A quiet Wuan afternoon follows.

1. handan cishan site

About 65 km east, Daming keeps the walls of the Song-era northern capital and a stone-carving museum anchored by the Wuli record stele, 12.34 m tall and often called China's tallest ancient stele.

1. handan daming ancient city

A neighbor day across the border — Anyang, in neighboring Henan, is about 60 km south, 20 minutes by HSR from Handan East, for the UNESCO Shang-capital ruins (listed 2006). Back by evening.

1. anyang yinxu

North to the provincial capital, about 50 minutes by HSR from Handan East — the Hebei Museum's Warring States bronzes and Han jade suits pair well with everything seen so far.

1. shijiazhuang hebei museum

A market breakfast, a slow walk along the Fuyang River that threads the old city, then the HSR from Handan East — direct trains reach Beijing in about two hours.

1. handan city markets