An ancient gate in the walls of Nuanquan Town, Yu County.
Yu County’s Ancient Walled Towns and Temples (2 days)
Explore the ancient alleys, lanes, temples, courtyards, and castles of Yu County; take a countryside hike to the rural ruins of tiny White Horse Temple.
On this two-day trip you’ll venture into China’s countryside, far from modern Beijing, where Ming Dynasty-era temples, castles, and city walls still stand.
Trip highlights
Stroll the streets of Nuanquan Town and Yuxian Ancient City to find and explore ancient castles, temples, and gates
Hike out the back of a tiny village in a deeply rural area of Hebei to find frescoes and murals in the ruins of tiny White Horse Temple
Make a circuit of the walls and tour the courtyard houses of Jimingyi, a Ming Dynasty-era walled town and postal relay station
See the lifestyle and communities in smaller towns and villages outside of China’s big cities
Yu County and Zhangjiakou
Yu County is part of the larger Zhangjiakou prefecture-level city in Hebei Province. Zhangjiakou is right on the main route to Beijing from the northwest, and has been the site of fortifications and wars since ancient times – notably, the Badger’s Mount Campaign in which Genghis Khan won a huge battle against the Jin Dynasty in 1211. Zhangjiakou used to be known as Kalgan, which is a transliteration of its name in Mongolian: The Gate.
There’s been a town at Yuxian since the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (386-589), with the area at the time being under the control of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581). The ancient city was rebuilt in 1377, during the Ming Dynasty, and a lot of that construction remains and is well-preserved—some say it’s the closest best-preserved ancient city to Beijing.
The key sights in Yuxian Ancient City are the Jade Emperor Pavilion, the Nan’an Pagoda (Liao Dynasty, 907-1125), and the Buddha temple.
Close by to Yuxian is Nuanquan Town, notable for a site named Xigubao—the West Castle. The castle was around 67,000 square metres in size and surrounded by high walls of rammed earth. Key parts of the walls were strengthened with brick, and the structure followed a defensive pattern known as The Urn, in which attacking enemies could be trapped between inner and outer gates ‘like turtles in an urn.’
As well as the castle, Nuanquan is famous for a tradition of papercutting and lantern-making.
On the second day of the trip we'll do a short and easy hike in the countryside, walking through the hills around a tiny village and taking a look at White Horse Temple—an excellent way to get a look at real life in China's countryside.
Jimingyi Ancient Town was a fortified postal relay or staging station, built and used during the Ming Dynasty. The extremely tall and thick walls have a total length of just under two kilometers, and were constructed in the same manner as some of the Great Wall: rammed earth in the middle, with an outer layer of bricks.
In the past, this must have been a very important place. As well as the huge walls, other fortifications include large gates topped by towers, towers on each corner of the main walls, and more outside. Inside the walls, there are five main streets that divided the city into planned and orderly sections—administration in the middle, stables and barns at the north, and other areas for accommodation.
