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"The city of Han is vast and complete, and the army of Yan has completed it."
The Book of Songs: Da Ya: Han Yi
Hancheng's history stretches back over 3,000 years, stretching back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. Walking through this ancient city, every brick and tile evokes a sense of history. When people think of Hancheng, they often think of Sima Qian, a figure whose legacy is both richer and more profound.
Is Hancheng fun? Is the food delicious? Is it worth a visit? Today, we'll take you on a journey into this mysterious, yet lesser-known Hancheng.
Address: On the cliff of Hanyipo, Zhichuan Town, Hancheng City, Weinan City
Opening hours: 08:00-18:00 (open all year round)
Official telephone number: 0913-8414335, 0913-5418880
Adult ticket: 80 yuan
Student ticket: 40 yuan
When you walk in Hancheng, you can always read the text entries of "Records of the Grand Historian" whether you look up or down. On the courtyard walls of the ancient city, on the high-hanging palace lanterns, on the lintels of old houses, or on the floor tiles under your feet. The whole ancient city is like a three-dimensional history book. When you walk here, you will always stop inadvertently, read those words softly, and then let the wind carry it to every corner.
"Records of the Grand Historian" is the most important work of Sima Qian, the most outstanding historian and essayist of the Western Han Dynasty. He was the son of Sima Tan and served as the Grand Historian. He was castrated for defending Li Ling's defeat and surrender. Later, he served as the Minister of the Central Secretariat.
He diligently continued to write his historical works, and was later honored as Sima Qian, Taishigong, and the "Father of History." Lu Xun called him "the swan song of historians, the rhymeless Li Sao." The Sima Qian Temple is located on a high platform, atop a lonely mountain, with an archway inscribed with the words "The Pen of History Shines Through the World."
The Sima Qian Shrine consists of four platforms, each connected by a series of stone steps, rising one step at a time for a total of ninety-nine steps. In front of each platform stands a wooden memorial archway. From bottom to top, the first archway bears the inscription "High Mountains to Look Up to," the second "Hometown of the Talented Scholar of Longmen," and the third "Yang of the Rivers and Mountains."
Walking up the "Sima Ancient Road," you'll discover this route, once the only way from the Wei State to the Qin State during the Warring States Period. Known as "Han Yi Slope," did the Qin's cavalry roar past this path? Did merchant trains rumble past? Did the history of wars and battles unfold here? While the past is lost, walking along this ancient road always stirs a sense of excitement. What stories have you witnessed?
Many tourists will be surprised to find that the Sima Qian Temple looks like a yurt. This is because Sima Qian, in "Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of the Xiongnu", traced the past and present lives and customs of the Xiongnu people with an open-minded and equal vision and a fair and objective hand. Later, Kublai Khan was deeply moved and rebuilt the tomb. The tomb behind the temple on the mountain is actually a cenotaph. When Yin Ji, the prefect of Hanyang, paid homage to Sima Qian's remains, he praised his merits and built a stone chamber on the high hill south of Zhishui, erected a monument and planted cypresses. It would be a pity to have a temple without a tomb, so he sealed it as a cenotaph.
Address: Liangdai Village, Hancheng, Shaanxi, China
Opening hours: 9:00-17:30 in winter, 8:30-18:00 in summer
Ticket price: 50 yuan per person, free for children under 6 years old, half price for students
An unexpected robber's hole shattered the tranquility of this village, yet, thanks to the shovels of archaeologists, it also revealed a glorious chapter in an ancient nation. Uncovering the thick loess, layers of mystery unfold, and time freezes for millennia, revealing a lost civilization.
It's hard to imagine that, hidden in this small, obscure corner of this city, lies a museum of such high standards. From the outset, this magnificent building was planned, designed, and constructed according to the standards of the nation's top ten museums, a national heritage park, and a national 4A-level scenic spot. The reason is simple: the objects inside are so precious, so rare, and so mysterious.
The remains and artifacts of the Rui State cemetery are well-preserved, with over 36,000 artifacts unearthed, including over 3,000 precious items. The burial objects, including gold, iron, bronze, jade, ivory, and lacquered wood, are a dazzling array of artifacts of immense scientific and artistic value. Over 70 significant artifacts have been discovered for the first time in my country, including the earliest figurines from the Western Zhou period, a gold halberd, a pure gold scabbard, a bronze cymbal, and a dragon-shaped hollow gold ring.
During the Western Zhou period, gold objects were not widely used, and burial gold objects were generally three to five pieces. However, forty-eight gold objects were unearthed from the tomb of the king of Rui State at one time, which is the ancient tomb with the largest number of gold objects unearthed from a single tomb in the same period in the world. It is really exciting to find so many national treasures of gold.
Even more astonishing is the discovery of China's second-largest jade pig dragon, a typical artifact of the Hongshan culture in the Liaohe River region dating back 5,000 years. How did it end up traveling thousands of miles to the banks of the Yellow River over 2,000 years ago? Was it war trophy? Or were there economic and cultural exchanges between the Yellow and Liaohe River basins thousands of years ago? Furthermore, the stunning discovery of a complete set of gold belts and scabbards, a lacquered wooden drum, and a complete set of bronze ritual vessels—all national treasures—has repeatedly ignited public anticipation.
Masao Aoki, a doctor of engineering and chairman of the Rural Planning Committee of the Japan Institute of Architects, wrote: "I have been to more than ten countries in Europe, Asia, America and Africa, and I have never seen such a compact layout, such fine workmanship, such a simple and elegant style, such a strong cultural atmosphere and such a well-preserved ancient traditional settlement with a long history."
The ancient stone-paved alleys, the tall gatehouses of various shapes and sizes, the exquisite mounting stones, the solemn ancestral hall, the tall Wenxing Pavilion, the mysterious Bichenzhu, the gorgeous chastity monument and the well-planned courtyards all tell people about the prosperity and glory of Dangjia Village in the past.
Walking in the streets, you can feel the owner's aesthetic taste in every detail. The exquisite carved railings and painted buildings, the sophisticated brick carvings, and the hanging flower gates all make people stop and appreciate them.
The Hancheng Museum, housed within the Confucian Temple, Dongying Temple, and City God Temple in the eastern part of the ancient city, is a distinctive historical museum integrating ancient architecture and cultural relics. The Confucian Temple and City God Temple are designated as National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units, while the Dongying Temple is a Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.
The museum connects the three ancient architectural complexes of Confucian Temple, Dongying Temple and City God Temple, and includes more than 100 palaces, halls, towers and pavilions in the styles of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, mainly from the Yuan Dynasty. It forms a very exquisite open-air architectural exhibition hall and cultural relics exhibition room. The architectural art and humanistic art complement each other, making it one of the famous tourist attractions in Hancheng City and a national 4A-level tourist attraction.
Beiying Temple, located west of Jincheng North Street in Hancheng, was once a key garrison for the Yuan Dynasty army. The garrison was divided into five camps, hence the ancient sites of East, West, South, North, and Central Camps in Hancheng. Beiying Temple is located in the North Camp, hence the name. There are no historical records of the temple's construction date. Analysis of the existing architectural style and structural features suggests that most of the temple's structures retain Ming Dynasty or earlier architecture, but the roof, doors, windows, brackets, and carvings are likely the result of renovations during the Qing Dynasty.
The temple faces south, is 36 meters wide from east to west and 46 meters long from north to south, covering an area of about 1,700 square meters. The main buildings in the temple are arranged in sequence along the north-south axis, mainly including the passing hall, the offering hall, and the sleeping hall. There is a theater preserved on the south side of the passing hall, which happens to be the difference between the Dongying Temple and the Beiying Temple.
In the ancient city of Hancheng, the theater of Chenghuang Temple is about twice the size of that of Beiying Temple, but the theater of Beiying Temple was built much earlier than that of Chenghuang Temple.
Nowadays, there are often performances at Beimiaolou, sometimes folk songs, sometimes rock, and sometimes Qinqiang. The injection of new soul has also brought new life to this ancient building.
For every Xi'an resident, the first thing they remember about Hancheng is Sichuan peppercorns. Every time the peppercorns are ripe, friends from Hancheng are always willing to send large bags. The "Hancheng County Chronicles," in its discussion of local products, describes the area as being "abundant in the territory: hemp, kapok, peppercorns, persimmons, and walnuts." This suggests that Sichuan peppercorn cultivation in Hancheng dates back approximately 600 years.
Nowadays, Hancheng peppercorns are more than just a condiment. They have also expanded into peppercorn powder, peppercorn oil, and even peppercorn soap and peppercorn yogurt. So, when you come to Hancheng, don't forget to drink a bottle of peppercorn-flavored yogurt.
Wonton, meaning "reunion and happiness," is a dish Hancheng residents enjoy for friends, relatives, and distinguished guests during festivals, weddings, birthdays, and child's full moon celebrations. Hancheng wontons are unique in that they are incredibly small, barely the size of an adult's fingernail. Saozi soup is made from bone or chicken broth, with a variety of meat, vegetables, and seafood.
Every household in Hancheng's Chuanyuan region raises pigs, and whenever entertaining guests, they always slaughter a pig, a gesture that is both economical and hearty. Through generations of practice, a diverse array of pork dishes, known as "Thirteen Flowers," have been created. These dishes are prepared by boiling, frying, steaming, and roasting different parts of the pig.
The buckwheat noodles are cut into thin strips and cooked, and then topped with fresh mutton, cooked mutton fat, and a variety of seasonings and condiments to make a dish called "臊子菜". The noodles are thin, long, soft and refreshing, the臊子 is crispy and tender, and the soup is spicy and fragrant.
Mutton Hu Bo is a local specialty snack in Hancheng. Take an appropriate amount of wheat flour, which is neither too soft nor too hard. Roll it into round dough sheets by hand and put it on a greasy iron pancake pan. Slowly fry it until it is about 60% to 70% cooked. Then, cut it into pieces as wide as leek leaves like cutting noodles. Put it on a frying pan with vegetable oil and put cooked mutton slices (fat or lean). Then put the best chili powder, chopped green onions, garlic slices, and coriander. Wait until the water in the pot boils, then put the sliced Hu Bo in. In a few minutes, a pot of red oily mutton Hu Bo with a rich meaty aroma is ready!
People in Hancheng put some noodles in the red bean soup that has been cooked, and without adding any other seasonings or condiments, it is called "red sweet noodles".
The "red" in "red sweet noodles" refers to the color of the soup. Locals often use cowpea or red bean as the base for red rice soup or red sweet noodles. These two beans produce a reddish-red soup, so the word "red" is used to highlight the distinctive appearance of this snack.
"Sweet" means no seasoning. Hancheng residents also refer to other snacks without seasoning as "sweet." For example, if someone scoops some noodles into a bowl and adds some noodle soup, it's called "sweet noodles." When eating mutton, they pour a bowl of original soup, add a few slices of cooked mutton, and eat it with steamed buns without any seasoning. This is called "sweet mutton."
Authentic Hancheng mutton soup should be paired with authentic Hancheng hard-faced steamed bread, which is long and shaped like an ox tongue, hence the name "ox tongue steamed bread." In the cold winter months, a bowl of this delicious, spicy treat will satisfy your hunger while keeping you warm.
Address: Crossroads of Ancient City God Temple and East Ring Road, Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province
I highly recommend Wenyuan Pavilion Hotel, a five-star hotel that only costs half the price of a five-star hotel in the city. It's really great!
The hotel is in a great location, with the City God Temple just a stone's throw away. The Confucian Temple (Hancheng Museum) is about a 6-minute walk away, the Ancient City Church is about a 5-minute walk away, the Folk Museum is about a 6-minute walk away, the Yuxiu Ancient Bridge is about a 17-minute walk away, the Temple and Tomb of Sima Qian, the Grand Historian of the Han Dynasty, is about a 19-minute drive away, and the folk housing treasure Dangjia Village is about a 22-minute drive away.
The biggest feature of the courtyard-style hotel is that all the rooms have exclusive views. The back garden has springs and lakes, lotus streams, fish playing in the water, waterfalls and streams, and flowers and trees are scattered around. The hotel is equipped with a swimming pool and a gym, which is perfect for taking children out for a walk!
Address: Courtyard 11, South District, Huangmiao Ancient Street, Jincheng District, Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province
Yinxianyi's two-story courtyard layout blends the ancient with the contemporary, and its unique decor complements the ancient city's overall landscape. Staying in the ancient city at night allows you to experience the unique nighttime scenery. This fusion of modernity and history makes you want to stay and experience the slow pace of life.
Address: Jinlao Huangmiao Lane, Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province (intersection of Donghuan Road and Huangmiao)
Sanshe Mansion integrates food, accommodation, music and culture. It is a place that can satisfy your appetite and relax your mind. The blue bricks and gray tiles here are simple and natural, as if you are in a Jiangnan courtyard.
Address: No. 3, Huangmiao Alley, Hancheng City, Shaanxi Province
The Secluded Hancheng Inn is a quaint, courtyard-style B&B. Its antique-style decor seamlessly blends in with the brickwork of the ancient city. The unique courtyard eaves, delicate wooden beams, and clean, comfortable rooms invite you to slow down and enjoy a moment of tranquility.
Public transportation
1. You can take a direct bus to Hancheng at Xi'an Bus Station or Textile City Passenger Station in Shaanxi Province, and then transfer to a bus to Hancheng Ancient City Scenic Area.
2. You can take a train directly to Hancheng from Xi'an Railway Station.
Self-driving guide
Depart from Xi'an and take the G5 Beijing-Kunming Expressway, then follow the navigation instructions to arrive.
In short, Hancheng, this thousand-year-old ancient city, has been neglected for too long. Its every brick, every blade of grass and every tree are soaked with traces of history. Let's find a weekend and go to Hancheng together!
