Danggar Ancient City in Xining, Qinghai - Pearl of the Silk Road

🌈Attractions: Dangar is the Mongolian transliteration of the Tibetan word "Donkor", which means "white conch". It was built during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty and covers an area of ​​250,000 square meters. There are more than 12 scenic spots in the ancient city, including Gonghai Gate, City God Temple, Dangar Office, Confucian Temple, Quyuan, Performance Hall, Zhenhai Xieying, Yingchun Gate, etc. It has been known as "Little Beijing", "Tea and Horse Commercial Capital", and "Sea Commercial Capital" since ancient times. Why was Danggar built? Why did ethnic trade arise here more than 600 years ago? It is said that the total annual trade volume here at that time was about 3 million taels of silver, which was six or seven times the total trade volume of Xining at that time. It once became the ethnic trade center of Qinghai region. Dangar is both static and dynamic; it is a place of sedimented history and a present filled with the smell of fireworks. This century-old ancient city, which carries the historical and cultural context of Huangyuan, has many, many stories. Today, we will re-enter the ancient city of Danggar and unveil the mysterious veil of this ancient city for you. Where did Dangar come from? Why is Danggar so important in history? Dangar means "white conch" in Mongolian. The name comes from the famous Tibetan Buddhist temple Dongkor. In the fifth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1648 AD), Dongkor Temple was moved from Tibet to a place a hundred meters east of the ancient city of Danggar. At that time, it became a famous temple in Qinghai and Tibet. Historically, Danggar was not only an important trade center at that time, but also a strategic fortress that military strategists must fight for. Since the Western Han Dynasty, wars have occurred continuously, leaving behind more than 20 sites and military facilities. At this point, we have to mention the locational advantages of Danggar: it has mountains to defend against foreign enemies, and is connected to Xinjiang in the north, Tibet in the west, Xining and Lanzhou in the east, and Sichuan in the south. It is the meeting point of the southeast, northwest, and northeast, and is the gateway from the mainland to Tibet and Xinjiang. It is located on the agricultural and pastoral interlaced line in Qinghai Province, with the pastoral area to the west and the agricultural area to the east. After Yongzheng's reign, it became the administrative dividing point between Gansu Province and the Mongolian and Tibetan nomadic area under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Qinghai (this was the geographical scope of "Qinghai" in the Qing Dynasty), that is, it was located at the junction of the so-called "inside the border" and "outside the border". In August of the first year of Yongzheng's reign, after the death of Emperor Kangxi, Lobsang Danjin took the opportunity to incite an uprising against the Qing Dynasty. In October, the imperial court appointed Nian Gengyao, the governor-general of Sichuan and Shaanxi, as the general of Fuyuan, and mobilized elite troops from all over Shaanxi and Gansu to Qinghai to quell the rebellion of Lobsang Danjin. In the spring of the second year of Yongzheng's reign, Nian Gengyao wrote "Thirteen Articles on the Post-War Affairs in Qinghai". In May, the Qing court adopted Nian Gengyao's suggestions and carried out a comprehensive rectification to strengthen the politics and economy of Qinghai. In the third year of Yongzheng's reign (1725 AD), the imperial court approved the relocation of the trading site to Danggar Monastery (Donkor Monastery) outside Xiningkou, and Danggar thus became a legal border market designated by the government. It was in this context that in the fifth year of Yongzheng's reign, the ancient city of Danggar was built on the site of the former Xining Weizhi of the Ming Dynasty, and the Danggar Camp was established to be responsible for the military defense of Danggar and the area around Qinghai Lake and to maintain the normal order of Danggar's commercial trade. Danggar is located in such a superior geographical location. Since the Qing government established a mutual market in Danggar, Danggar's commercial status has surpassed Xining and has become the ethnic trade center of Qinghai region. Why did ethnic trade emerge? Today, when people walk into the 800-meter-long Dangar Street, with the City God Temple, Dangar Office, Renji Commercial Bank, Confucian Temple, business shops, and Huozu Pavilion running through it, people can vaguely see from these ancient buildings the gathering of merchants and the bustling prosperity of the past. In fact, Danggar's border trade originated in the Tang Dynasty. That was in the 19th year of Kaiyuan (731 AD). Emperor Xuanzong of Tang adopted the suggestion of Prime Minister Pei Guangting and approved Tubo to exchange horses, livestock, tea, grain, cloth, furs and other products for trade in Chiling (now the city of Harakutu at the foot of Riyue Mountain in Huangyuan County). From then on, Harakutu gradually became an important place for business and travel, marking the official start of the Danggar tea-horse trade and the beginning of the integration of farming culture and grassland culture. Since then, the Tang Dynasty exchanged a large number of war horses, oxen and other livestock products from Tubo, which not only strengthened the strength of the Tang Dynasty army, but also provided oxen for farming. During the nearly forty years from Zhenguan to Linde (627-665 AD), the number of official horses of the Tang Dynasty grew to more than 700,000, and the Tubo herdsmen also exchanged a large amount of tea, grain and other daily necessities through trade, which was a prosperous time at the time. This mutually beneficial transaction brought benefits to both the Tang Dynasty and the Tibetan herdsmen. Over the next thousand years, border trade continued intermittently. During the more than 60 years during the reigns of Jiaqing, Daoguang and Xianfeng (1796-1860 AD), the development of Dangar ethnic trade reached its peak and became an important commercial distribution center in the west. Merchants and craftsmen from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hunan, Gansu and other places have taken a fancy to this Feng Shui treasure land and have come here to engage in trade, processing, manufacturing and other industries. At that time, there were as many as two or three hundred kinds of goods traded here, and the total annual trade volume was about 3 million taels of silver, which was six or seven times the total trade volume of Xining at that time. The East-West Street in the city and Fengsheng Street, Dongguan, Xiguan Street and Nanchengtai outside the city all became prosperous commercial and trade areas. Why is China's earliest advertising light box here? When talking about Huangyuan, we have to mention the row of lanterns! Huangyuan Lantern Festival originated in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, with a history of more than 200 years and profound cultural connotations. In order to attract customers at night, street merchants initially made light boxes for advertising billboards, lit candles inside, and hung them on the doors of their shops. Later, these light boxes gradually developed into billboard lights with bases, patterns, and various forms. Today's row of lanterns are the evolution of this type of advertising sign. It can be said that the Huangyuan row of lanterns are the earliest advertising light boxes in China. Every time around the Lantern Festival in the first month of the lunar calendar, when you walk on the streets of Huangyuan, you will feel that the river of lights and the stars are integrated into one, giving you a dreamlike and intoxicated feeling, as if you are wandering in the streets and markets, enjoying the beautiful scenery. They tell the past, present and future of the ancient city. Huangyuan lantern festival has a long history. As early as during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi envied the prosperity of the Dandi ethnic trade and moved their families here, bringing advanced culture and art from the mainland to Huangyuan, which effectively promoted the economic development of Huangyuan. It is said that in the past, in order to attract customers at night, street merchants made business billboards, lit candles in lanterns, and hung them on the doors of their shops. Afterwards, various businesses, shops, offices and units imitated large rows of lanterns across the streets in fan-shaped, oval-shaped, plum-blossom-shaped, phoenix-shaped, and bridge-shaped shapes, which became all the rage. Dang Qingyun, 56 years old this year, is the inheritor of the county-level intangible cultural heritage of Huangyuan Pai Lanterns. Thanks to the influence of his family culture, he has had a special liking for the art of Pai Lanterns since childhood. He has been committed to the development of Huangyuan Pai Lanterns for decades and has also witnessed the development and changes of Huangyuan Pai Lanterns. Through their continuous exploration and improvement, today's Huangyuan lanterns, based on the original paintings, have incorporated many national and provincial intangible cultural heritages such as leather embroidery, sachets, paper cutting, shadow puppets, pile embroidery, paper quilling paintings, peasant paintings, Tibetan embroidery, and coil embroidery, making the lanterns more ornamental, researchable, and collectible. What makes Dangar proud is that in 2006, Huangyuan Pai Lanterns were approved by the State Council to be included in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects, and Huangyuan has thus become the "Hometown of Chinese Pai Lanterns". (Text content comes from Xining Evening News) 🎟️Ticket information: Free of charge 🕐️Scenic area opening hours: Open all day 💗Other tips: The weather is unpredictable, remember to bring an umbrella