Hanzhong is in Shaanxi, in Northwest China.
Home › Destinations › Shaanxi › Hanzhong
Shaanxi · City Guide
Hanzhong, the Place the Word Han Comes From.
Overview
Why Go
The Han River runs through here, this basin was the fief that made Liu Bang King of Han, and the dynasty he founded took the name. Han Chinese, the Han language and the Han dynasty all trace back to this place name.
The envoy sent west in 138 BC, held by the Xiongnu for ten years and sent again, is buried at Chenggu under a Han mound with weathered stone tigers. The tomb is part of the Silk Roads World Heritage listing.
Cai Lun, who standardised papermaking at the Han court in 105, is buried in Yangxian. Two of the people many responsible for how the ancient world connected and recorded itself are buried forty kilometres apart.
In 1981 the last seven wild crested ibises known anywhere were found in Yangxian. Every wild ibis alive today descends from those birds, and they now feed openly in the paddy fields around the county.
Three weirs on the rivers here, begun in the Han dynasty, still distribute water to the basin and were listed as World Irrigation Heritage in 2017. They are working farm infrastructure, not monuments.
See
A Han tumulus at Chenggu with two badly weathered stone tigers and a 1776 stele, plus the county museum next door. Small and quiet. An hour, and entry is free.
The birds feed in ordinary paddy fields around Yangxian rather than inside a fenced protected area, so seeing them means driving the county roads in the morning. A visitor centre explains the recovery. Half a day.
The strategist's tomb on Dingjun Mountain at Mianxian, with the temple to him a few kilometres away, both full of very old cypresses. Three Kingdoms readers should give it half a day.
The city museum on the terrace where Liu Bang held court, holding the Stone Gate inscriptions cut into the plank-road cliffs and moved here before a reservoir flooded them. Landmark Han calligraphy. Two hours.
Foping County has one of the higher wild panda densities in China, though wild sightings are a matter of luck. The valley centre and the forest walks are what visitors actually get. A full day.
On the Map
Approximate locations of the attractions above, across Hanzhong.
Eat
Rice batter steamed into sheets, cut into wide ribbons and dressed with chilli oil, vinegar and garlic water. Made with rice, not wheat, which is what separates it from the Guanzhong versions. Breakfast.
Soft curds set in the whey with greens cooked into it, eaten as the soup half of a mianpi breakfast. Mild, sour and cheap. The two are ordered together and almost never separately.
Small round buns with ground walnut worked through the dough, baked until dense and dry. A Ningqiang speciality and the standard thing to take home from the western counties.
Green tea grown on the hill terraces at Xixiang, picked from late March. Hanzhong is about as far north as tea grows well in China, which makes the season short and the leaf small.
Do
Rape flowers fill the whole basin for about three weeks in March and the county roads get busy with Chinese photographers. It is the single busiest thing that happens here all year.
They feed in the paddies early and roost in tall trees at the field edges. Drive slowly, stay in the car, and do not walk into a field to get closer. Local drivers know the regular spots.
The inscriptions were cut into the cliffs of the old plank road and are a reference point for Han clerical script. Seeing the chisel marks at this size is a different thing from seeing a rubbing.
Order both. The sheets are hot and heavily dressed, the tofu is mild and sour, and the pairing is the point. Shops open at six and the good ones are sold out by nine.
When
Rape blossom across the whole basin and tea picking starting. Crowded and worth it, but book rooms well in advance.
Warm, green and comfortable after the blossom crowd leaves. The ideal general window for the tombs, the towns and the Qinling valleys.
Hot and very wet, with the Qinling in cloud and county roads occasionally washed out. The mountains stay cool.
Clear and mild with autumn colour in the Qinling, and ibises easy to find in the harvested paddies. The other good window.
Explore More
Hanzhong is in Shaanxi, in Northwest China.
Themes with places in Hanzhong
Related
Share the travel dates and interests, and PreeChina's local team will design a route that fits.
Plan My Trip to HanzhongSee Private Tour Prices