Yan'an is in Shaanxi, in Northwest China.
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Shaanxi · City Guide
Yan'an, Where Cave Dwellings Line the Loess Valleys.
Overview
Why Go
At Hukou the river narrows from about three hundred metres to twenty and drops into a gorge. It is the second large waterfall in China and the sole large one carrying that much sediment, which is why the water is the colour it is.
The mausoleum attributed to the Yellow Emperor at Huangling stands in a planted cypress forest, some of the trees a thousand years old and more. A public ceremony is held there each Qingming, and the site has been maintained since the Han.
Flash floods have cut narrow slot canyons through the soft loess at Yuchagou in Ganquan, with curved fluted walls that light up orange around midday. They were just widely photographed after 2015 and stay quiet outside holidays.
The Communist Party's central organs were based here from 1937 to 1947. The cave compounds at Yangjialing, Zaoyuan and Wangjiaping are kept as they were and are among a particularly visited sites in northern Shaanxi.
The Ansai waist drum is danced by rows of men with drums strapped on, and it is on the national intangible heritage list. It is performed at New Year and at village festivals rather than just on a stage.
See
The Yellow River squeezed into a rock slot and dropped some twenty metres. Volume swings enormously with the season: thin in spring, brown and deafening after the summer rain, and fringed with ice in January. The Shaanxi and Shanxi banks each have their own viewing side.
A mound on Qiaoshan surrounded by a cypress forest of around eighty thousand trees, with a sacrificial hall below. A large cypress is said to have been planted by the emperor himself. The Qingming ceremony draws delegations from across the country and abroad.
Several separate slots in Ganquan county, many of them short and walkable, with fluted walls of packed loess rather than sandstone. Go between eleven and two for the reflected light. They close after rain, which is when the flooding that cut them happens.
The Yellow River doubles back on itself in a near-circle between bare loess ridges, seen from a viewpoint on the Shaanxi side. There are several such bends along this stretch and this is the tightest of them.
Three compounds of cave dwellings and meeting halls used between 1937 and 1947, preserved with the original furniture. Yangjialing has the assembly hall, Zaoyuan the residences and Wangjiaping the military headquarters. Entry is free and they are busy at weekends.
A nine-storey brick pagoda of Tang foundation on the hill above the town centre, rebuilt in the Ming. It is the shape the whole city is identified by, printed on everything locally, and the walk up gives visitors the layout of the three valleys that make Yan'an.
On the Map
Approximate locations of the attractions above, across Yan'an.
Eat
Luochuan sits at around a thousand metres on deep loess with a wide day-night temperature swing, which is the usual explanation for the sugar. The county carries a geographical indication and sells much of what northern China eats in winter.
Rings of fermented millet and rice flour deep-fried until dark gold, faintly sour under the sweetness. A New Year food that is now sold all year on the street, and the standard thing to eat with the morning porridge.
Buckwheat dough cut with a long two-handled blade, rocked across the board fast enough that the noodles come off even. Served in mutton or vegetable broth. Buckwheat grows where little else will, which is why the plateau eats it.
Beancurd pressed firm and lightly cured, made with spring water from Ganquan county, which holds the geographical indication. Sliced thin with chilli oil, or cooked into stews. Many restaurants in the city will have it.
Do
The falls are a different thing at high water in late summer and early autumn, brown to the horizon and loud enough to drown conversation. Waterproofs are sold at the gate and visitors will need them. Check the flow before making the two-hour drive.
Ansai troupes perform around the lunar New Year and at village festivals, and some run scheduled sessions for visitors through the year. Fifty drummers on a loess slope is the version worth arranging around.
Bring a headlamp and shoes visitors do not mind wetting. The light is just right for a couple of hours in the middle of the day, and the walls are earth rather than rock, so touching them leaves marks and takes them with visitors.
The forest at Huangling is the point as much as the mound. A long-standing trees have trunks several people cannot reach around. Go on an ordinary day rather than at Qingming, when the ceremony closes much of the site.
When
Mild and dry, with apple blossom across Luochuan and the Qingming ceremony at Huangling in early April. Hukou runs thin at this time of year.
Hot, with the year's rain. Hukou is at full volume from late summer, and the slot canyons close whenever it rains, which is often.
The ideal overall window: apples picked, clear dry air, the river still high and the loess turning gold. Avoid the October holiday week.
Cold and bare. Hukou freezes at the edges in January, which some people prefer, and the waist-drum troupes come out around the lunar New Year.
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Yan'an is in Shaanxi, in Northwest China.
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