Located near Tianshui, a major city in Eastern Gansu Province, Wheat-Pile Mountain (The Maiji), reputed as the "Oriental Sculpture Museum," is 142 metres high. The name comes from the fact that the mountain looks like a stack of wheat. There are altogether 194 grottoes (the grottoes are divided into east grottoes and west grottoes) in all, and there are 54 grottoes in the east, and 140 grottoes in the west. All of them are cut on cliffs, 80 metres above the ground on the southern side of the mountain. The grottoes contain more than 7,200 clay or stone sculptures and over 1, 300 square metres of murals, both of which are works of the 4 th to 19 th centuries (Northern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, the Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties) -making them a perfect example of China's sculpture through the ages. In addition to clay sculptures, there are more than 2,000 pieces of pottery, bronze ware, ironware, and jade articles, ancient books, documents, paintings, calligraphy and other cultural relics in the 194 grottoes. The highest figure is about 16 metres, and the smallest being only 10 centimetres. Its exquisite clay sculptures are well known not only in China but also abroad. One salient feature of the grottoes is that the only means of communication between the caves is a plank road built on the face of a precipice. The gigantic road project must have taken on-lookers' breath away.

The grottoes have applied to the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for admission onto the World Heritage List.

Labrang Lamasery

First built in 1710 during the Qing emperor Kangxi' s reign (1662-1722), the Labrang Lamasery in Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southern Gansu Province, is one of the six patriarchal lamaseries of the Gelugpa Sect of Lamaism in China (the other five being Gandan Lamasery Drepung Lamasery Sera Lamasery in the Lhasa area, Tashilhungpo Lamasery in Xigaze in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Ta' er Lamasery in Huangzhong, Qinghai Province). Located about 180 kilometres from Lanzhou, the lamasery encompasses 86.7 hectares (214 acres) and about 2.5 kilometres in circumference and has about 10,000 rooms, which are enough to accommodate more than 3,000 lamas. Big, tall and elaborately decorated, the highly artistic monastery breathes a strong religious atmosphere of the Tibetans. Also the top college of Tibetan Buddhism in Northwest China, the monastery holds seven large-scale summons ceremonies a year, of which the summons ceremony in the first lunar month is the largest. The present summons ceremony, which began in the middle of the 18 th century, is based on a ceremony held in 1409 by Tsong Kha-pa (13571419), founder of the Gelugpa Sect. It includes a series of religious activities attendee by both Tibetan monks and pilgrims, such as the free Captive Animals Festival held on the 8 th day of the first Tibetan lunar month, The Sun-Bathing Buddha Festival on the 13 th day of the month and the Cham dance on the 14 th day. Inaddition to this, all the monks of the monastery will gather in the Grand Sutra Hall to recite Buddhist scriptures six times a day, every day during the period. The Sun-Bathing Buddha Festival has always been the statue of Jiamuyang 1, from just 1 inch high to 10 metres tall, more than 10,000 statues of Buddha made of gold, silver, copper, aluminium, ivory, sandalwood, jade, crystal and clay build up a mysterious Buddhist world in the flickering light of yak-butter lamps. The Labrang Monastery has a collection of about 10,000 "thangka " paintings by Tibetan folk artists in Qinghai Province. The monastery also has one of the richest collections of Buddhist scriptures in the world, boasting nearly 65,000 of them in 18,200 volumes. These scriptures fall into a dozen categories, including philosophy, collected works, medicine, sabda (grammar and composition), history, biography, and craftsmanship. Also included are two volumes of Pattra-Ieaf sutras, and some 70,000 wood blocks for printing scriptures.

The monastery is built in an attractive setting, with the Daxia River winding by to the south and rolling mountains to the south and north. About 14 kilometres up the valley from the monastery, the Sangke Grasslands is an ideal place for hiking or horse-riding, with a limpid lake and snow-capped mountains on all sides.

Bingling Monastery

Situated in Yongjing County within half a day's distance from Lanzhou by car, the Bingling Monastery is one of China's best grotto clusters. The grottoes are next only to those in Dunhuang and the Maiji Mountain in magnitude and the value of their historical relics. Among the survivals are 183 grotto niches (34 grottoes, and 149 niches) displaying 679 stone figures and 82 clay figures, in addition to more than 900 square metres of murals. The highest figure is 27 meters, while the smallest being more than 20 centimetres only. Also there are one stone square pagoda, and four clay pagodas. Two-thirds of the grottoes and niches were carved during the Tang Dynasty. The rest were carved in Western Qin, Northern Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Ming and Qing dynasties. Its centuries-old stone-carving art is considered a gem of history and culture in China.

During the construction of Liujiaxia Reservoir in 1967, a 200-metre-long and 20-metre-high dam was built in front of the Monastery. The monastery can be reached by taking a boat.

Mogao Grottoes

Widely regarded as a Mecca for historians and artists, the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang is known as the world's greatest treasure house of Buddhist art extant today. Their construction started in AD 366. The existing 492 grottoes contain 45,000 square metres of murals and more than 2,415 painted sculptures, which spanned 10 consecutive dynasties in more than 1,600 years .

The Singing Dunes, formerly known as Shensha Hills or Shajiaoshan Hills, are located 6 kilometres away from the city of Dunhuang. The Singing Dunes stretch about 40 kilometres from east to west, and 20 kilometres from north to south. The dunes range from 80 to 90 metres in height. The Singing Dunes are rolling like a "wriggling dragon" and glittering like golden hills with a clear spring shaped like a new moon lying in their bosom. The green spring water, resembling a jadeite, is inlaid on the golden dunes. Reeds grow luxuriously by the side of the spring, and, in gentle breeze, the water-surface ripples and the dunes are reflected in the water, forming a very spectacular view.

According to the record of The Old Tang Annals, The Singing Dunes are also called Shajiaoshan Hills. In fine days, sand roars like thunder which can be heard in the city, hence the name of Singing Dunes. When visitors climb up the dunes and slide downward from the summit, the sand can collapse with them and give out a peal of loud sound, like the howls of beasts and roar of thunder if it is listened to in the vicinity and like celestial melodies if it is listened to in the distance. Since the ancient times, this scenic spot has been regarded as a riddle.

What has brought about the phenomenon of singing sand? Up to now there is yet no satisfactory answer. Some Japanese think that perhaps there are ancient palaces under the dunes; the Russians deem that the quartz content in the singing sand is very considerable, and when quartz crystals are squeezed, they would produce electJ;ic charges which would in turn change into sound. Chinese scientists have carried out the study on the cause of the singing of sand for years and they believe that the singing of sand is a phenomenon of resonance. The Singing Dunes are as high as 80 to 90 metres and their ridges are as sharp as the edge of a knife. At the foot of the Singing Dunes lies the Crescent Spring (known as Sand Well in the ancient times). In warm and sunny weather, the spring water at the foot of the Singing Dunes evaporates under the direct sunshine and forms an invisible shield, which happens to constitute a natural resonator together with the steep, crescent slope of the Singing Dunes. Among the sounds of different frequencies given out by the friction of sand-drift, there will inevitably be a sound, which will bring about resonance of the resonator by chance. Along with the amplification of the sound, the resonance turns out to be like the roar of thunder, hence there comes the singing sand.

More interesting than' the singing sand is the phenomenon of "nonencroachment of sand on spring" at the Singing Dunes and Crescent Spring. The havoc caused by wind and sand in the Northwest is terrific. They can turn fertile farmland into desert, blow sheep up into the sky and even overturn a train. The small Crescent Spring at the foot of the Singing Dunes, however, can go through all vicissitudes and remain safe and sound despite evaporation that is tens of times more than precipitation. It is indeed mysterious that the precipitous dunes beside the spring have never collapsed and buried the spring water, but, on the contrary, it has surrounded and protected the spring like iron arms and kept the spring water even in long drought.

With regard to the long-existent riddle of the Crescent Spring, there are a lot of explanations. Some hold that the land in the neighbourhood might have been the former Danghe River Bend, a part of Dunhuang Oasis. Owing to the drift of dunes and the change of river-courses, a water system of its own was formed; and due to the low terrain, groundwater constantly replenishes the spring water, so the spring is always filled with water and never dries up even in drought. And because of the existence of underground watercourses, which connect with the spring and help the diversion of water, the water will not overflow even after long period of rain. This explanation seems to give the reason why the Crescent Spring does not vanish, but it by no means explains why the flying sand does not fall into the spring. Another theory goes like this:" The Crescent Spring might have been a wind-eroded lake. The Taoist Priests who lived beside the Crescent Spring witnessed in person that the sand sliding down from sand dunes was blown up by strong wind to the summit. This might have been one of the reasons why the Crescent Spring was not buried by sand.

The beautiful sight and the wonderful natural structure of the Singing Dunes and the Crescent Spring have added to their fascination. To know, you must go!

Gansu are the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, Jiuguan Wenshu Mountain Grottaes, Anxi Yulin Grottoes, Zhangye Ladder Grottoes, Qingyang North Stone Grottoes, Jinchuan South Stone Grottoes. The Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and Maiji Mountain Grottoes are the Largest.