Guide County, also known as “Trika County” in Tibetan, is located in eastern of Qinghai Province, situated on south bank of Yellow River. Yellow River Bridge connects north and south banks, and Yellow River flows through this territory for 76.8 kilometers.
Brief
Guide is about 3504 square kilometers, and it is surrounded by mountains. On the way from Xining to Guide, there are numerous peaks of Danxia landform on both sides of river bank. It stretches for hundreds of kilometers and has unique and charming scenery.
In addition to clear water of Yellow River, most representative attraction of Guide is “Jade Emperor Pavilion”, a building of Ming Dynasty. Pear Blossom Art Festival in April also attracts a large number of tourists.
Best travel time
From April to September
Local climate
Plateau continental climate
Most popular sites
La Ji Mountain It is boundary mountain between Huangzhong District and Guide County, it is a place that must pass through from Xining to Guide
Guide National Geopark scenic spot is composed of seven Danxia Canyons with different colors and shapes. The scene is spectacular; it also contains scenic spots: Guide National Geological Park-Ashigong Colorful Peaks
Guide Ancient City a complex of buildings of Ming Dynasty, with a history of more than 600 years, it also contains attractions: Yuhuang Pavilion
Yellow River Qing Bridge The largest chain suspension bridge on Yellow River in Qinghai
Transportation in Guide County
There are many Taxis in Guide county, most of those are on streets and alleys, with starting price of 6 yuan, 1.1 yuan per kilometer after the first 1 or 1.5 kilometers.
Chartered car: chartered car is the first choice for most visitors. cost is not very high. You can park and take pictures at any time during drive. It is relatively free. Price of a one-day chartered car from Xining to Guide is between 500-600 (Y 2020) yuan one way
How to get to Guide
–By Flight
Xining Caojiabao Airport, currently has multiple routes to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xi’an, Urumqi, Chengdu, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Kunming, Dunhuang, Golmud, Qingdao, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Changsha, Yinchuan, etc.
Airport Address: Huzhu Caojiapu, Haidong District
Airport Phone: +86 971 818-8222
Airport shuttle bus
Departure route: Airport — Qinghai Hotel — Central Square — Xining Hotel — Wuyi Road — Qiyi Road — Bayi Road Xining Airport City Terminal (to airport waiting point).
Departure time: It departs according to flight. The first and last buses are 30 minutes after arrival of flight. Passengers going to airport depart from airport at 06:00am . The departure time is generally about one and a half to two hours earlier than departure time
Bus ticket rate: 21 RMB per person
–By train
The nearest railway station to Guide is Xining Railway Station. Xining Railway Station is only railway station in Xining City. It currently departs for Lanzhou, Jiayuguan, Golmud, Urumqi, Yinchuan, Xi’an, Zhengzhou, Beijing, Lhasa, Wuchang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Jinan, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shenyang, Guangzhou, etc; with train series of D, T, Z, K trains.
Xining Railway Station Address: Jianguo Road, Chengdong District
Arrival traffic: bus station of Xining Railway Station has buses to city and surrounding towns and cities.
Bus station has 7 platforms, of which platforms 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are bus platforms.
Among them:
–platform 3 will stop at bus 31, 16, 104, and 107;
–platform 4 will stop at bus 20, 28, 7, and 27;
–Platform 5 will stop at bus 9, 5 and 103;
–Platform 6 will stop at bus 3 and 11;
–Platform 7 will stop at bus 1, 40
Xining Railway Station to Xining Nanchuan West Road Bus Station: by bus lines 27, 7, 23, 3; and get off at Liuyiqiao Station
–By bus
It is most convenient to transfer from Xining to Guide. There are regular buses to Guide departing from Nanchuan West Road Bus station.
Xining Nanchuan West Road Bus Station
From 7:45am – 17:20pm, one bus departs to Guide every half an hour every day, the rate is 26 yuan/person, and the bud-ride takes about 2 hours.
Xining Bus Station Address: No. 4, Nanchuan West Road, Chengxi District
Xining Bus Station Phone: +86 971 625-3203
Guide Bus Station
Address: 260 Yingbin West Road, Guide County
Phone: +86 974 855-3376
–Yellow River Cruise Line (Guide Section)
Cruise Route Nina Power Station — Yellow River Bridge — Yellow River Suspension Bridge — Xijitan — Ashgon — Lijiaxia Hydropower Station
Boarding location: South Bank of New Yellow River Bridge Or North Bank of Old Bridge
Cruise ship does not accept individual passengers, only groups of 10 people and above are chartered
Journey from Guide to Lijiaxia Hydropower Station takes about 1.5 hours, and usually sails from March to September.
Geography and Climate
Guide County is located in eastern part of Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. It is 63.4 kilometers wide from east to west and 90.6 kilometers long from north to south.
It lies between Longyangxia and Lijiaxia on upper reaches of Yellow River. County seat is He-yin Town, 114 kilometers away from Xining — provincial capital, and 158 kilometers away from Chapcha, the capital of Hainan Tibetan Prefecture.
It is adjacent to Guinan County and Gonghe County to west. The average altitude is 2200 meters, the highest point Zhamarigan Mountain, 5011 meters, the lowest point at mouth of Sumba Gorge, 2170 meters.
Yellow River flows through territory of 76.8km, and there are many wetlands in section from Laxiwa to Ashgon. Area of Yellow River Wetland Park is 4,516 square kilometers, and aquatic plants are mainly reeds and cattails. Guide County is full of ravines, mountains and rivers, presenting multi-level river terraces and basin hilly landforms. The terrain is high from north to south and low in middle, forming a valley basin surrounded by mountains.
Guide is in deep inland, has a plateau continental climate, long sunshine hours and strong solar radiation. Spring is dry and windy, summer is short and cool, autumn is wet and rainy, winter is long and dry, and the temperature varies greatly from morning to evening. The annual average temperature is 7.2℃, the extreme maximum temperature over a years is 34℃, and the extremely low temperature is -23.8℃.
Ethic groups
As of 2013, Guide County had a total population of 110,000, including 15 ethnic groups including Han, Tibetan, Hui and Tu. among of them, Tibetan account for about 33.5% of total population.
Local Culture
Judging from excavated cultural sites, there are “Majiayao” culture, “Kayo Culture”, “Yangshao Culture”, “Kunlun Culture”, “Tangwang Culture”, “Yellow River Culture” and other early human cultural heritages in territory. Ancient castles of Tang Dynasty and pavilions of Ming and Qing Dynasties recorded history and cultural development of Guide.In 1985, Cultural Relics Management Office discovered 58 ancient cultural sites in Guide County. Unearthed cultural relics include choppers, stone knives, and stone shovel from Neolithic Age; Pottery jars from Bronze Period; iron chariots, copper seals, and five baht coins from Han Dynasty; Ancient bells of Yuan Dynasty; Seals of Biliweihu of Ming Dynasty, gold medal letter talisman, Xuande bronze furnace, etc.
Historically, Silk Road and Tang-Tibetan (Tangbo) Ancient Road were staggered and extended within this territory, which was a link between Central Plains and Western Regions in politics, economy, and culture. In second year of Shenjue of West Han Dynasty, a road from Heguan County (now Guide County) to Jinyu (Lanzhou) was built, and built another road from Linqiang to Guiyi (now Garang) in second year of East Han Dynasty. Tuguhun opened up post road from Guide to Hezhou, and post road from Guide to Xining was built in third year of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty. According to “Book of the Later Han Dynasty·Biography of Xiqiang”, in 5th year of He Emperor of Han Dynasty, multiple pontoons were built to connect two banks in west of Horjia near Guide River.
Local Festivals
Pear blossom Arts festival is held from the end of April to beginning of May is a large-scale mass garden fair in Guide County. At Festival, there are also activities such as material exchanges…
Layi festival Every year, on June 22nd of lunar calendar, Guide organizes the”June Meeting and Material Exchange Conference”, formerly known as “June Layi Meeting”. It was a grand event for singing “Flowers” and Tibetan “Mixed Music” which is with history of more than ten Years, and now it has become a large-scale material exchange meeting lasting for 3-4 days, with different performance.
Brief History
In West Han Dynasty (60 BC), Guide was under jurisdiction of Heguan County, Jincheng (Lanzhou) County.
In 11th year of East Jin Dynasty (AD386), Jiaohe County was established.
In second year of Wude of Tang dynasty (AD 619), Jiaohe County was renamed as Kouzhou.
In the first year of Baoyou of South Song Dynasty and third year of Mongolian Menggehan (AD 1253), after extermination of Jin Dynasty, Tubo Marshal’s Mansion was established in Hezhou (now Linxia, Gansu province), and Xuanwei Division of Guide Prefecture was set up, name “Guide” appeared for the first time.
Till 8th year of Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271), Guide zhou was officially established, which belonged to Hezhou region of Shaanxi Province.
In third year of Hongwu of Ming Dynasty (AD 1370), Guide zhou was changed to Dezhou, and in 8th year of Hongwu (AD 1375), it was changed to Dezhou as Guide Guarding Households, under jurisdiction of Hezhouwei in Lintaofu.
At beginning of Qing Dynasty, Guide Guarding Households was subordinated to Hezhouwei. In fourth year of Yongzheng, Hezhouwei was abolished and then under Lintao Mansion. In third year of Qianlong (AD 1738), governing authority was changed from Lintao Mansion to Xining Mansion. In fifty-sixth year of Qianlong (AD 1761), name of Guide was restored.
In second year of Republic of China (1913), Guide Office was changed to Guide County, which was subordinate to Gansu Province.
In seventeenth year of Republic of China (1928), Qinghai was established as a province, and Guide was under jurisdiction of Qinghai Province.
In September of 1949, Guide County was officially established
