Holiday in Baoji

What makes Baoji special as a destination?

Baoji is located at the western end of the Guanzhong Plain in Shaanxi Province, where the Wei River Valley meets the majestic Qinling Mountains. The city is considered the cradle of Chinese bronze civilization and houses some of the most significant archaeological finds of early Chinese history — including artifacts over 3,000 years old that document the beginnings of the Zhou Dynasty. The Baoji Bronze Ware Museum is the heart of the city: The collection includes over 12,000 bronze artifacts from the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BC), including the He Zun — a bronze bowl from 1038 BC, which is the first known inscription of the term Zhongguo (Middle Kingdom/China). This single artifact makes Baoji one of the most important places for understanding Chinese identity. The Famen Temple, located 120 kilometers to the east, is one of the most significant Buddhist shrines in China: In 1987, a sealed crypt from the 9th century was discovered in the collapsed pagoda, containing a finger bone of Buddha as well as hundreds of imperial offerings made of gold, silver, and silk — the largest find of Buddhist relics in China. The Qinling Mountains south of Baoji form the geographical boundary between northern and southern China: Here, the watersheds of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River separate. The Taibai Mountain with its namesake peak (3,767 m) is the highest point in eastern China and offers alpine hikes through various vegetation zones — from subtropical bamboo forests to treeless alpine regions. Baoji is a station on the legendary Baoji-Chengdu railway, one of the most engineering-challenging railway lines in the world, winding through hundreds of tunnels and over dozens of bridges through the Qinling Mountains.