Linxia: Streets, Cultural Heritage and Museum

If you’re looking for cultural highlights during your stay in Linxia, historic streets, courtyard complexes, craft techniques, and museum collections offer concrete points of interest. Two perspectives stand out in Linxia City: Bafang Shisanxiang combines a historic street district with courtyards and a range of cultural offerings; the Linxia Prefecture Museum complements this with an extensive collection. This makes it possible to organize your choices by theme before looking for hotels in Linxia.

Bafang Shisanxiang: Streets, Courtyards, and Crafts

Bafang Shisanxiang is a historic street district and cultural and tourism district in Linxia City. The pedestrian area covers about 410,000 square meters, while the main street is more than 1,300 meters long. The two figures describe different scales: the total area and the length of the main street. Visitor activities include tours of historic streets and residences, cultural exhibitions, culinary experiences, and relaxation in courtyards. This places the streets and courtyards alongside exhibitions and food as distinct aspects of the district.

Intangible cultural heritage is also featured here: Bafang Shisanxiang presents it in museums, exhibition halls, cultural performances, and street demonstrations. A total of 119 intangible cultural heritage projects at the prefectural level or higher are represented. These include copper kettle making, brick relief, wood carving, egg carving, clay sculpture, and gourd carving. When choosing a cultural theme, you can distinguish between the historic streets and courtyards, craft techniques, and their presentation in exhibitions or performances.

Architecture and Protected Buildings

Within Bafang Shisanxiang, the North Temple Dragon Screen Wall and the courtyard at No. 80 Daga Lane are classified as provincial-level cultural heritage sites. Dong Gongguan offers a different architectural point of interest: 126 rooms have been preserved. The complex consists of a main entrance, a passage hall, a southwest courtyard, a northwest courtyard, an inner courtyard, and an outer courtyard; its floor plan corresponds to the Chinese character “田”. The number of preserved rooms indicates the size of the complex, while the six areas and the shape of the floor plan describe its spatial layout. This allows protected individual buildings and the layout of a courtyard complex to be considered as distinct architectural themes.

Collections at the Linxia Prefecture Museum

The Linxia Prefecture Museum in Linxia City complements the architectural themes with collection objects. It houses 4,288 cultural relics, including 66 first-grade, 230 second-grade, and 705 third-grade protected objects. Collection figures may change as they are updated. The collection is particularly rich in painted pottery from the Majiayao culture, dating from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. The museum is classified as a national second-grade museum and is a patriotic education site in Gansu Province. This makes the distinction between the cultural themes clear: Bafang Shisanxiang brings together historic streets, courtyards, and intangible cultural heritage; the museum focuses on its material collections, especially painted pottery.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Baiyin, Wuwei, Jinchang, Lanzhou, Qingyang, Dingxi, Tianshui, Gannan

For the broader travel overview: Gansu.