Crazy ancient Chinese city in the middle of no where: Surprised by Songpan 松潘 in Western Sichuan!
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- Опубликовано: 4 мар 2024
- Find out what surprised me about this ancient town in Sichuan and watch to the end to see how I get attacked by the young folks of the town.
Introduction to Songpan Ancient Town
Situated about 200 miles from Chengdu, Songpan Ancient Town used to be a military base due to its advantageous location. As an ancient town, this place is rich in history and culture. Remains of ancient structures and battlefields can be seen in the ancient town. The city gates and city walls of the ancient town are still well-preserved despite being many centuries old. Historically, it was known as Songzhou Town and was considered the 'West Portal of Sichuan'. It has recently gained a reputation as one of the most interesting historical towns in Sichuan Province.
Dating back to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the city wall of Songpan Ancient Town was made of blue bricks locally fired. It is extremely tough, and 10 meters high, 30 meters wide and 6,200 meters long. The wall is one of the best ancient city wall relics in China. The tops of the East City Gate, the South City Gate and the North City Gate are all half-moon-shaped. The cornerstones of the gatehouses are enchased with unique anaglyphs and they still keep their ancient style and beauty now.
Songpan was an important military post and economic and trading center for horse and tea exchange between Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet. In 1935, led by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, the retreating Chinese Communist Army marched through the plateau of Songpan to advance to the north western province. As well the history and scenery of Songpan, the cultural diversity is one of the most fascinating in China. Because of its location, four ethnic groups are resident in Songpan including Tibetan, Qiang, Hui(Muslim) and Han (Mandarin). This contributes to the unique cultural style of this ancient town, Kangba Culture, a kind of multicultural medley of the four different cultural elements in this ancient historical town makes it a rare if not unique example of cultural history in China.
#Songpan
#sichuan
#adventure
#jiuzhaigou
#Huanglong
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Why do you have so few subscriptions? There should be more subscriptions to such high-quality videos!
Hoping for more! Thanks for following along the journey!
probably suppressed by the algorithm, need anti-china clickbait titles to get boosted by the algo. First time I came across this guy and I've been watching china related contents for a year.
Subscribed! A great job - keep it up:)
Subscribed👍
''How about changing Channel Name not resembling your ''real'' name ??@@thecubbages
Amazing this old Chinese city has been preserved
Thank you so much for watching!
Wow. Thanks for showing us beautiful places.
Thanks for following along the journey!
What a beautiful place ❤️😍😍
You should also go and have a look. It only takes two or three hours to fly from Shanghai to Xining. Western China is wild and colorful.
It really is! Thanks for watching so consistently, Sarika.
I guess such videos were the reason I came to RUclips 15 years ago. Keep up the good work!
That is so nice of you to say! Makes all the hard work feel so worth it!
Crazy beautiful place
It really is!
This is something unique n amazing....very beautiful place. Peaceful , far from d hassle of big cities
Very beautiful, indeed! It is nice to be out of the big cities of China.
Thanks for bringing this unique city to us. Happy travel!!!
Our pleasure!
Wowww🎉, video quality & the city😊😊😊🎉🎉🎉🎉
Thanks for watching!
Glad to discover this channel ❤
Welcome aboard! Glad to have you!
Quality video. This channel deserves more subs than 2k. 100k at least
I appreciate that! Hopefully one day!
Very informative. Very beautiful ancient city. Thanks showing the history of the city.
Glad you enjoyed it
amazingly beautifully unique city with a wonderful landscape
It really is!
How i envy u...me as an overseas Chinese haven't gone to far flang places in China. One day i'll be there too 😃😉👍. More power to u sir !!!
I hope you get a chance to travel more! It has opened my eyes!
In 1976, there was a big earthquake in Songpan, so I remember the place. At that time I was only one year old and sleeping outside, which is what my parents told me. Although my home is about 1000 KM away from Songpan, the shock wave was still strong.
Yes. That was a devastating earthquake. I am sorry your parents went through that.
Great drone footage, thank you to share this beautiful old town.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Looking fwd to more of your stories.🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
More to come! Excited to get you more great content!
By the way - I was just in Malaysian Borneo last week. Are you from Borneo?
@@thecubbages Yes I am
At first I thought you were just a traveler. After entering your channel, I found out that you have been living in China for so long. And you have traveled to so many places in China It’s really cool.
Yeah. I have lived in western China for 13 years. It is really an honor to live here. I love it!
Bussed through Songpan in 2004 on my way to Jiuzhaigou which is at much lower altitudes in the valleys. Flew into Songpan some years later, overnighted before exploring regions north and west and suffered alpine sickness for several days. Just loved the history, shopping food and folk and lifestyle. Thanks for sharing your experience
Wow! That is great! What a cool experience.
Thank you for bringing back the many beautiful memories of my trip to China in 2018. We made a stopover at Songpan on the way back to Chengdu after visiting Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong National Park.
Our pleasure!
You are another legend😘, the quality of the video just like another RUclipsr maybe u heard before: little chinese everywhere
Thank you, sir!
First time learning and seeing Songpan, a quaint military outpost with its ancient fortress well preserved.
Most people have never heard of Songpan. It is pretty far off the map!
Great video !!! Subscribed 👌
Thanks for the sub!
Amazing footage! Thanks ✌
subscribed!
Thanks for the sub! Great to have you!
I bet most Chinese people never heard of this place😂you are so cool！
Sichuan people probably know of it. Otherwise it is relatively unheard of.
great to see you discover my homecountry, there's lot places even i never went to be.
China is a big, beautiful country with lots to discover!
nice!
Thank you! Cheers!
感谢分享
感谢你🙏！
✨💖🌟 Songpan~!!!
Thank you for watching. Have you been to Songpan?
Wonder how old are those walls.
thanks for posting. great video.
Good question! Generally the walls were constructed between 1368-1644AD.
Excellent video. I would like to visit here someday but perhaps Chengdu or Chongqing will be the closest I will get. Yunnan was suggested as the next possible trip to visit my friends in Guangdong.
Please come! I have a travel business at www.elevatedtrips.com. Would love to host you. With the new fast train from Chengdu Songpan is only a few hours from Chengdu
好祥和宁静
That is one of my favorite things about western China!
City pop style bgm X Songpan, weired, but GOOD!
Thanks! Yeah. I kind of played around with the music and landed on that. What do you think of the music? 🎶
I have been to Songpan many years ago. It’s an ancient city with strong Islamic influences.
Yeah. Such a blend of cultures.
Went there last summer, on the way to Jiuzhaigou. I remember having yak meat steamboat in the town.
Lots of yak meat 🥩 to eat here!
Thank you, i think i have passed this place when i went to Yellow Dragon in 1986, maybe we stopped for some snacks. ^_^
It is a good rest point for those traveling to Jiuzhaigou or Huanglong National Park. I bet it has changed a lot since 1986!
👍👍👍
Thanks for watching and the thumbs up!
the old city gate has character saying Song Zhou. maybe old name
Good eye! That is right. The gate does say SongZhou
Through your video I saw things which I never saw before even as Chinese.
That is great! That is really why I make these videos!
Does the new high speed train reach Songpan yet? I heard its supposed to go all the way up Jiuzhaigou
China just finished the high speed train from Chengdu to Jiuzhaigou. It does not go directly to either Jiuzhaigou or Songpan but it comes about 1-2 hours away and definitely makes travel shorter and more affordable.
Anicent 🇨🇳💕💐
Thanks for watching! We appreciate your support!
昨天刚看到海西蒙古与明朝边军在松潘、西宁的拉锯战。唐朝开始，这里就是四战之地。
谢谢！
😊👍👍👍👍
Thank you for being with us!
This place gets prettier in the summer.
Oh yes! It turns into a very beautiful high altitude grassland.
wwwoow...
It is very beautiful. Thanks for watching!
😊
Thanks for joining us!
With a population of around 70,000 no wonder the place looks rather quiet. And the far away distance plus lack of informations discourage foreign tourists from visiting the place. What a pity....
Yeah. It definitely is off the beaten track
🙂🙏😀🙏👍🙏🙂
Thank you for watching! You are awesome!
never heard about songpana even i am chiniese
Yeah. It is pretty remote in Sichuan!
Why do the color is so odd in whole video ?
I am not sure. I do not do any color editing.
@@thecubbages seems grey tone, our flag's red, the trees green... looks like BBC color🥹
not bbc channel with grey filter.
Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, Mongolia, and also Southeast Asia like Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, especially Singapore cities, road, street are clean and not bad, Southeast Asia not perfect except Singapore. Indonesia not all part Sumatra like Riau, Jambi, Kepulauan Riau, Kalimantan and Bali, but in Java not much. India, Bangladesh and Pakistan(some place are clean) not good about hygiene and cleanliness, You go to Thailand, especially in 'Buddhist Wat(Temple) and City Pillar Shrine like Bangkok city Pillar shrine, Buriram city pillar shrine, Surat Thani city Pillar Shrine and Nakhon Si Thammarat city pillar shrine etc are very clean with garden and plant, in Malaysia and Singapore street, mall and road also clean. Japan much better, even fish and aquatic plant can live in small river, sewer and water drainage, very clean and fresh look water. India i saw many road and street full of plastic waste, garbage, litter and sometimes poop and smell urine.
That is interesting how different countries view hygiene.
没有歧视，日本政府不负责任的排放核污水，已经永远让我感觉日本不干净，特别是水，毕竟危害显现太久了，也可能是下一代😢
Ben looks like one of the native chiefs.
That is great! Thank you!
Most Americans have no concept of meters. You might want to mention the heights in feet as well as meters in future videos
Most Americans have no concept of anything 😂
Yeah. That is good advice. I usually do that in most videos but forget Tobin this one. Thanks for the reminders
I am very lucky because my mom is a Chinese medcine doctor, the whole family benefits from her knowledge about herbs, esp my elderly grandma and grandpa, they prefer herbs to cure flu or some mild disease, the only trouble is the smell when mom is boiling herbs.
Wow! This is fascinating! You have a very amazing mom!
western med doesn't taste good too. Most medicinal ingredients are derive from herbs. Most are bitter in taste.
GOOD ！
Thank you for the kind words.
Hey buddy, welcome to China. Although this is the first time I've seen your channel, I admire your courage. You dare to go to the horror China portrayed by western media. I decided to subscribe to your channel. I hope to see more of your videos.
Great! Glad to have you onboard!
There are many cities and ancient towns in western Sichuan where Han and Tibetan cultures blend. They are very beautiful and ancient and have not been damaged by any war, even though the entire Sichuan province is very beautiful.
Sichuan is an awesome place!
Thank you for watching!
Wonderful landscape, like the atmosphere
Yeah. Western Sichuan is an amazing place!