Xinxiang 4-Day Southern Taihang Tour: Guoliang Village, Baoquan and Bigan Temple

Wanxian Mountain lies in Huixian, ninety minutes from the city. Arrive at ten and take the park bus from Nanping to Guoliang.

The village clings to the cliff. The way in passes through Guoliang Cave — a road cut straight through the rock face, with the mountain overhead and a sheer drop on one side. The tunnel runs over three hundred metres and only one vehicle fits. It darkens as you walk, then opens suddenly onto the village below.

Most homes are stone, and a good number are shelf houses built onto the cliff itself. The village cinema, built by the villagers themselves in the 1960s, still carries its old slogans on the walls.

Stay in a village guesthouse. Rooms are plain but clean — kangs and beds, no luxury. Nights are cool even in summer; bring a jacket.

Walk the village in the morning — the viewpoint over the Southern Taihang highway first, then the shelf-house walkway that links Guoliang Cave's exit to the village entrance.

If you are fit, continue to One-Line Sky, a slot between two cliff faces narrow enough to turn sideways for. This stretch has no handrail and needs hands as well as feet; wear shoes with real grip.

Lunch in the village, then descend and drive to Baoquan, ninety minutes north-west.

Baoquan is defined by water running over rock rather than alongside it, with blue-green pools. The park combines shuttle buses and a cable car; since you are staying inside the valley, the ticket including the cable car is worth it and saves a lot of climbing. Overnight in the park.

Baoquan takes most of a day. Take the cable car from the visitor centre to the upper platform first, to read the canyon as a whole — walls closing in on both sides, a single river between them, sunlight reaching only half the slope.

Descend to the water, the heart of the place. It runs across the rock slabs and the pools are an unreal blue-green, a function of depth and reflected stone. Where the drop is large the noise is loud enough that you raise your voice to be heard.

Lunch inside the park; continue in the afternoon. There are family areas and slides if you are travelling with children.

Leave for Xinxiang in the evening. The city is known for roast and braised lamb, and for Weiwen's tofu dishes.

Bigan Temple sits in Weiwen, forty minutes from the city. It is the only memorial hall in the country for a named Shang-dynasty figure, minister Bi Gan.

The hall holds his seated statue and stele inscriptions. The adjacent Bigan Culture City is a recent and much larger build, with bronze columns and Han-dynasty cultural displays. The temple itself is small, but its standing is unique — the only Bigan shrine in China, from which all Bi Gan descendants trace their line.

Finish at ten and head straight back. Xinxiang East and Zhengzhou East both have frequent services.