Discover Zhangjiakou

Zhangjiakou tells its story at a remarkable crossroads: Dajingmen was both part of the Great Wall of China and a place where defence and trade met. Further chapters await at the city museum, the historic Zhangjiakou Fort and Mingdekou Street. If you and your family enjoy discovering places and their past together, the city offers several different ways to do so.

Dajingmen: a Great Wall pass and a history of trade

Dajingmen lies on the northern edge of the urban area and is one of the four great passes of the Great Wall of China, alongside Shanhaiguan, Juyongguan and Jiayuguan. Of these four names, Dajingmen is the only one that contains the word “gate.” The Dajingmen section connects the eastern and western Taiping Mountains. This makes it a place where striking names and a varied historical role come together.

The section was an important part of the Ming-era military defence system of Xuanfu. It was first built as a stone wall in the tenth year of the Yongle era and faced with bricks in the 21st year of the Chenghua era. The broad Dajingmen Gate itself was built in 1644.

Dajingmen was not solely a military installation, however. It also played an important role in trade between farming and pastoral regions; the Zhangku trade route developed from here. During the Qing dynasty, the broad gate was built for trade between China proper and the steppe. Dajingmen can therefore also be understood as a place of economic and cultural exchange between steppe and agricultural civilisations.

Fort, tea trade route and city museum

Zhangjiakou Fort, also known as Baozili, preserves a relatively intact group of buildings from the Ming and Qing dynasties. As a historic testament to the tea-and-horse trade, it adds another perspective on past trade relations to the history of the trade route. Within Zhangjiakou Fort, the Fort Post Office combines basic postal services with themes relating to the historic fortified city and the tea trade route. These include a special commemorative postmark, postcards, themed letters and cards, and postal cultural products related to intangible cultural heritage. At a “time capsule” activity station, visitors can send personal messages to the future.

The Zhangjiakou City Museum presents four themed exhibitions: the city’s ancient history, its modern revolutionary history, the shared history of Beijing and Zhangjiakou, and the international trade history of the Zhangku tea trade route. Its collection contains 3,632 cultural relics, including nine items in the national first-grade protection category, 99 in the second and 457 in the third. The themes range from regional history and political upheaval to connections forged along trade routes. If you are travelling with children, you can use the different exhibition themes as a starting point for discussing together how trade and history have shaped a city.

More sides of the city

Mingdekou Street brings together folk-culture experiences, cultural and creative offerings, entertainment and leisure shopping. Attractions include the Folk Museum of Oat Products, as well as opportunities to dress up and take photographs. In this way, the street carries on the historic heyday of the commercial district along the Zhangku trade route in a contemporary form. It offers a different focus for planning your trip than the Great Wall and the museum: here, everyday culture, local products and hands-on activities take centre stage.

Another historic building is the former seat of the Governor-General of Chahar, also known as Dewang Mansion. It is designated as a nationally significant cultural heritage site and is considered the only relatively intact Qing-era administrative building in Zhangjiakou. Four courtyards with largely intact layouts have been preserved. Historically, 61 governor-generals served there by the end of the Qing dynasty; during the Republican era, they were followed by eight governor-generals and 13 provincial governors. After liberation, the site served as the seat of the People’s Government of Chahar Province.

If you are looking for a holiday apartment in Zhangjiakou, you can first decide which of these stories you would like to shape your stay: the Great Wall of China and its trading past, the city museum’s exhibitions, or the cultural offerings of Mingdekou Street. This lets you choose what to explore together in Zhangjiakou based on your travel interests.

More places in this selection: Chengde, Cangzhou, Qinhuangdao, Baoding, Hengshui, Tangshan, Xingtai and Handan.

For the overarching travel guide: Hebei.