Atlas of China
Xuanquan Post Station Site 悬泉置遗址Xuánquánzhì Yízhǐ
National heritage site · Jiuquan, Gansu
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Days to budget
- Half a day
- City
- Jiuquan
- Region
- Gansu
- Type
- Heritage
- Listed as
- National heritage site
About Xuanquan Post Station Site
A Han dynasty relay station on the Silk Road between Dunhuang and Guazhou, in use from about 111 BC until the Wei–Jin period to lodge envoys, officials and foreign guests. Excavations in the early 1990s recovered some 70,000 objects, including about 35,000 inscribed wooden and bamboo slips, after which the ruins were backfilled for protection, and the site is part of the Silk Roads World Heritage listing. A visitor area opened in 2025 beside the motorway with a full-size reconstruction of the station, and a display centre with 3D and interactive exhibits on the excavations was completed the same year.
How to get to Xuanquan Post Station Site
About 64 km east of Dunhuang beside the G3011 Liuyuan–Golmud expressway at the Tianshuijing parking area, under an hour by road.
Nearby
- Mogao Caves 莫高窟 50 km
A thousand years of Buddhist murals in desert cliff caves on the Silk Road - Crescent Lake & Singing Sand Dunes 鸣沙山月牙泉 60 km
A crescent-shaped spring among towering dunes, right on the edge of town
On the map
Open Xuanquan Post Station Site on the illustrated map to see the terrain around it and what else is close, and to add it to a trip.
Open Xuanquan Post Station Site on the map