TIANSHUI is an enormous industrial city with two distinct centres, known as Qincheng (West Side) and Beidao (East Side), situated some 20km apart. Its main function for tourists is as a base for visiting Maiji Shan, though Qincheng also offers a few sights. Whether you choose to stay in Beidao or Qincheng will probably be determined by whether you arrive at the Beidao train station or the Qincheng bus station. If your only interest is a trip to Maiji Shan and back, you should stay in Beidao, from where all the Maiji Shan minibuses depart, though this is the grottier of the two ends of town, with the feel of a rural backwater. With plenty of train connections, however, it is possible to visit on the way to or from Xi'an and Lanzhou, both about eight hours distant.

 

In slightly smarter Qincheng, head west from the main square (at the west end of Minzhu Lu) along Jiefang Lu and you'll reach almost immediately an area of crumbling, traditional architecture with low, upward sweeping roof eaves and heavy tiles now gathering moss. Tiny alleyways lead off in all directions. About fifteen minutes' walk along Jiefang Lu is the Ming-dynasty Fuxi Miao , which commemorates Fuxi, one of the legendary ancestors of the Chinese people - there is a statue of him, clad in leaves, in the main hall. The temple is notable for its beautiful cypress trees; as you enter, you pass a thousand-year-old tree on the right. Another interesting temple complex, Yuquan Si , in the western part of town, occupies Yuquanguan Park , up above Renmin Xi Lu. This is a seven-hundred-year-old active Taoist temple, on a hill about ten minutes' walk northwest of the main square. The temple is surrounded by attractive cypress trees and gives good views over the old city.