Liujiaxia

 

Basic Information of Liujiaxia

Chinese Name: 刘家峡 Pronunciation: liú jiā xiá

Suggested Visiting Hours: 1-3 Hours

The Total Reservoir Capacity: 5.7 billion cubic meters

Address: Yongjing County, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Lanzhou City

 

Ticket Price

Admission Fee	Yacht Fee
35 yuan	120 yuan

 

Opening Hours

Opening Hours	Closing Time
08:00-16:00	16:00

• Tips: In case of the bad weather and irresistible natural disasters, some projects of scenic spots will temporarily be closed and performances will be canceled.

 

What You Need to Know about Liujiaxia

As the seventh ladder power station in the development plan of the upper Yellow River, Liujiaxia has the functions of power generation, flood control, irrigation, aquaculture, navigation, tourism and so on.
 

The Liujiaxia was a large hydropower project designed and constructed by China government during the First Five-Year Plan period and completed in 1974. The reservoir is located in the plateau valley, which is known as the “Pearl of the Plateau”.
 

Liujiaxia has beautiful scenery, a pleasant climate, good water quality, and the reservoir is the largest aquaculture base and water resort. When entering the gorge, you can see the peaks on both sides are facing each other and the precipitous walls are spectacular. The scenery here is comparable to the mountains and waters in Guilin and the Wu Gorge in the Yangtze River.
 

Liujiaxia was selected in the second batch of the National Industrial Heritage List in November 2018. On April 12, 2019, it was selected into the Industrial Heritage Protection List of China sponsored by the coordination and Publicity Department of China Science.

 

History of Liujiaxia

The first construction of the Liujiaxia Reservoir was built during the period of the Soviet-aided. After several years’ of cooperation between China and Soviet experts, some historical problems occurred between the two countries. All the designed drawings were taken away, making subsequent projects impossible to carry out. Later, the previous projects were bombed out either.
 

Chairman Mao decided to build it by ourselves. It is said that the cost of Liujiaxia Hydropower Station was 200 million yuan.
 

After the completion in 1974, it has become the largest water conservancy and power project in China. It was known as the Pearl of the Yellow River, sending 5.7 billion kilowatt-hours of current to Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai every year.

 

What to See at Liujiaxia

 Liujiaxia Reservoir

Liujiaxia Reservoir is located in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. The water of the Yellow River turns sharply 90 degrees here and then flows westward through the canyon.
 

The reservoir lake is vast and beautiful. It is not only a good ecological sightseeing spot, where the water is blue, but also the reservoir likes a big pearl on the top of the loess.
 

 Liujiaxia Hydropower station

Liujiaxia Hydropower Station, China’s first million-kilowatt Hydropower station, is located on the mainstream of the Yellow River in Yongjing County, Gansu Province.
 

The construction started in September 1958, suspended in 1961, resumed in 1964 and completed in December 1974.
 

The dam is a gravity dam with a maximum height of 147 meters and a total storage capacity of 5.7 billion cubic meters, which installs 5 units with a total capacity of 1.255 million kilowatts and an annual power generation of 5.58 billion kilowatts-hour.
 

 Liujiaxia Dinosaur National Geopark

The Liujiaxia Dinosaur National Geopark is dominated by the dinosaur footprint groups. In an area of 2 square kilometers, 10 types of 150 groups, 1724 dinosaur footprint fossils were discovered in August 1999, as well as the bird footprints, plants, leaf limbs and other fossils.
 

The footprints include at least two types of theropods, one type of ornithopods, one type of pterosaurs, and other three unique types but still hasn't been identified yet.

 

Suggested Travel Route

Liujiaxia Reservoir → Liujiaxia Power station → Liujiaxia Dinosaur National Park

 

Travel to Liujiaxia

 By Bus

There are buses from Lanzhou South Coach Station to Liujiaxia Town at 7:00, 7:40 every day. The journey takes about 2 hours and the ticket price is 24 yuan.