Entry gate to the Fu Xi Temple, in Tianshui, Gansu Province.  This was an unexpected stop, and deserves a story.  Soon after driving out of Xi’an on our way to Lanzhou, the expressway ended, and for the first time on our fifty-vehicle journey across China, we found ourselves traveling single-file on two-lane provincial roads.  Soon after heading into the mountains of Gansu Province, under heavy skies with occasional raindrops spattering the windshield, we came to a halt alongside a mountain - because moments earlier, a landslide caused by heavy rain buried the road just ahead.  We were stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Wall tiles on a building within the Fu Xi Temple complex.  After an hour wait, word came over our radios that we were ready to go.  Had the road been cleared already?  No; it remained buried, but a road crew had come in and quickly flattened out a trail on top of it.  We would be driving over top of the landslide.  Fifty drivers, few of them with any experience, driving unfamiliar vehicles on a makeshift trail across a muddy landslide clinging to the side of a mountain: that is my new definition of “trepidation.”

An eave on one of the side halls leading to the Fu Xi Temple.  We all made it across, and an hour later when we arrived in Tianshui for a very delayed lunch, we heard the rest of the story.  The reason we had gotten through so quickly was because the governor of Gansu Province - the equivalent of a state governor in the US - had personally ordered that the road be made passable for our fifty-car crew.  We cheered and raised a toast to our good contacts.  We also learned that less than half an hour after we crossed, a much larger mountain slide took out that section of road for what would likely be days.  We gasped and raised a toast to our good luck.

Corner of a small pavilion near the main hall of the Fu Xi Temple.  With all the help the governor had given us, we felt obliged when after lunch the Tianshui local officials invited us to visit a city landmark: the Fu Xi Temple.  We would reach Lanzhou late, but given the overly eventful morning, that was okay; I imagine a few in our crew wanted to offer up some prayers anyway.  And besides, it was a worthwhile visit.

The main hall of the Fu Xi Temple.  This place is five centuries old, but the story behind it is much older.  In Chinese mythology, Fu Xi, a character who supposedly came from this area, is the ancestor of all the Chinese people - the very first human.  Though it’s only a legend, humans have indeed lived in this area for at least eight thousand years.

The leftmost panel on front of the main hall.  In the legend, Fu Xi married Nu Wa, his sister, to create all the generations of Chinese people that followed.  That story must be tough to explain to the kids.

Detail of that same panel.  Within the temple is the only statue of Fu Xi that still exists in China.

Restoration work within a temple hall.

A large dragon panel from the front of another hall within the Fu Xi Temple.  The city of Tianshui lies along the Silk Road, which starts in Xi’an, just as we did this day.  We could all take solace in knowing that its travelers long ago had a far more difficult time negotiating the nearby mountains than we did.