Guangyuan

Guangyuan (广元; Gǔangyúan) is a city in northeastern Sichuan province. It is on the main route to Shaanxi.

History
Guangyuan, with a long history and rich culture, is one of the important birthplaces of the Ba Shu civilization and created the Neutronic Fine Stoneware Culture more than 7000 years ago. It has a history of more than 2,300 years since the founding of the city, and is the centralized exhibition place of the pre-Qin ancient palisade culture and Shu Road culture, and the core corridor of the Three Kingdoms' history and culture. It is the birthplace of Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history.

Topography
Guangyuan City is in the northern edge of Sichuan, the mountains to the basin transition zone, Motianling, Micangshan east-west across the city north, respectively, for the Sichuan-Gansu, Sichuan-Shaanxi border mountain; Longmen Mountain north-east of a south-south-west slanting inserted into the city's west; the city south of the north by the Jianshenshan, Dabanshan and other northern arc of the Sichuan mountain range covers a wide range. Terrain from north to southeast tilt, the ridge relative height difference of more than 3,200 meters. Motianling ridge elevation from the western end of the highest point of 3837 meters to the east down to 2784 meters, to the south is a sharp drop to 800 meters. Longmen Mountain receives Motianling resides in the whole Qingchuan and the western part of Lizhou District.

Climate
Guangyuan City belongs to the subtropical humid monsoon climate; located in the southern foothills of the Qinling Mountains, is the transition zone between the north and the south, both the south of the humid climate characteristics, but also the north of the sky high clouds, bright sunshine characteristics. In the low mountains in the south, it is cold in winter and hot in summer; in the middle mountains in the north, it is cold in winter and cool in summer, and cools down rapidly in fall. The average annual temperature is 16.1℃, 26.1℃ in July and 4.9℃ in January. The annual rainfall is 800-1000 millimeters, the number of sunshine is 1300-1400 hours, the frost-free period is 220-260 days, and the four seasons are clear, which is suitable for the biological prosperity. However, natural disasters, especially droughts and floods, are frequent.

Get in
The Chengdu to Xi'an high-speed rail has a stop in Guangyuan. The standard sleeper trains also stop here.

The long distance bus stop is underneath the plaza directly in front of the train station. Same-day tickets are available to regional centers.

Get around
The train station is walking distance from the commercial center - cross the bridge and head south for a few minutes.

Connect

 * Area code: 0839
 * Postal code：628017

Go next

 * Chengdu is about 3 hours away on high speed rail
 * Langzhong is just two railway stops to the south
 * If you are heading north, Hanzhong is a scenic bus trip about 2 hours away