Silk Road China Tours

• By admin
• In SilkRoadKnowledge
• 2024-12-16

How did the name of Tianshui in Gansu come about?

v2eSilk Road Adventure & Private Tours - Silk Road China Tours

The name Tianshui is very pleasant to the ear, and it reminds one of that exquisitely beautiful verse, "After getting drunk, one doesn't know if the sky is in the water; the boat is full of clear dreams pressing down on the Star River." Where does the name Tianshui come from? There is a legend behind it. In the early Western Han Dynasty, Tianshui was called Shangfei, which is the same Shangfei that appears during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, Liu Che, a severe drought occurred in the vicinity of Shangfei. There was no water source, no harvest, and the people were suffering. Unexpectedly, one night, there was a sudden thunderstorm above Shangfei. Before anyone could react, a golden light flashed across the sky, and a red glow spread across the ground. Then, a massive crack appeared in the dry earth, as if a huge pit had been dug by celestial beings. At that moment, a torrential rain poured from the sky, perfectly filling this great fissure. The crack was soon filled with rainwater from the heavens, and then the rain stopped. The people spread the news, saying, "Now we are saved, we have water to drink." Because this lake was filled with water from the heavens, people called this life-saving lake Tianshui Lake.v2eSilk Road Adventure & Private Tours - Silk Road China Tours

The water of Tianshui Lake is incredibly clear, so much so that people can drink it directly. The local people say of Tianshui Lake, "It never dries up in spring, never overflows in summer, and remains crystal clear throughout the four seasons." There are also legends that there is a secret passage in Tianshui Lake connecting it to the Milky Way in the sky. This is actually considered a life-saving well created by the heavens for the people of Shangfei, hence it is also called the Tianshui Well. Whether it is Tianshui Lake or Tianshui Well, the place name Tianshui has ultimately been passed down through the ages. In the third year of the Yuanding era of Emperor Wu of Han (114 BC), the court established Tianshui Prefecture here. However, the administrative center of Tianshui Prefecture during the Western Han Dynasty was very far from the main urban area of present-day Tianshui City, near Tongwei County in Dingxi City, Gansu Province, to the northwest of the main urban area of Tianshui City.v2eSilk Road Adventure & Private Tours - Silk Road China Tours