Mati Temple

Mati Si, the horse hoof temple, takes its name from a hoofprint said to have been left in the rock by a heavenly horse, and it is a group of Buddhist cave sites in the Qilian foothills cut from around the fifth century. Its most striking part is the Thousand Buddha Cave complex at Puguang, where shrines are stacked seven levels up a cliff face and connected not by external stairs but by passages and steps tunnelled inside the rock, so visitors climb through the cliff in narrow dark corridors and emerge onto small balconies. The surrounding valley is Yugur pasture with grassland and conifer.

What you actually see

• The stacked cliff shrines - chapels on seven levels up the rock face.
• The internal passages - tunnels and stairs cut inside the cliff.
• The balconies - small ledges opening from the shrines over the valley.
• The Yugur grassland - pasture and forest in the Qilian foothills.

When to go

May to October; winter is cold and the internal stairs can ice. The valley is greenest in July and August. Yugur festivals fall in summer.

Honest expectations

Internal passages are narrow, steep and dark, and difficult for anyone uneasy in confined spaces. Photography inside is restricted. The site is scattered and separate sections charge separately.

Nearby

Zhangye and the Danxia colours lie north; the Qilian range is south.