Jiayuguan Big-Spoked Cart Making Technique

The big-spoked cart is a traditional wooden-wheeled wagon of the Hexi Corridor Gobi used for long-haul freight, named for its towering wheels and thick spokes; it once carried goods along the Silk Road, and its building craft has been handed down around Jiayuguan. It was inscribed on the fifth Gansu provincial ICH list in December 2024.

Built from local hardwoods such as elm and locust, the craft turns on the mortise-and-tenon structure of spokes, felloes and hubs and on the load-balanced frame, cut and assembled entirely by hand through many steps, a synthesis of woodwork and blacksmithing.

The big-spoked cart craft is a living witness to Hexi's transport history and Silk Road commerce, carrying the northwest woodworking tradition and holding real value for the study of pre-modern overland transport and folk handicraft.