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 Gansu
is a strip of territory lying southeast-northwest in northwestern
China. It is 454,000 square kilometers in size, with a population
of 22,849 million. Lanzhou is the capital city.
Gansu is one of the origin places of the ancient Chinese civilization.
It is said to be the birthplace of Fuxi, an ancestor of the Chinese
nation who is said to have created Chinese characters and calendrical
system. The Silk Road zigzags across the province for 1,600 kilometers.
Along the way are historic sites, cultural relics, beautiful landscape
and ethnic folklore. Main spots of the Silk Road cultural include
grottoes at Maijishan, Dunhuang, Binglingsi and Tiantishan, Jiayu
Pass of the Great Wall and Labrang Monastery. Gansu's landscape is
composed of alpine grassland, the Bobi deserts, the Loess Plateau,
wind-corroded terrain, glaciers and snow-capped mountains. The prince
is inhabited by over 10 ethnic groups, such as the Han, Tibetan, Hui,
Yugur, Bonan and Dongxiang.
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Lanzhou is the capital of Gansu, it has been an important garrison
town and transport center since ancient times. The city proper is
traversed by the Yellow River. It has a population of 2.62 million.
Although Lanzhou is not a major tourist drawcard in itself, there
are some interesting sights in the surrounding area. Lanzhou's strategic
localtion also makes it an important transport hub for travellers
heading into western China. |
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Wuwei, known as Liangzhou in ancient times, guards the eastern end
of the Hexi Corridor and is the first major stop west of Lanzhou.
It is a national-level historic and cultural city. The bronze steed,
used as the logo of Chinese tourism, was unearthed there. Main spots
of interest include the Han Dynasty Tombs in Leitai, Haizang Monastery,
Confucius Temple and Tiantishan Grottoes, once as famous as Mogao
Grottoes. |
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Zhangye, known as Ganzhou in ancient times, is the granary of the
Hexi Corridor and a national-level historic and cultural city. Marco
Polo once stayed there for a year. The city is known for the world's
largest indoor statue of Sleeping Buddha and the Yugur folklore that
one can not find anywhere else. |
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Jiayuguan is an ancient Han Chinese outpost. The Great Wall once extended
beyond here, but in 1372, during the first few years of the Ming Dynasty,
a fortress was built. From then on Jiayuguan was considered both the
western tip of the wall and the western boundary of the empire. It
is a mandatory stop for tour groups. Sites of interest include the
fortress of the Jiayu Pass, a vertical length of Great Wall, the Great
Wall Museum and Qiyi Glacier. |
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Known as Shazhou in ancient times, Dunhuang lies at the western end
of the Hexi Corridor. During the Han and Tang Dynasty Dunhuang was
a major point of interchange between China and the outside world -
a stopping-off post for both incoming and outgoing trading caravans.
Main sites of interest include the Mogao Grottoes, Singing-sand Dune,
Crescent-moon Spring, Yangguan Pass and Yumen Pass. |
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