Gansu is a province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau and Loess Plateau plateaus and borders Mongolia's Govi-Altai Province, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south and Shaanxi to the east. The Yellow River passes through the southern part of the province. Part of Gansu's territory is located in the Gobi Desert. The Qilian Mountains are located in the south of the Province.
Gansu has a population of 26 million, ranking 22nd in China. Its population is mostly Han Chinese, along with Hui people, Dongxiangs and Tibetan people minorities. The most common language is Mandarin. Gansu is among the poorest administrative divisions in China, ranking last in GDP per capita as of 2019.
The state of Qin originated in what is now southeastern Gansu, and later established the first imperial dynasty in Chinese history. The Northern Silk Road ran through the Hexi Corridor, which passes through Gansu, resulting in it being an important strategic outpost and communications link for the Chinese empire.
The city of Jiayuguan City, the second most populated city in Gansu, is known for its section of the Great Wall and the Jiayu Pass fortress complex.
Name
Gansu is a compound of the names of Ganzhou (now the main urban district and seat of
Zhangye) and Suzhou (an old name and the modern seat of
Jiuquan), formerly the two most important Chinese settlements in the
Hexi Corridor.
Gansu is abbreviated as 甘 () or 陇 (), and was also known as Longxi () or Longyou () prior to early Western Han dynasty, in reference to Mount Liupan between eastern Gansu and western Shaanxi.
Until 1987, Gansu was rendered in the postal romanization and Wade-Giles as Kansu, which was gradually replaced by pinyin starting in 1958.
History
Gansu's name is a compound name first used during the
Song dynasty. It is a combination of the names of two prefectures (州) in the
Sui dynasty and
Tang dynasty: Gan (around
Zhangye) and Su (around
Jiuquan). Its eastern part forms part of one of the cradles of ancient Chinese civilisation.
Ancient Gansu
In prehistoric times, Gansu was host to
Neolithic cultures. The
Dadiwan culture, from where archaeologically significant artifacts have been excavated, flourished in the eastern end of Gansu from about 6000BC to about 3000BC.
The
Majiayao culture and part of the
Qijia culture took root in Gansu from 3100 BC to 2700 BC and 2400 BC to 1900 BC respectively.
The Yuezhi originally lived in the very western part of Gansu until they were forced to emigrate by the Xiongnu around 177 BC.
The State of Qin, known in China as the Qin dynasty of the Chinese empire, grew out from the southeastern part of Gansu, specifically the Tianshui area. The Qin name is believed to have originated, in part, from the area.[ Xinhua – English ][ Over 2,200-Year-old Map Discovered in NW China ]
Imperial era
In imperial times, Gansu was an important strategic outpost and communications link for the Chinese empire, as the
Hexi Corridor runs along the "neck" of the province. The
Han dynasty extended the Great Wall across this corridor, building the strategic
Yumenguan (Jade Gate Pass, near
Dunhuang) and
Yangguan fort towns along it. Remains of the wall and the towns can be found there. The
Ming dynasty built the Jiayuguan outpost in Gansu. To the west of Yumenguan and the
Qilian Mountains, at the northwestern end of the province, the
Yuezhi,
Wusun, and other
tribes dwelt (
Shiji 123), occasionally figuring in regional imperial Chinese
geopolitics.
By the Qingshui treaty, concluded in 823 between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty, China lost much of western Gansu province for a significant period.[Turghun Almas, "Uygurlar", Kashgar, 1989.]
After the fall of the Uyghur Khaganate, a Buddhist Yugur people (Uyghur) state called the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom was established by migrating Uyghurs from the khaganate in part of Gansu that lasted from 848 to 1036AD.
Along the Silk Road, Gansu was an economically important province, as well as a cultural transmission path. Temples and Buddhist [ English.people.com.cn] such as those at Mogao Caves ('Caves of the Thousand Buddhas') and Maijishan Caves contain artistically and historically revealing .["Artistic treasures of Maiji Mountain caves" by Alok Shrotriya and Zhou Xue-ying. Asianart.com] An early form of paper inscribed with Chinese writing and dating to about 8BC was discovered at the site of a Western Han garrison near the Yumen pass in August 2006.[ Xinhuanet.com ]
The Xixia or Western Xia dynasty controlled much of Gansu as well as Ningxia.
The province was also the origin of the Dungan Revolt of 1862–77. Among the Qing dynasty forces were Muslim generals, including Ma Zhan'ao and Ma Anliang, who helped the Qing crush the rebel Muslims. The revolt had spread into Gansu from neighbouring Qinghai.
There was another Dungan revolt from 1895 to 1896.
Republican China
As a result of frequent earthquakes, droughts and famines, the economic progress of Gansu was significantly slower than that of other provinces of China until recently. Based on the area's abundant mineral resources it has begun developing into a vital industrial center. An earthquake in Gansu at 8.6 on the Richter scale killed around 180,000 people mostly in the present-day area of
Ningxia in 1920, and another with a magnitude of 7.6 killed 275 in 1932.
The Muslim Conflict in Gansu (1927–1930) was a conflict against the Guominjun.
While the Muslim General Ma Hongbin was acting chairman of the province, Muslim General Ma Buqing was in virtual control of Gansu in 1940. Liangzhou District in Wuwei was previously his headquarters in Gansu, where he controlled 15 million Muslims.
Gansu was vulnerable to Soviet penetration via Xinjiang.
The Kuomintang Islamic insurgency in China (1950–1958) was a prolongation of the Chinese Civil War in several provinces including Gansu.
Geography
Gansu has an area of , and the vast majority of its land is more than above
sea level. It lies between the
Tibetan Plateau and the
Loess Plateau, bordering
Mongolia (Govi-Altai Province) to the northwest,
Inner Mongolia and
Ningxia to the north,
Shaanxi to the east,
Sichuan to the south, and
Xinjiang to the west. The
Yellow River passes through the southern part of the province. The province contains the geographical centre of China, marked by the Center of the Country Monument at .
[ English.people.com.cn]
Part of the Gobi Desert is located in Gansu, as well as small parts of the Badain Jaran Desert and the Tengger Desert.
The Yellow River gets most of its water from Gansu, flowing straight through Lanzhou. The area around Wuwei is part of Shiyang River Basin.
The landscape in Gansu is very mountainous in the south and flat in the north. The mountains in the south are part of the Qilian Mountains, while the far western Altyn-Tagh contains the province's highest point, at .
A natural land passage known as Hexi Corridor, stretching some from Lanzhou to the Yumen Pass, is situated within the province. It is bound from north by the Gobi Desert and Qilian Mountains from the south.
Gansu generally has a semi-arid to arid continental climate (Köppen BSk or BWk) with warm to hot summers and cold to very cold winters, although diurnal temperature ranges are often so large that maxima remain above even in winter. However, due to extreme altitude, some areas of Gansu exhibit a subarctic climate ( Dwc) – with winter temperatures sometimes dropping to . Most of the limited precipitation is delivered in the summer months: winters are so dry that snow cover is confined to very high altitudes and the snow line can be as high as in the southwest.
Administrative divisions
Gansu is divided into 14 prefecture-level divisions: 12 prefecture-level cities and two autonomous prefectures:
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| Gānsù Shěng |
| Lánzhōu Shì |
| Jiāyùguān Shì |
| Jīnchāng Shì |
| Báiyín Shì |
| Tiānshuǐ Shì |
| Wǔwēi Shì |
| Zhāngyè Shì |
| Píngliáng Shì |
| Jiǔquán Shì |
| Qìngyáng Shì |
| Dìngxī Shì |
| Lǒngnán Shì |
| Línxià Huízú Zìzhìzhōu |
| Gānnán Zàngzú Zìzhìzhōu |
The 14 Prefecture of Gansu are subdivided into 86 county-level divisions (17 districts, 5 county-level cities, 57 counties, and 7 autonomous counties).
Urban areas
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| 2,984,659 |
| 1,464,955 |
| 1,512,110 |
| 1,848,607 |
| 1,055,706 |
| 2,179,716 |
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| 312,663 |
| 1,131,016 |
| 2,407,272 |
| 438,026 |
| 2,524,097 |
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Politics
The Secretary of the CCP Gansu Committee is the highest-ranking office within Gansu Province.
The Governor of Gansu is the second highest-ranking official within Gansu, behind the Secretary of the CPC Gansu Committee.
The governor is responsible for all issues related to
economics,
personnel, political initiatives, the environment and the
Foreign policy of the province.
The Governor is appointed by the Gansu Provincial People's Congress, which is the province's
legislative body.
Economy
Despite recent growth in Gansu and the booming economy in the rest of China, Gansu is still considered to be one of the poorest provinces in China. For several years, it has ranked as one of the provinces with lowest GDP per capita.
Its nominal GDP for 2017 was about 767.7 billion yuan (US$113.70 billion) and per capita of 29,326 RMB (US$4,343). The province also has a large difference in wealth between regions and urban versus rural areas. The poorest areas are Dingxi, Longnan, Gannan and Linxia.
According to analysts, the local economy failed to gather momentum while other provinces did manage to increase their economic growth.
Agriculture
Due to poor natural conditions such as aridness, Gansu is one of the Chinese provinces with smallest per capita area of arable land.
Agricultural production includes
cotton,
linseed oil,
maize,
melons (such as the
honeydew melon, known locally as the
Bailan melon),
millet, and
wheat. Gansu is known as a source for wild medicinal herbs which are used in
Chinese medicine. However, pollution by heavy metals, such as cadmium in irrigation water, has resulted in the poisoning of many acres of agricultural land. The extent and nature of the heavy metal pollution is considered a state secret.
Industry
The industrial sector in Gansu was developed after completion of the
Longhai railway in 1953 and blueprinted in the first five-year plan of China.
It was a major recipient of China's investment in industrial capacity during the Third Front campaign.
Until 2014, the industrial sector contributed the most to Gansu's economy.
In 2023, TMSR-LF1, an experimental molten salt nuclear breeder reactor, achieved criticality.
As stipulated in the country's 12th Five Year Plan, the local government of Gansu hopes to grow the province's GDP by 10% annually by focusing investments on five pillar industries: renewable energy, coal, chemicals, nonferrous metals, pharmaceuticals and services.
Mining
A large part of Gansu's economy is based on
mining and the extraction of
minerals,
especially rare earth elements. The province has significant deposits of
antimony,
chromium,
coal,
cobalt,
copper,
fluorite,
gypsum,
iridium,
iron,
lead,
limestone, mercury,
mirabilite,
nickel,
crude oil,
platinum,
troilite,
tungsten, and
zinc among others. The oil fields at Yumen and Changqing are considered significant.
Gansu has China's largest nickel deposits accounting for over 90% of China's total nickel reserves.
Services
Since 2014, the service sector is the largest economic sector of Gansu.
Tourism is a sector that is becoming of increased importance.
Economic and technological development zones
The following economic and technological zones are situated in Gansu:
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Lanzhou National Economic and Technological Development Zone was established in 1993, located in the center of Lanzhou Anning District. The zone has a planned area of . 17 colleges, 11 scientific research institutions, 21 large and medium-size companies and other 1735 enterprises have been set up in the zone. Main industries include textile mills, rubber, fertilizer plants, oil refinery, petrochemical, machinery, and metallurgical industry.
[ RightSite.asia , Lanzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone]
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Lanzhou New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, Lanzhou Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, one of the first 27 national hi-tech industrial development zones, was established in 1998 covering more than . It is expected to expand another . The zone mainly focuses on Biotechnology, chemical industry, building decoration materials and information technology.
[ RightSite.asia , Lanzhou Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone]
Demographics
Gansu province is home to a little more than 25 million people.
As of 2020, 47.7% of the population was rural, but much relocation in recent years has reduced this. Gansu is 89.4%
Han Chinese and also has
Hui people,
Tibetan people,
Dongxiang people, Tu,
Uyghurs,
Yugur,
Bonans,
Mongols,
Salar people and
Kazakhs minorities. Gansu province's community of Chinese
Hui people Muslims was bolstered by Hui Muslims resettled from
Shaanxi province during the Dungan Revolt. Gansu is also a historical home, along with
Shaanxi, of the
Dungan language of the
Dungan people, who migrated to
Central Asia. The southwestern corner of Gansu is home to a large
Tibetan people population. Modern Gansu is dominated by Lanzhou city and Linxia Hui prefectures, their growth hides the stark fact that much of the rest of the province is rapidly losing population.
Languages
Most of the inhabitants of Gansu speak dialects of Northern
Mandarin Chinese. On the border areas of Gansu one might encounter
Tu language, Tibetan, Mongolian,
Uyghur language and the
Kazakh language. Most of the minorities also speak Chinese.
Culture
A unique variety of Chinese folk music popularly identified with the local peoples of Gansu include the
"Hua'er" (flowery melodies), and is popular among the Han and nine ethnic groups of Gansu.
The cuisine of Gansu is based on the staple crops grown there:
wheat,
barley,
millet,
beans, and
sweet potatoes. Within China, Gansu is known for its
lamian (pulled noodles), and Muslim restaurants which feature authentic Gansu cuisine.
Religion
According to a 2012 survey
around 12% of the population of Gansu belongs to organised religions, the largest groups being Buddhists with 8.2%, followed by Muslims with 3.4%, Protestants with 0.4% and Catholics with 0.1%. Around 88% of the population may be either irreligious or involved in Chinese folk religion, Buddhism,
Confucianism, Taoism, and folk religious sects.
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Taoism (Daoism): Over 210,000 adherents; 212 places of worship. The most famous site is Mount Kongtong (崆峒山) in Pingliang.
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Buddhism: Approximately 800,000 adherents; 682 places of worship. Of these, 450,000 follow Tibetan Buddhism—primarily among the Tibetans, Mongols, Tu people, and Yugur ethnic groups—and 350,000 follow Chinese Buddhism.
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Abrahamic religions:
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Islam: More than 1.6 million adherents—mainly Hui, Dongxiang people, Salar people, Bonan people, and Kazakh people; 3,731 mosques.
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Protestantism: Approximately 60,000 adherents; 304 places of worship. Comprises 15 denominations, including, the China Inland Mission, the Assemblies of God, the Evangelical Alliance Mission, the Coordinating Council, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Brethren, the Baptist Church, the True Jesus Church, and others.
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Roman Catholicism: Over 30,000 adherents; 83 places of worship.
Muslim restaurants are common, and feature typical Chinese dishes, but without any pork products, and instead an emphasis on lamb and mutton. Gansu has many works of Buddhism art, including the Maijishan Grottoes. Dunhuang was a major centre of Buddhism in the Middle Ages.
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File:Lanzhou Chanyuan 2013.12.29 11-47-46.jpg | Main hall of a Chan Buddhism temple of Lanzhou.
File:Lanzhou Fu Chenghuang Miao 2013.12.29 11-19-25.jpg | Temple of the Chenghuangshen (Idol) of Lanzhou.
File:5855-Linxia-Yu-Baba-Gongbei-and-Nanhua-Amituo-Fo-Temple.jpg | Nanhua Amituo Fo Temple of Chinese Buddhism seen on a hill above the roofs of the Yu Baba Gongbei, a Sufism shrine.
File:拉卜楞寺僧舍俯瞰.jpg | Labrang Monastery of Tibetan Buddhism in Gannan.
File:5913-Linxia-County-Xihe-township-village-temple.jpg | Village temple in Linxia County.
File:5615-Linxia-Dongguan-Mosque.jpg | Linxia Dongguan Mosque
File:VM 6098 Lanzhou Xiguan Mosque.jpg | Lanzhou Xiguan Mosque
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Tourism
Jiayuguan Pass of the Great Wall
Jiayuguan Pass, in Jiayuguan city, is the largest and most intact pass, or entrance, of the Great Wall. Jiayuguan Pass was built in the early
Ming dynasty, somewhere around the year 1372. It was built near an oasis that was then on the extreme western edge of China. Jiayuguan Pass was the first pass on the west end of the great wall so it earned the name "The First And Greatest Pass Under Heaven".
An extra brick is said to rest on a ledge over one of the gates. One legend holds that the official in charge asked the designer to calculate how many bricks would be used. The designer gave him the number and when the project was finished, only one brick was left. It was put on the top of the pass as a symbol of commemoration. Another account holds that the building project was assigned to a military manager and an architect. The architect presented the manager with a requisition for the total number of bricks that he would need. When the manager found out that the architect had not asked for any extra bricks, he demanded that the architect make some provision for unforeseen circumstances. The architect, taking this as an insult to his planning ability, added a single extra brick to the request. When the gate was finished, the single extra brick was, in fact, extra and was left on the ledge over the gate.
Mogao Grottoes
The Mogao Grottoes near
Dunhuang have a collection of
Buddhism art. Originally there were a thousand grottoes, but now only 492 cave temples remain. Each temple has a large statue of a buddha or
bodhisattva and paintings of religious scenes. In 366 AD under the
Former Liang, a monk named Le Zun (Lo-tsun) came near Echoing Sand Mountain, when he had a vision. He started to carve the first grotto. During the Five Dynasties period they ran out of room on the cliff and could not build any more grottoes.
Silk Road and Dunhuang City
The historic
Silk Road starts in Chang'an (present-day Xi'an) and goes to
Constantinople (Istanbul). On the way merchants would go to Dunhuang in Gansu. In Dunhuang they would get fresh camels, food and guards for the journey around the dangerous Taklamakan Desert. Before departing Dunhuang they would pray to the Mogao Grottoes for a safe journey, if they came back alive they would thank the gods at the grottoes. Across the desert they would form a train of camels to protect themselves from thieving bandits. The next stop,
Kashgar, was a welcome sight to the merchants. At Kashi most would trade and go back and the ones who stayed would eat fruit and trade their
for
Dromedary ones. After Kashi they would keep going until they reached their next destination.
Located about southwest of the city, the Crescent Lake or Yueyaquan is an oasis and popular spot for tourists seeking respite from the heat of the desert. Activities includes camel and 4x4 rides.
Silk Route Museum
The Silk Route Museum is located in
Jiuquan along the
Silk Road, a trading route connecting
Rome to China, used by
Marco Polo. It is also built over the tomb of the Western Liang King.
[ Silk Route Museum China Tourist Information Tourist Link.]
Bingling Temple
Bingling Temple, or Bingling Grottoes, is a
Buddhist cave complex in a canyon along the
Yellow River. Begun in 420 AD during the
Western Qin, the site contains dozens of caves and caverns filled with outstanding examples of carvings, sculpture, and frescoes. The great Maitreya Buddha is more than 27 meters tall and is similar in style to the great Buddhas that once lined the cliffs of Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Access to the site is by boat from
Yongjing County in the summer or fall. There is no other access point.
Labrang Monastery
Labrang Tashikyil Monastery is located in
Xiahe, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, located in the southern part of Gansu, and part of the traditional Tibetan province of
Amdo. It is one of the six major monasteries of the
Gelukpa tradition of
Tibetan Buddhism in
Tibet, and the most important one in Amdo. Built in 1710, it is headed by the Jamyang-zhaypa. It has 6
dratsang (colleges), and houses over 60,000 religious texts and other works of literature as well as other cultural artifacts.
Maijishan Grottoes
The
Maijishan Grottoes are a series of 194
cut in the side of the hill of Majishan in
Tianshui. This example of rock cut architecture contains over 7,200
Buddhist art sculptures and over 1,000 square meters of
murals. Construction began in the
Later Qin era (384–417 CE).
Education
Gansu province is home to the only class A Double First Class University in China's northwest, Lanzhou University.
Colleges and universities
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Lanzhou University, Lanzhou (兰州大学)
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Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou (西北师范大学)
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Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou (兰州理工大学)
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Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou (兰州交通大学)
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Northwest University of Nationalities, Lanzhou (西北民族大学)
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Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou (甘肃农业大学)
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Lanzhou City University, Lanzhou (兰州城市学院)
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Gansu Political Science and Law Institute, Lanzhou (甘肃政法学院)
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Gansu University of Technology
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Lanzhou Commercial College
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Lanzhou Polytechnic College
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Hexi University, Zhangye (河西学院)
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Northwest Minority University
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Tianshui Normal College (Tianshui)
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Longdong College (Qingyang)
Natural resources
Land
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grassland
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mountain slopes suitable for livestock breeding
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forests (standing timber reserves of )
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cultivated land ( per capita)
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wasteland suitable for forestation
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wasteland suitable for farming
Minerals
Three thousand deposits of 145 different minerals. Ninety-four minerals have been found and ascertained, including nickel, cobalt, platinum,
selenium, casting clay, finishing serpentine, whose reserves are the largest in China. Gansu has advantages in getting nickel, zinc, cobalt, platinum, iridium, copper,
barite, and
magnesite.
Energy
Among Gansu's most important sources of energy are its water resources: the Yellow River and other inland river drainage basins. Gansu is placed ninth among China's provinces in annual hydropower potential and water discharge. Gansu produces 17.24 gigawatts of hydropower a year. Twenty-nine hydropower stations have been constructed in Gansu, capable of generating 30 gigawatts in total. Gansu has an estimated coal reserve of 8.92 billion tons and
Oil reserves of 700 million tons.
There is also good potential for wind and solar power development. The Gansu Wind Farm project – already producing 7.965GW in 2015
In November 2017 an agreement between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Gansu government was announced, to site and begin operations of a molten salt reactor pilot project in the province by 2020.
Flora and fauna
Gansu has 659 species of wild animals.
[ Gansu.gov.cn ] It has 24 rare animals which are under a state protection.
Gansu's mammals include some of the world's most charismatic: the giant panda, , lynx, , sika deer, musk deer, and the Bactrian camel.
Among zoologists who study moles, the Gansu mole is of great interest. For a reason that can only be speculated, it is taxologically a Scalopini living among Talpinae: that is to say, an American mole living in a sea of Euro-Asians.
Gansu is home to 441 species of ; it is a center of endemism and home to many species and subspecies which occur nowhere else in the world.
Gansu is China's second-largest producer of medicinal plants and herbs, including some produced nowhere else, such as the hairy asiabell root, Fritillaria bulb, and Chinese caterpillar fungus.
Environment
Natural disasters
On 16 December 1920, Gansu witnessed the deadliest landslide ever recorded. A series of landslides, triggered by a single earthquake, accounted for most of the 180,000 people killed in the event.
Anti-desertification project
The Asian Development Bank is working with the State Forestry Administration of China on the Silk Road Ecosystem Restoration Project, designed to prevent degradation and
desertification in Gansu. It is estimated to cost up to US$150 million.
Space launch center
The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in the Gobi desert, is named after the city of
Jiuquan, Gansu, the nearest city, although the center itself is in the
Inner Mongolia.
See also
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Huangyangchuan
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List of Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Gansu
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List of prisons in Gansu
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Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Notes
External links
