Gansu Province is situated at the joint of the Huangtu (Loess) Plateau, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Mongol Plateau. The provincial terrain varies in elevation, sloping downhill from west to east and from south to north respectively. The Gansu corridor stretches at the province's northwest part. Most of the rivers in the province belong to the Yellow River water systems. Its climate features both temperate monsoon and continental, transferring from subtropical wne in south to temperate wne northward of semi-arid and arid area.

Gansu abounds in various produces. It has laid its solid foundation on electric power, nonferrous metallurgy, machine building, and petrochemical. Lanzhou's petrochemical industry is of a big scale. ]iayuguan is the biggest iron and steel base in the northwestern part of China. Natural resources include petroleum, coal, iron and various kinds of non-ferrous metals. Mount Qilian is reputed as a cornucopia or 'treasure house' for its richness in minerals. The Gannan Plateau is an important pastureland with famous species of Aqu horse and ala goat . Gansu is also well known for its Chinese medicinal herbs such as Chinese angelica.

The province boasts abundant cultural relics such as the Silk Road, with an expanse of 1 ,600 kilometres symbolizing the friendly communications between China and Western peoples for generations. Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang, which is a world cultural heritage, Maiji Mountain Grottoes famous for its fine sculptures and the Labrang Lamasery , which is one of the six great lamaseries of the Yellow Sect of Buddhism in China. The Singing (Soughing) Dunes (Mount Mingshan) and the Crescent Spring are fanciful for their co-existence.

The Silk Road

The long, winding and well-travelled Silk Road , a major Eurasian trade route, dates back to the second century BC with a history of more than 2,000 years. Its extremely important contribution to civilization has been renowned throughout the world, but the road itself still remains mysterious today. The Silk Road is closely associated with the Gobi Desert, grasslands, snow-capped mountains, grottoes, and the ruins of ancient cities, etc. Passed from lip to lip on the Silk Road were miraculous legends and romance, which told the rises and falls of successive dynasties in China.

For over 2,000 years, historians and archaeologists both at home and abroad have been on scene to unveil the mysteries of the Silk Road, a traffic passage, which started in Xi'an, the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province and ran westward for about 7,000 kilometres, through the western regions and provinces of China, on into several Central Asian countries before stretching down to Rome in the Mediterranean. The Silk Road runs through many time- honoured cultures and civilizations in China, Asia Minor, India and the Persian Gulf, Greece and Italy. But it has left so many interesting subjects only a little light on a certain episode of its history. The early Chinese civilization already reached a very high standard more than 2,000 years ago. Chinese government emissaries, traders and pious monks used to set out from Chang'an (former name for Xi'an) in their journeys through the (Gansu) Hexi Corridor (also known as the Silk Road Corridor), accounting for onesixth of the total length of the Silk Road, along the rim of Taklamakan-the second largest desert of the world . and across the Congling (Onion) Mountains in Western Xinjiang till they reached Western countries. The trade caravans were loaded mainly with silks and satins-valuables invented and manufactured in China, as high officials and nobles of the West took pride in putting on gorgeous Chinese silken robes. The silks so captured the fancy of people that this road came to be known as the famous Silk Road in the entire world.

The Silk Road was by no means a scene of desolation. The camels' bells kept tinkling in the wild as one caravan after another travelled along the passage, which was lined with towns, checkpoints and courier stations. The merchants and traders also carried chinaware, lacquerware, tea, gold vessels, silverware and other special products to the West. Introduced to the West through the same passage were the Chinese technologies of papermaking, printing, smelting, sericulture, gunpowder making, water conservancy and irrigation. China's remarkable cultural achievements like medicine, astronomy, music and fine arts also made their way to the West, giving a powerful impetus to the economic and cultural progress there. Exchange of this kind was always a two-way thoroughfare. Through the Silk Road, Western countries also sent to China their fine glass, medicine, perfumes, spices, ivories, rhinoceros, horns, leather, hides, and strains of watermelon and grape as

well as music, dance and religious arts, which helped enhance China's economic and cultural growth. The Western religious culture, in particular, exerted an immense impact on the religious beliefs and social life of the Chinese people.

It is extremely true that the mysterious Silk Road provided a broad avenue for economic and cultural interaction between East and West in ancient times, which helped promote progress and friendship between the Chinese people and the peoples in the West. The Silk Road has become insignificant in terms of trade between East and West, but it is experiencing a new lease of life as a travelling route for both Chinese and overseas tourists, who wish to explore the mysteries of the fabled Silk Road, gain a better understanding of ancient history and see more of the world.

When tourists stand in the midst of Gobi sand dunes and take a look into the distant snow-capped mountains against the magnificent backdrop of a blue sky and tufts of white cloud, they almost immediately feel broadminded and relieved of all earthly worries.

When tourists step into the grottoes at Dunhuang inscribed on the List of World Heritage by UNESCO in 1987 (commonly known as "Thousand-' Buddha Caves"), the Maiji (Wheat-Pile) Mountain and the Bingling (Thousand Buddhas or Hundred Thousand Buddhas in Tibetan Cave Temple in Gansu Province, they will find the bright-coloured and vivid-looking murals and sculptures by ancient masters of art simply dazzling. They cannot help feeling excited for being able to enjoy these ancient gems of art with their own eyes.

When visitors find themselves on the ruins of the ancient city of Jiaohe or Gaochang and perceive the inexorabillity of history, they cannot help having a sigh with emotion: the passage of time has gone to the length of reducing the flourishing ancient city to yellow mounds!

When travellers rub shoulders with local residents of the Han and other Chinese ethnic people, become their home-guests, see their art performances or stroll through their bazaars, they will find their pattern of life and customs simple and yet colourful, strange and yet intimate.

The ancient and celebrated Silk Road has stretched thousands of kilometres, resembling a dreamlike boulevard. Being a mirror of ancient history, it is calling to historians and archaeologists: as a mysterious and unique travelling route, it is calling to tourists throughout the world. To know, you must go!
The (Gansu) Hexi Corridor

Driving about 200 kilometres west of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, tourists will reach Gansu Province. The province looks like a panhandle geographically. It covers about 1,600 kilometres of the Silk Road, of which 1,200 kilometres is situated in the (Gansu) Hexi Corridor (1,200 kilometres from Lanzhou, the provincial capital in the east to the Yumen (Jade Gate) Pass (so named because the jade produced in Hetian ~ B3 in what is now Xinjiang region was transported to Central China through this pass), a strategic pass on the ancient Silk Road at the bank of Shule River in the west, the narrowest being over 40 kilometres to more than 100 kilometres from north to south, average elevation being 1 ,000 to 1,500 metres. Located west of the Yellow River, the corridor is a passageway between the Qilian Mountains and the Beishan Mountains J. It was lined with many towns and is today crammed with as many centres of tourist attractions. The terrains in the province get higher and higher as tourists go from the central to the west till they reach about 1,500 metres above sea level in Lanzhou. Lanzhou is in the shape of a panhandle, through which the Yellow River flows. People have the false impression that the city is adjacent to the border region of the far Northwest China, but it actually is in the heartland of the country.

After going beyond Lanzhou and the Wushaoling Mountain , tourists enter the majestic and impressive Gansu Corridor. The Qilian Mountains, which skirt the corridor, are about 4,000 to 5,000 metres above sea level. In the language of Xiongnu (Huns, an ancient ethnic tribe in Northwest China), qilian means sky. As the name implies, the Qilian Mountains are sky-high, with their snow-capped peaks piercing the clouds. A train ride through the broad corridor will provide a fascinating view of the unpopulated Gobi wilderness, which extends to the foot of the mountains, with the desert dotted with towns, hamlets, luxuriant trees and plots of farmland. Perhaps partly because of drought and scanty rainfall, the province is on the whole to be developed. Fed by molten snow down from the Qilian Mountains, however, the Gansu Province is an exception. Numerous historical sites and countless cultural relics unearthed point to its great days in history. They are delightful places to visit, and you'll begin to feel the quiet calm the places possess.

Major places of interest in the province include: the Iron Bridge at the foot of the White Pagoda Mountain, the White Pagoda and Five-Spring Park Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang and the Crescent Spring Pool and Singing Sands Dunes l, Yulin Grottoes in Anxi County, the Big Buddha Temple, the Wooden Pagoda and Horse's Hoof Grottoes in Zhangye City, the Bingling Monastery in Yongjing, Lashao Monastery and Cascade (Waterfall) Cave in W ushan County the Maiji Mountain Grottoes in Tianshui, the Lady Queen Palace Grottoes in Jingchuan, the Northern Grotto Monastery in Xifeng City, the Labrang Lamasery in Xiahe , J iayu Pass , the western terminus of the Great Wall, acclaimed as "Might Pass Number One Under Heaven and Overhanging Great Wall. Arresting in a more dynamic way is the bronze horse together with other 230 cultural relics from an Eastern Han (AD 25-220) tomb discovered at Leitai in Wuwei City, Gansu Province on the route of the Old Silk Road in October 1969. He is poised as if flying, and one of his hooves rests lightly on a swallow with wings outstretched, suggesting in a beautiful and imaginative way the almost divine power, which the Chinese people at this time believed the horse to possess. He is the symbol of Chinese tourism. 0 Grottoes resemble a string of Buddhist beads, forming a grotto corridor on the ancient Silk Road and distributing on 1, 600-kilometre-Iong region.

Grottoes originated in Buddhist architectural art in India, but the Chinese grottoes formed its own characteristics such as the grotto eaves, Buddhist figure and murals. The grottoes along this grotto corridor have existed more than 1,000 years. The just and sound evaluation is: Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang are the treasure house of murals; Maijishan Grottoes are the museum of painted sculptures; the Horse's Hoof Cave in Zhangye is the initial creation of painted sculpture flying Apsaras (as in the frescoes of the Horse's Hoof Cave in Zhangye). Also there are the ruins of the Great Wall, and the beacon towers dotted here and there signalling military operation in ancient times; there are also multitude of monasteries and tombs and other cultural relics.

Dunhuang and Jiayu Pass, both situated in the (Gansu) Hexi Corridor, are the most frequently visited by explorers on the Silk Road. The Magao Grottoes in Dunhuang ', which is acclaimed as "a glittering pearl that adorns the Silk Road is the most famous grottoes in China. The mural paintings there occupy a total space of 45,000 square metres. It is regarded as the greatest treasure house of Buddhist art still standing in the world today. Artists invariably wish to have a chance to visit the grottoes. Jiayu Pass is the western terminus of the Great Wall. It is known as "the Mighty Pass No One Under Heaven Unlike Shanhai Pass in Hebei Province or Juyong Pass in Beijing along the Great Wall, it nestles against the Qilian Mountains and the Gobi Desert and is therefore imposing in its own salient feature. Erected on the Gobi Desert, its gate-tower looks all the more robust and impregnable. Looking around on the gate- tower, tourists find the Great Wall snaking eastward toward the Bohai Bay and climbing westward up the Qilian Mountains like an "Overhanging Great Wall , as the section of the wall is now popularly called.

Gansu Province contains so many beautiful sights along the Gansu section of the Silk Road that one short visit is insufficient to include them all. You will want to return.