Gansu Province, lying in the upper reaches of the yellons River, interior hinterland of China, is shortened as “Gan”, alias “long”. It is located in between 32°31’～42°57’ north latitude and 92°13’～108°46’ east longitude. Neighboring Shaanxi to the east and Sichuan on the south, Gansu is adjacent to Qinghai and Xinjiang by the west and linked up with Ningxia and Inner Mongolia in the north backed up by the People’s Republic of Mongolia to the northwest. Shaping somewhat like an elongated dumbbell, it extends from the Jing-and-Wei River plain in the southeast to the desolate desert, an internal flow area in the northwest. Extending 1655 kilometers from east to west and 530 from north to south it covers an area of 390,000 square kilometers, taking up about 8 percent of the total population of the prouinee and most of them are the Hui, Tibetan and Dongxiang ethnic people. Under the administration of the province are the 14cities, prefectures and autonomous prefectures consisting of 86 counties (autonomous counties and districts) with Lanzhou as the capital of the province.

 

Natural Condition  In regard of the natural survey, Gansu ranges from a transiting zone of a humid forest and grassland in the east to stretching gradually into a dry and deserted grassland and paramos marshland in the west. It is at a juncture neighboring to North China, Mid-China and Northwest China and backed by the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. It is also a transiting area of farming in the east to the nomadic animal husbandary in the west, featuring an obvious transition in natural conditions of a great complexity.

 

Receding deep into the inland of China, Gansu features a continental monsoon climate of a very complicated type. Generally speaking, while witnessing not very much severe cold it’is dry in winter and spring, yet harassed by rainstorms with a great change of temperature in summer. In the whole province it sees a big difference in annual and daily temperature changes. Along the Hexi Corridor the temperature changes witness a difference of 12°~ 16°C daily. In the mean time, it also sees a big difference in annual and regional precipitation, decreasing gradually from some 807.5 mm in the southeast to some 36.8 mm in the northwest with the daily rainfall ranging from 25 mm to 190 mm in the province. The annual duration of sunshine except the middle and southern part, comes up to somewhere around 2,400 hours in the province but it sees a sunshine duration of 3,200 hours along the Hexi Corridor, Nevertheless, different areas have different natural calamities. For instance, dryness and aridness, hails and frosts often cause catastrophes in the middle of the province.

 

Tourist Resources  Gansu lies at the eastern section of the Silk Road, which extends some 1600 kilometers in the precinct of the province and in addition the well-known Hexi Corridor, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquanand Dunhuang, the four ancient prefectures of Longxi are all in the province. And so it has left over many footprints of historical figures and rich and varied tourist resources, such as the Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Maijishan Grottoes at Tianshui, Bingling Caves in Yongjing County, Yulin Grottoes at Anxi and the famous ruins of the two passes-Yangguan and Yumen as well as the Jiayu Pass, Known as “ No. 1 Magnificent Pass under Heaven”, the western end of the Great Wall and some other attractions all along the way. Besides, there are still some local special produces, refreshments and ethnic folk customs and culture that are all here waiting for you to make an apprection of them. Finally, the satellite-launching center at Jiuquan is a spot of great importance catching the world attention. It is a glory and pride of the Chinese nation.

 

Trans porfafion  Gansu enjoys a relatively easy traffic. From the capital city Lanzhou, there are more than 20 air-routes leading to major cities in the provinces and other big cities in China. The city is also crisscrossed with four major railways of Longhai, Lanxin, Lanqing, Baolan, 6 national highways and 6 optical-fiber cables, thereby greatly facilitating the traffic and communications from among cities and places of interest. Gansu also enjoys a relatively complete facility for tourists services. There are travel agencies and hotels in all major cities that offer needed services to visitors and Gansu affords a cordial welcome to you .