Gansu Province is a province in north-central China. Its name is sometimes spelled Kansu. Gansu has an area of 141,500 square miles (366,500 square kilometers). Lanzhou is the province’s capital and largest city.
Gansu is a long, narrow province that reaches from central China to the border of Mongolia in the north. The southeastern plains and the Huang He (Yellow River) valley have fertile farmland. Mountains cover much of the province. The Gobi Desert extends into dry northern Gansu. Winters are cold, while summers are warm.
Since ancient times, the main transportation route from eastern China to Central Asia has run through Gansu. The province curves around the northeastern corner of the rugged Tibetan Highlands. Along this curve, between the mountains and the desert, a string of oases leads from Lanzhou to northern Gansu. This narrow route is called the Gansu Corridor (Hexi Zoulang in Chinese). Today, railroads through the Gansu Corridor continue to make Gansu a vital transportation hub.
Gansu’s mineral deposits include coal, copper, iron ore, nickel, and zinc. The province also produces petroleum, and oil refining is a major industry. Other manufactured products include chemicals, cigarettes, steel, and textiles. Farmers in Gansu grow corn, cotton, millet, soybeans, potatoes, tobacco, and wheat. Farmers and herders raise many camels, cattle, goats, and sheep.
Gansu came under Chinese rule during the Han (206 B.C.-A.D. 220). A dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family. The Han encouraged trade along the Silk Road, an early system of trade routes connecting China with Europe. The Silk Road ran through the Gansu Corridor. The Chinese protected the passage by extending the Great Wall into northern Gansu.
Starting in the late 900’s, the Tanguts, a Buddhist people related to the Tibetans, ruled Gansu as part of their kingdom of Xi Xia. The Mongols conquered Xi Xia and China in the 1200’s. In the mid-1800’s, the Chinese government crushed a rebellion by the Hui people (Chinese Muslims) in Gansu and other parts of northwestern China. Warlords dominated the area in the early 1900’s. Chinese Communists established control over Gansu in 1949.
See also Great Wall of China; Lanzhou; Silk Road.
