Gansu Province travel guide

Zhangye, located in the middle of the Hexi Corridor, was praised by a poet with the lines: “Gazing not at the snow on the Qilian Mountains, one might mistake Zhangye for the south of the Yangtze.” The city has vast grasslands and pastures and is also one of Gansu's best-known grain-producing regions. For a long time it served as a military horse base, grain base and strategic stronghold for defending the Silk Road and the Hexi Corridor, which is why it is paired with Wuwei as “Golden Zhangye, Silver Wuwei.” On National Highway 312, east of Zhangye city, stands an archway inscribed with “Golden Zhangye” in the calligraphy of Jiang Zemin.

Sitting at the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at an altitude of 3,200 metres, Labrang Monastery is the largest Tibetan Buddhist academy in the world and one of the six great seat monasteries of the Gelug (Yellow Hat) sect. It oversees 108 Tibetan Buddhist monasteries across the junction of Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan. The Daxia River flows past the monastery, and the Longshan and Fengshan mountains embrace both the monastery and the river. Seen from the mountaintop, the monastery precinct resembles a fish. Tibetan people call this auspicious spot 'fish in a golden basin', the most sacred place under blue skies and white clouds: Labrang Monastery in Xiahe.

In the centre of Dunhuang city stands a statue of a figure playing the pipa in reverse pose, inspired by the world's most beautiful and largest art gallery, the Mogao Caves. Experts, however, believe this is only one dance movement, and that music could not actually be played in this posture. Here you will also find Yangguan and Yumen Passes, the westernmost passes of the Han dynasty, and the most magical spring of all, Crescent Lake within Mingsha Dunes (Echoing-Sand Mountain). Gobi, desert, oasis, beautiful sculptures and ancient legends: Dunhuang is a place no one should miss in a lifetime.

Fuxi, the first of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, is said to be from Tianshui. According to legend, his mother stepped on a giant footprint at Leize and became pregnant, giving birth to Fuxi. The more historical Fuxi was the chief of a primitive tribe, whose lifetime achievements include creating writing, teaching people fishing and hunting, promoting monogamous marriage, and devising the Bagua diagram.

Beginning in 111 BCE, over the course of a decade, Emperor Wu of the Han drove the Xiongnu out of the Hexi Corridor and built four commandery seats on the largest oases: Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang. He also built the Yangguan and Yumen Passes west of Dunhuang to keep the Silk Road open. These four commanderies are collectively known as the Four Commanderies of Hexi, and they are historic cities on the western route of Gansu.

Jiayuguan Pass bears a plaque reading “The First Majestic Pass Under Heaven.” Similar plaques hang at Shanhai Pass and Juyong Pass, but Jiayuguan, facing the boundless Gobi, has a bearing all its own. Standing on the gate tower and looking into the distance, you see the Qilian Mountains stretching along the Gobi until they vanish at the horizon. Looking back through history, foreign cavalry once thundered in amid clouds of dust, and homesick soldiers gazed at the rolling beacon smoke on the horizon and sounded their horns. It is hard to imagine how many heroic souls this Gobi has buried; even the wind brushing your face seems to carry the spirit of battle.