Gansu

Gansu Province
Chinese : 甘肃省
Gānsù Shěng
Abbreviations: 甘 or 陇  (pinyin: Gān or Lǒng)
Gansu is highlighted on this map
Origin of name 甘 gān - Ganzhou (Zhangye)
肃 sù - Suzhou (Jiuquan)
Administration type Province
Capital
(and largest city)		 Lanzhou
CPC Ctte Secretary Lu Hao
Governor Xu Shousheng (acting)
Area 454,000 km2 (175,000 sq mi) (7th)
 - Latitude {{{Latitude}}}
 - Longitude {{{Longitude}}}
Population (2009)
 - Density		 26,350,000 (22nd)
73 /km2 (190 /sq mi) (27th)
GDP (2009)
 - per capita		 CNY 338.2 billion (27th)
CNY 12,836 (30th)
HDI (2008) 0.705 (medium) (29th)
Ethnic composition Han - 91%
Hui - 5%
Dongxiang - 2%
Tibetan - 2%
Prefecture-level 14 divisions
County-level 86 divisions
Township-level* 1344 divisions
ISO 3166-2 CN-62
Official website
http://www.gansu.gov.cn
(Simplified Chinese)
Source for population and GDP data:
《中国统计年鉴—2005》 China Statistical Yearbook 2005
ISBN 7503747382
Source for nationalities data:
《2000年人口普查中国民族人口资料》 Tabulation on nationalities of 2000 population census of China
ISBN 7105054255
*As at December 31, 2004
Template ■ Discussion ■ WikiProject China

Gansu (simplified Chinese: 甘肃; traditional Chinese: 甘肅; pinyin: Gānsù; Wade–Giles: Kan-su, Kansu, Kan-suh) is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It lies between Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and the Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia to the north and Xinjiang to the west. The Yellow River passes the southern part of the province.

Gansu has a population of 26 million (2009) and has a large concentration of Hui Chinese, and the historical home, along with Shaanxi of the dialect of the Dungans, who are Hui who migrated to Central Asia. The southwestern corner of Gansu is home to a large Tibetan population. The capital is Lanzhou, located in the southeast part of the province. Gansu is abbreviated Gan (甘) or Long (陇/隴), and is also known as Long West or Long Right, in reference to the Long Mountain east of Gansu.

Contents

History

Jiayuguan Fort

Gansu is a compound name first used in Song Dynasty China, of two Sui and Tang Dynasty prefectures (州): Gan (around Zhangye) and Su (around Jiuquan).

The ruins of a Han Dynasty (202 BC - 220 AD) Chinese watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang, Gansu province, the eastern edge of the Silk Road

In prehistoric times, Gansu was host to a number of Neolithic cultures. The Dadiwan culture, from where numerous archaeologically significant artifacts have been excavated, flourished in the eastern end of Gansu from about 6000 BC to about 3000 BC [1]. The Majiayao culture (馬家窯文化) and part of the Qijia culture (齊家文化) also took root in Gansu from 3100 BC to 2700 BC and 2400 BC to 1900 BC respectively.

The Qin state (秦), later to become the founding state of the Chinese empire, grew out from the southeastern part of Gansu, specifically the Tianshui (天水) area. The Qin name itself is believed to have originated, in part, from the area [2][3]. Qin tombs and artifacts have been excavated from Fangmatan near Tianshui, including one 2200 year old map of Guixian County [4].

In imperial times, Gansu was an important strategic outpost and communications link for the Chinese empire, as the Hexi corridor (河西走廊) runs along the "neck" of the province. The Han dynasty extended the Great Wall across this corridor, also building the strategic Yumenguan (Jade Gate Pass, near Dunhuang) and Yangguan (阳关) fort towns along it. Remains of the wall and the towns can be found there to this date. The Ming dynasty also 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 nomadic 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 for a long while the whole Gansu province.[5]

After the fall of the Uyghur Empire, an Uyghur state was established in Gansu that lasted from 848 to 1036 AD. During that time, many of Gansu's residents converted to Islam.

Situated along the Silk Road, Gansu was an economically important province, and a cultural transmission path as well. Temples and Buddhist grottoes [6] such as those at Mogao Caves ('Caves of the Thousand Buddhas') and Maijishan Caves contain artistically and historically revealing murals.[7] An early form of paper inscribed with Chinese characters and dating to about 8 BC was discovered at the site of a Western Han garrison near the Yumen pass in August 2006 [8]

The province was also the origin of the Muslim Rebellion of 1862-77, which later spread to much of China and resulted in the deaths of upwards of twelve million Chinese Muslims[9] in addition to the decimation of Chinese Muslim culture in Yunnan province, where over one million Muslims were killed by Qing forces.[10]

Its frequent earthquakes, droughts and famines have tended to slow its economic progress, until recently when based on its 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 in 1920, and another with a magnitude of 7.6 killed 70,000 in 1932.

Geography

Semi-arid land, suitable for light grazing

Gansu province has an area of 454,000 km², and the majority of its land is more than 1 km above sea level. It lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Inner Mongolia, and the Loess Plateau, and borders Mongolia to the north-west. The Yellow River passes through the southern part of the province. The province contains the geographical center of China, marked by the Center of the Country Monument at .[11]

Part of the Gobi Desert is located in Gansu, as well as small parts of the Badain Jaran Desert and Tengger Desert.

The Yellow River gets most of its water from Gansu province. The Yellow River also flows straight through Lanzhou. Area around Wuwei is part of Shiyang River Basin.[12]

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 mountain range. At 5,547 meters high, Qilian Shan Mountain is Gansu’s highest elevation. It is located at latitude 39°N and longitude 99°E.

A natural land passage known as Hexi Corridor, stretching some 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from Lanzhou to the Jade Gate, is situated within Gansu province. It is bound from north by the Gobi Desert and Qilian Mountains from the south.

Gansu has a generally semi-arid to arid, continental climate, with warm summers and very cold winters. Most of the precipitation is concentrated in the summer months.

Neighboring provinces: Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Ningxia.

Panorama of the lower Daxia River valley in the northeast of the Linxia County, and the loess plateau flanking in, cut by a canyon

Administrative divisions

There are fourteen administrative areas in Gansu immediately below the province level:

Map # Name Hanzi Hanyu Pinyin Administrative Seat
Gansu prfc map.png
— Prefecture-level city —
1 Jiuquan 酒泉市 Jiǔquán Shì Suzhou District
2 Jiayuguan 嘉峪关市 Jiāyùguān Shì Jiayuguan
3 Zhangye 张掖市 Zhāngyè Shì Ganzhou District
4 Jinchang 金昌市 Jiǔquán Shì Jinchuan District
5 Wuwei 武威市 Wǔwēi Shì Liangzhou District
6 Baiyin 白银市 Báiyín Shì Baiyin District
7 Lanzhou 兰州市 Lánzhōu Shì Chengguan District
10 Dingxi 定西市 Dìngxī Shì Anding District
11 Longnan 陇南市 Lǒngnán Shì Wudu District
12 Tianshui 天水市 Tiānshuǐ Shì Qinzhou District
13 Pingliang 平凉市 Píngliàng Shì Kongtong District
14 Qingyang 庆阳市 Qìngyáng Shì Xifeng District
— Autonomous prefecture —
8 Linxia (Hui) 临夏回族自治州 Línxià Huízú Zìzhìzhōu Linxia
9 Gannan (Tibetan) 甘南藏族自治州 Gānnán Zāngzú Zìzhìzhōu Hezuo

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.

Politics

Gates of a provincial government complex in Lanzhou

Secretaries of the CPC Gansu Committee: The Secretary of the CPC Gansu Committee is the highest ranking office within Gansu Province.[13]

  1. Zhang Desheng (张德生): 1949-1954
  2. Zhang Zhongliang (张仲良): 1954-1961
  3. Wang Feng (汪锋): 1961-1966
  4. Hu Jizong (胡继宗): 1966-1967
  5. Xian Henghan (冼恒汉): 1970-1977
  6. Song Ping (宋平): 1977-1981
  7. Feng Jixin (冯纪新): 1981-1983
  8. Li Ziqi (李子奇): 1983-1990
  9. Gu Jinchi (顾金池): 1990-1993
  10. Yan Haiwang (阎海旺): 1993-1998
  11. Sun Ying (孙英): 1998-2001
  12. Song Zhaosu (宋照肃): 2001-2003
  13. Su Rong (苏荣): 2003-2007
  14. Lu Hao (陆浩): April 2007[13] - incumbent

Governors of Gansu: The Governorship of Gansu is the second highest ranking official within Gansu, behind the Secretary of the CPC Gansu Committee.[13] The governor is responsible for all issues related to economics, personnel, political initiatives, the environment and the foreign affairs of the province.[13] The Governor is appointed by the Gansu Provincial People's Congress, which is the province's legislative body.[13]

  1. Wang Shitai (王世泰): 1949-1950
  2. Deng Baoshan (邓宝姗): 1950-1967
  3. Xian Henghan (冼恒汉): 1967-1977
  4. Song Ping (宋平): 1977-1979
  5. Feng Jixin (冯纪新): 1979-1981
  6. Li Dengying (李登瀛): 1981-1983
  7. Chen Guangyi (陈光毅): 1983-1986
  8. Jia Zhijie (贾志杰): 1986-1993
  9. Yan Haiwang (阎海旺): 1993
  10. Zhang Wule (张吾乐): 1993-1996
  11. Sun Ying (孙英): 1996-1998
  12. Song Zhaosu (宋照肃): 1998-2001
  13. Lu Hao (陆浩): 2001-2006
  14. Xu Shousheng (徐守盛): January 2007 - incumbent[13]

Economy

The Yellow River in Lanzhou seen from the park of the White Pagoda.

Agricultural production includes cotton, linseed oil, maize, melons (such as the honeydew melon, known locally as the Bailan melon or "Wallace" due to its introduction by US vice president Henry A. Wallace),[14] millet, and wheat. Gansu is known as a source for wild medicinal herbs which are used in Chinese medicine.

However, most 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.

Industries other than mining include electricity generation, petrochemicals, oil exploration machinery, and building materials.

According to some sources, the province is also a center of China's nuclear industry.

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. Its nominal GDP for 2009 was about 338.2 billion yuan (49.5 billion USD) and per capita of 12,836 RMB (1,879 USD). Tourism has been a bright spot in contributing to Gansu's overall economy. As mentioned below, Gansu offers a wide variety of choices for national and international tourists.

Economic and Technological Development Zones

Lanzhou Economic & Technology Development Zone was established in 1993, located in the center of Lanzhou Anning District. The zone has a planned area of 9.53 square kilometers. 17 colleges, 11 scientific research institutions, 21 large and medium-size companines 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.[15]

Major Business Enterprises

Many new business enterprises have been started in Gansu. Among the largest is Yasheng Group, with over 15,000 employees.[17][18]

Demographics

On the streets of Linxia

Gansu province is home to 30,711,287 people. Most of the population, 73%, is still rural. Gansu is 92% Han and also has Hui, Tibetan, Dongxiang, Tu, Manchu, Uyghur, Yugur, Bonan, Mongolian, Salar, and Kazakh minorities. Prior to the Panthay Rebellion (also Muslim Rebellion), Gansu province had a large community of Chinese Hui Muslims, which was almost completely decimated by Qing authorities.

Languages

Most of the inhabitants of Gansu speak dialects of Northern Mandarin Chinese. On the border areas of Gansu one might encounter Tu, Amdo Tibetan, Mongolian, and the Kazakh language. Most of the minorities also speak Chinese.

Culture

Sheep grazing beside a main road near Jiuquan

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. Muslim restaurants are known as "qingzhen restaurants" ("pure truths (Islamic) restaurants"), and feature typical Chinese dishes, but without any pork products, and instead an emphasis on lamb and mutton.

Tourism

Silk Route Museum

The Silk Route Museum is located in Gansu Province, and has over 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of exhibition space.

The 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 Buddhist 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 336 AD, 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

A terracotta warrior from Gansu, with traces of polychrome and gold, from the Tang Dynasty (618–907)

The historic Silk Road starts in Chang'an and goes to Constantinople. 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, Kashi (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 Bactrian camels for single humped ones. After Kashi they would keep going until they reached their next destination.

Located about 5 km southwest of the city, the Crescent Lake or Yueyaquan is a oasis and popular spot for tourists seeking respite from the heat of the desert. Activities includes camel and 4x4 rides.

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 Jin Dynasty, 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 in the summer or fall. There is no other access point.

Labrang Monastery

Labrang Tashikyil Monastery is located in Xiahe County, 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 sixty thousand religious texts and other works of literature as well as other cultural artifacts.

Space launch center

The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center is located in the Gobi desert in Gansu Province.

Postage stamps

In August 1949, the provincial government overprinted the nondenominated stamps "locomotive" and "airmail arrow" stamps issued by the central government. These overprints were made by handstamping in purple, and are quite rare, valued at over US$500 each. Counterfeits are known, and apparent examples should be expertized.

Education

Colleges and universities

Natural resources

Land

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, and five other minerals whose reserves are the largest in China. Gansu has advantages in getting nickel, zinc, cobalt, platinum, iridium, copper, barite, and baudisserite.

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, each capable of generating 30 gigawatts. Gansu has an estimated coal reserve of 8.92 billion tons and petroleum reserve of 700 million tons. There is also good potential for wind and solar power development.

Flora and Fauna[19]

Gansu has 659 species of wild animals. It has twenty-four rare animals which are under a state protection.

Gansu's mammals include some of the world's most charismatic: the Giant panda, Golden Monkeys, lynx, Snow leopards, 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 New World Mole living among Old Word Moles; that is to say an American mole living in a sea of Euro-Asians.

Gansu is home to 441 species of birds; 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, fritillary bulb, and Chinese caterpillar fungus.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Dadiwan Relics Break Archeological Records
  2. ↑ Xinhua - English
  3. ↑ People's Daily Online - Chinese surname history: Qin
  4. ↑ Over 2,200-Year-old Map Discovered in NW China
  5. ↑ Turghun Almas, "Uygurlar", Kashgar, 1989.
  6. ↑ English.people.com.cn
  7. ↑ "Artistic treasures of Maiji Mountain caves" by Alok Shrotriya and Zhou Xue-ying. Asianart.com
  8. ↑ (English) Xinhuanet.com
  9. ↑ Gernet, Jacques. A History of Chinese Civilization. 2. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-521-49712-4
  10. ↑ Damsan Harper, Steve Fallon, Katja Gaskell, Julie Grundvig, Carolyn Heller, Thomas Huhti, Bradley Maynew, Christopher Pitts. Lonely Planet China. 9. 2005. ISBN 1-74059-687-0
  11. ↑ English.people.com.cn
  12. ↑ FutureWater. "Groundwater Management Exploration Package". # Wageningen, Netherlands. http://www.futurewater.nl/gmep/shiyang/general. Retrieved 2009-06-15. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 "Xu Shousheng re-elected governor of northwest China's Gansu Province". Xinhua. 2008-01-27. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/27/content_7502167.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-23. 
  14. ↑ Hudong.com This simplified Chinese page discusses how the seeds were brought to China, the connection to Wallace, dates, etc.
  15. ↑ RightSite.asia, Lanzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone
  16. ↑ RightSite.asia, Lanzhou Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
  17. ↑ YaschengGroup.com
  18. ↑ Encyclopedia.com
  19. ↑ Gansu.gov.cn

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