Lanzhou Travel Guide

Lanzhou is a capital city of Gansu province of China. It was an important Ancient Silk Road crossed point of Yellow River. It is the regional communication and transportation hub since the ancient times.

The city of Lanzhou lays the central section of Gansu province. Its’ covered and area of 1631.6 square kilometres.

Lanzhou is over 2,000 year’s old city along the Hexi Corridor on the eastern and crucial stretch of the Silk Road. Lanzhou originally belongs to Western Qiang People, and became part of Qin territory in the 6^th Century BC. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, Lanzhou became the capital of a succession of tribal states. Lanzhou became the seat of Lanzhou under the Sui Dynasty (581-618), and retained the name in Tang Dynasty (618-907). In 763, the area overrun by Tibetans and recovered by Tang Dynasty in 843. Later it overrun by Western Xia Dynasty and subsequently recovered by the Song Dynasty (960-1126) in 1041. Under the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the prefecture was demoted to a county and controlled under the administration of Lintao superior prefecture. It was established as a political unit in 1477. Lanzhou gained its current name in 1656 during the Qing Dynasty after the Gansu became separate province in 1666 then the Lanzhou became its capital.