ChinaRegions & prefectures

Gansu

The Hexi corridor, the obligatory Silk Road passage between desert and mountains.

Capital: Lanzhou
Status: Province
Region: Northwest China
Must-see: The Mogao caves at Dunhuang
Local specialty: Lanzhou beef noodles, Hami melons

Gansu narrows in places to a strip a few dozen kilometres wide between the Gobi desert and the Qilian mountains: caravans, monks and armies all passed through that bottleneck. Jiayuguan marks the western end of the Ming Great Wall. At Dunhuang, the Mogao caves preserve a thousand years of Buddhist painting and a walled-up library found in 1900. Lanzhou gave its name to the beef noodles served most widely across China.

What to see there

Places, dishes and traditions tied to this territory.

Silk RoadNetwork of trade routes linking China to the Mediterranean (2nd c.The Mogao CavesFour hundred and ninety-two painted chapels in the cliff, and a library walled up for nine centuries.

In the magazine

Articles that cover this topic.