Gansu Province
Meaning of the name - Pleasant Respectful
Gansu (Simplified Chinese: 甘肃; Traditional Chinese: 甘肅; pinyin: Gānsù; Wade-Giles: Kan-su, or modified as 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. The Huang He river passes the southern part of the province. It has a population of approximately 25 million (1997) and has a large concentration of Hui Chinese. The capital of the province is Lanzhou, located in the southeast part of Gansu.
Gansu is abbreviated Gan or Long (甘/陇), and is also known as Long West or Long Right, in reference to the Long Mountain east of Gansu.
Major Cities:
Lanzhou, Jiayuguan, Jiuquan, Tianshui, Wuwei
Neighboring Areas:
Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Sichuan, Shanxi, and Ningxia
Municipal government office address:
1 Central Square, Lanzhou
Tel: 0931-846 5941
Website: www.gansu.gov.cn
History
Gansu is the acronym first used in Song Dynasty, China, of two Sui and Tang Dynasties prefectures (州): Gan (around Zhangyi) and Su (around Jiuquan).
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
Gansu province has an area of 454,000 km², and the majority of its land is above 1 km over sea level. It lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Inner Mongolia, and the Huangtu Plateau, and borders Mongolia to the north-west. The Huang He river passes the southern part of the province.
Part of the Gobi Desert is located in Gansu.
The Yellow River (Huang He) gets most of its water from Gansu province. The Yellow River also flows straight thru Lanzhou.
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.
Economy
Agricultural production includes cotton, linseed oil, maize, melons (the Bailan melon is well known in China), 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.
Its nominal GDP for 2003 was about 130.5 billion RMB (15.7 billion USD) and per capita of 5010 RMB (605 USD).
Demographics
Gansu province is home to 26,033,400 people. Most of the population, 73%, is still rural. Gansu is 92% Han and also has Hui, Tibetan, Dingxiang, Tu, Manchu, Yugar, Bonan, Mongolian, Salar, and Kazakh minorities.
Culture
Within China, Gansu is known for its pulled noodles, and Muslim restaurants which feature authentic Gansu cuisine are common in most major Chinese cities.
Tourism
- 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.
- Mogao Grottoes, - The Mogao Grottoes near Dunhuang represent an astonishing collection of Buddhist art and religion.
- Silk Road And Dunhuang City - The historic Silk Road starts in Chang'an and goes to Constantinople. On the way merchants would go to Dunhaung in Gansu.
Natural resources
Land: Gansu features a land area of 455,000 sq km, including 4.54 million ha of cultivated land at the end of 2004. During the year, some 4,500 ha of wasteland were reclaimed, and about 153,800 ha of farmland were converted for forestry and pasture.
Mineral: Nearly 3,000 deposits of 145 kinds of minerals have been found and the reserves of 94 kinds of minerals have been ascertained, including nickel, cobalt, platinum family elements, selenium, casting clay, finishing serpentine, and five other minerals whose reserves are the largest in the country. Gansu has special advantages in tapping 15 kinds of minerals such as nickel, zinc, cobalt, platinum, iridium, copper, stibium, 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. 29 hydropower stations have been constructed in Gansu. Each station capable of creating 30 gigawatts each. Gansu has an estimated coal reserve of 8.92 billion tons. The province also has an estimated 700 million tons of petroleum. Gansu also a very good potential for wind and solar power development.
Flora and Fauna: Gansu has 659 species of wild animals. Some of which are the giant panda, snub-nosed monkey, antelope, snow leopard, deer, fawn, musk deer, and bactrian which is a two humped camel. It also has 24 other rare animals which are under a state protection. Gansu is home to 441 species of birds.
Gansu province is second place in China for most medicinal plants and herbs, including some odd ones like hairy asiabell root, fritillary bulb, and Chinese caterpillar fungus.