甘肃简称“甘”或“拢”，甘肃省名字取自中国古城“甘州”和“肃州”二城的首字。古丝绸之路和新亚欧大陆桥横贯全省。
Gansu is called “Gan” or “Long” in abbreviation. The name of Gansu came from the initial Chinese characters of the two ancient cities“Ganzhou” (present Zhangye) and “Suzhou”(present Jiuquan). The ancient Silk Road and the new Eurasian Continental Bridge run across the whole Province.
Gansu is situated on the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River in the northwest of china. The location of Gansu is also the junction of the three plateaus i.e. the Loess Plateau , the Inner Mongolian Plateau and the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. It has Shaanxi, Sichuan, Qinghai, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region as its neighbors.
Gansu province covers an area of 425,000 square kilometers and has a population of over 26 million. With Lanzhou as its capital, Gansu has 14 municipalities and prefectures and 86 county-level cities under its jurisdiction. There are altogether 45 nationalities inhabiting here including Han, Hui, Manchu, Kazak, Yugu, Dongxiang and Baonan nationalities. Among them, Yugu, Dongxiang and Baonan can only be found in Gansu province.
As regards the physical feature, Gansu is long and narrow, looking like a jade “Ruyi” ---a jade mascot in ancient China which symbolizes fortunate--- on China’s map. It is descending from the southwest to the northeast. The highest peak of Gansu is Tuanjie peak of Qilian Mountain with an altitude of 5808 meters above sea level and the lowest point is the bottom of Bailongjiang River valley with an altitude of 550 meters.
With complicated and varied landforms, Gansu has mountains, valleys, prairies, plateaus, deserts and Gobi deserts.
With temperate continental climate, most areas of Gansu province are dry. Its annual average rainfall is about 300 millimeters and defers greatly in different areas. The annual average temperature is between 0-14℃.
Gansu has plenty of sunshine and strong radiation of all year and the temperature varies greatly from day to night.
Gansu is richly endowed with natural resources. Within the boarder of Gansu province, over 140 kinds of mineral ores have been found. Among them, nickel, lead, zinc, and platinum possess a significant position in China.
8. Gansu is also one of the major producers of Chinese herb. Over 9500 kinds of crude drug grow here, ranking the second in china. Lily bulb, Chinese angelica, edible tree fungi and edible fiddlehead enjoy a good reputation both at home and abroad.
Gansu province is also home to over 800 wild animal including some rare animals like giant panda, golden monkey, musk deer and lynx etc..
In ancient times the Silk Road of Gansu played a great role in the economic and cultural exchanges between the west and China. Nowadays Gansu has already built a transportation network of highway railways and airways directing to the outside world.
The organizational system of Gansu province was officially established in Yuan dynasty( more than 700 years ago) while the name of Gansu was firstly used in early Song dynasty when Gansu Military Command was founded in Ganzhou(present Zhangye) by Western Xia regime.
Gansu is one of the birthplaces of Chinese nation as well as one of cradles of Chinese ancient civilization. The long history of Gansu province witnessed the evolution of the Ancestral Culture, the Yellow River Culture, the Great Wall Culture and the Silk Road Culture etc. and plenty of historical relics were left. The richness of Cultural heritage also enables Gansu to enjoy its uncommon tourist resources.
As early as in the Paleolithic age, our ancestors lived and worked on this land. Fuxi and Shennong, the two great ancestors of Chinese nation, broke the dawn of Chinese civilization here .
The rulers of Zhou (11th C –256BC) and Qin (221—206BC) also took the eastern area of Gansu as their bases and gradually developed strong enough to unify China.
In Western Han dynasty (206BC –24AD) a great development in Hexi region was conducted which made it a more prosperous area. Thanks to the opening policy advocated by the rulers of the Western Han dynasty, the world-known Silk Road was opened.
The long history and splendid culture provide Gansu with rich human resources, which could greatly facilitate the tourist development. Currently in Gansu province there altogether 360 developed or developing tourist attractions bearing different subject matters and different styles. Centering the capital city of Lanzhou three mature tourist routes have been shaped. They are as follows:
The eastern route: Lanzhou-Tianshui-Pingliang-Qingyang
The western route: Lanzhou-Wuwei-Zhangye-Jiuquan-Jiayuguan-Dunhuang
The southern route: Lanzhou-Linxia-Xiahe-Hezuo
