Lanzhou Overview & Map Weather Transportation Information
Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province, has been a regional communication and transportation hub since ancient times. Lying in the central section of Gansu Province, this provincial capital received its name from the "lan" of the Gaolan Mountain Range to its south. Covering an area of 1631.6 square kilometers (629.96 square miles), Lanzhou is home to a population of 3.14 million, including Han, Hui (Muslims), Baoan, Dongxiang, Tibetan, Uighur and Sala and more.
Climate
Located in western China, Lanzhou has the distinct features of a semi-arid climate, characterized by dryness and abundant sunlight. The hottest month is July, with an average temperature of 22.2oC (71.96F), while January is the coldest, with an average temperature of 6.9oC (44.42F). It is a city without cold winter or hot summer, with an average annual temperature of 10.3oC (50.54F) and an average annual precipitation of 331mm. Travelers, hikers and tourists going to Lanzhou in the mercurial winter months are strongly advised to just bring along thick overcoats.
History
In ancient times, Lanzhou was called the "Gold City", due to the great amount of that precious metal that was found here. It was this discovery, along with the fact that the city was for 1,400 years a significant fortress along the Hexi Corridor--an eastern and crucial stretch of the Silk Road - that brought to the city long period of great prosperity. Today, Lanzhou is a hub of the Silk Road, with the Maiji Caves to the east, the Bingling Thousand Buddha Caves to the west, Labrang Monastery to the south and Dunhuang Mogao Caves to the north.
Scenic Spots
Lanzhou is not a major tourist spot; however, it is an important stopover in the ancient Silk Road. It boasts a number of cultural heritage sites, like the 5th-century cave shrines and stone statues at Bingling Temple (also called Thousand Buddha Caves), and a 27-meter-high Buddha at the White Pagoda Hill. Other grand sights, such as Sculptures of the Mother River, Five Springs Park, Shifogou National Forest Park, Sun Yat-sen Bridge, Waterwheel Garden, Lanshan Mountain are guaranteed to add excitement to your trip. And as the Yellow River flows from east to the west through the city, the Landscape along the Mother River should also not be missed.
Lanzhou is a bustling city with a modern downtown area, plenty of western boutiques and fast food outlets, as well as more traditional markets and temples. You will be impressed by the city's harmonious combination of the modern and the old.
Cuisine
The staple foods of Gansu, as with most of western China outside of Tibet, are often Muslim-influenced, such that meat dishes tend to favor mutton and beef, rather than pork or chicken.. Muslim restaurants and food stalls in Lanzhou are to be found on nearly every street. The most common and yet most singular of these dishes are Lanzhou beef noodles, the taste of which will surely remain long in your memory.
Economy
The city's major industries include nonferrous metallurgy, machinery manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and textiles. Agriculture makes up only 4 percent of Lanzhou's economy.
Lanzhou is a petrochemical base and home to Petro-China Co. Ltd.'s largest refinery in western China, which started up in the 1950s. Indeed, certain parts of the western edge of the city feel like an old, industrial town, with dusty roads and a faint chemical smell in the air. Petro-China set up Lanzhou's oil additive manufacturing facility in 1963 - the same year the city completed the nearly 2,000 km of rail that connect Lanzhou and Urumqi.
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