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| LANZHOU |
| Lanzhou
is the capital city of Gansu Province, locate at the central part
of Gansu Province as the provincial center in terms of politics,
economy, culture, commerce and trade. It administers 5 districts,
Chengguan, Qilihe, Annng, Xigu and Honggu and 3 counties, Gaolan,
Yuzhong and Yongdeng. |
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| The
city covers a total area of 13,086 sq. km. with a population of
2.91 million including 1.56 million residents living in the urban
area. |
| Lanzhou
seats at the geometric center of China's continental territory
as it is nicknamed 'the heart of the mainland'. It has a semi-arid
continental monsoon climate of the Temperate Zone, featuring a
large daily temperature difference and a comparatively small amount
of rainfall a year round. The average annual temperature reads
between 6 to 9℃ and the mean annual precipitation only amounts
to 327.7 mm. There are 168 non-frost days in a year. Lanzhou is
well known as a 'city of melons and fruits' producing more than
20 varieties of melons and fruits in great quantity such as peach,
honey-dew melon, Huanghe-dew melon, Mapizui melon and seed-yielding
melon. |
| Lanzhou
is a hot spot of tourist attraction and an important transit stop
at the juncture of different routes for visiting scenery spots
and historic sites along the ancient Silk Road. The Yellow River
runs through the city proper. Tourists may enjoy themselves in
a number of scenic spots along the Binhelu Road, a green corridor
at the two sides of the Yellow River, e.g. the river itself, the
Water-Wheel Yard, the Statue of Mother Yellow River, the White-Pagoda
Mountain and the Zhongshan Iron Bridge. Going down southwards
from here they may also visit the Five-Spring Park at the foot
of the Gaolan Mountain. Besides, it has several other scenic attractions
in its suburban counties, e.g. the Xinglong Mountain, a Tusi(national
hereditary headman in the old time) Lu's Yamen and Tulugou Valley.
Departure from here visitors may also tour other tourism attractions,
e.g. the Binlingsi Grottoes in Yongjing County, the Labuleng Lanasery
in Xiahe County, the Ta'ersi Lamasery in Qinghai Province and
the Majishan Grottoes in Tianshui City. |
| The
city possesses comparatively convenient conditions in communications.
Its Zongchuan Airport provides over 20 airlines linking the city
with some 20 major cities in China. No. 312 state-invested highway
runs through the region and 4 trunk railways, Longhai, Lanxin,
Lanqing and Baolan meet here. Its tourism facilities and service
trades are now matched to form a complete system in the sector
of tourist service. Today, there have been set up 13 foreign-related
tourism hotels, 10 international travel agencies, 30 travel service
agents for domestic visitors, 3 tourist transport comapanies and
15 designated tourism department stores. |
| In
addition, Lanzhou is also an important industrial base and a center
in the domains of scientific research, education, commerce and
trade. |
| The
Binhelu Road, the "green corridor" in the city proper extends
for some ten km from west to east with numerous flower gardens
and small parks scattered along the road, ranking the first longest
among those river-side ones in the whole country. It is honoured
as the 'Shanghai's Huangpu River-Side Boulevard in Lanzhou'. When
tour along the road, one may see a series of scenery such as the
Yellow River, the Statue Pingshaluoyan (wild gooses dwelling on
sands), the Statue Bolang (fighting waves), the ancient Silk Road,
the Statue of Mother Yellow River, the Statue of the Pilgrimage
to the West, the Zhongshan Iron Bridge, the White-Pagoda Park,
the Wate-Wheel Yard, etc. |
| Zhongshan
Iron Bridge |
| Located
at the central part of the Binhelu Road, it is a historic bridge
erected 1907, known as the first bridge built on the Yellow River
among those in the whole drainage area of the river in China.
As its predecessor, there was once a floating bridge, 'the Zhenyuan
Bridge' built at the site during the period from the fifth year
of Emperor Hongwu's reign in the Ming Dynasty (1372 AD). Today,
there are still 3 iron poles of the floating bridge, the 'General's
Poles' left over from that period, which totally weigh for 10
t. with a length of 5.8 m for each. The iron bridge was first
named the 'Lanzhou Yellow-River Iron Bridge' with the construction
contracted by a German company and two foreign engineers (an American
and a German) as the technical instructors. The bridge extends
for 233.33 m long and 7 m high. In 1942, it was renamed as the
Zhongshan Iron Bridge in memory of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and was reinforced
in 1954. |
| The
White-Pagoda Mountain |
| The
mountain stands at the northern bank of the Yellow River and has
its name after the white pagoda on top of it, which was originally
erected in the Yuan Dynasty. The present pagoda was a rebuilt
one that was done during the period of Jingtai (a title of the
emperor's reign) in the Ming Dynasty (1450- 1456 AD). The pagoda
is structured in 7 terraces with an octagonal body in a height
of 17 m. In 1958, the mountain was opened as a park for the public.
The entire area of the park totals more than 8,000 sq. m. Three
groups of ancient buildings are respectively standing on the three
terraces on the southern slope of the mountain. There used to
be a drum made of an elephant skin, a bronze bell and a Chinese
redbud tree (Cercis chinensis), altogether called the "three treasures
steadying the mountain". |
| The
Five-Spring Park |
| The
park lies at the foot of the Gaolan Mountain in the southern part
of the city proper. Its name is originated from the 5 springs
there, namely the Ganlu, Juyue, Mozi, Hui and Meng. It became
a famous scenic spot back to more than 2,000 years ago. There
are over 10 places in the park crowded with ancient temples, palaces,
pavilions as well as some historic relics, such as the Chongqingsi
Temple, the Thousand-Buddha Pavilion, the Manisi Temple, the Dizangsi
Temple, the Three-religion Temple, the Crescent Pavilion, the
Sword Bridge and the Zhongshan Memorial Hall. Inside the Chongqingsi
Temple, there is an iron bell made in the period of Taihe (a title
of an emperor's reign) in the Jin Dynasty (1202 AD), which is
3 meters in height, 2 meters in diameter and 5,000 kg in weight.
There stands a copper statue of Introducing Buddha inside the
Jingang (Buddha's warrior attendant) Palace, which is 5.3 m high,
2.7 m around the body and over 10,000 kg in weight. The park covers
an area of 10, 500 sq, m. |
| The
Gansu Provincial Museum |
| The
museum seats in the Qilihe District of Lanzhou, facing the Friendship
Hotel to the north with the Xijinxilu Road lying in between. It
was designed by the engineers and architects from former Soviet
Union and built in 1956 and is now still the largest museum in
the province. Its covered area totals 18,000 sq. m. including
13 exhibition halls, a forum hall and 12 lounges. It has collected
over 75,000 articles of cultural relics including a large number
colorful pottery dated back to the New-Stone Age, the written
bamboo slips of the Han Dynasty and a copy of the mural on bricks
of the inner-wall of bombs in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. There
is also a huge copy of an ancient stegoton fossil in the museum,
which stands for 4 m high and 8 m long. |
| The
Lanshan park |
| The
park is located on the Gaolanshan Mountain at the southern edge
of the city proper. It is a newly built afforested mountain park,
with an area of 5,200 mu (346.67 hectares) stretching for over
10 km. There was only one tree on the top when Lanzhou was liberated
in August 1948. After liberation residents in the city surmounted
great difficulties in planting trees there as the mountain is
2,100-odd m above the sea level and the city is in a semi-arid
area. People even carried ice cubes in baskets to water the trees
in winter. Today, several ten millions of tree are luxuriantly
growing on the mountain. There are now ancient-style buildings
like the Bell Yard and all sorts of entertainment facilities such
as the Entertainment Center, a sliding-around track and an elevated
water-skiing facility successively built there in picturesque
disorder. On top of the mountain there stands a three- terraced
pavilion where people can have a bird's-eye-view over the entire
area of the city proper. |
| The
Xinglong Mountain |
| The
mountain is only 5 km in southwest of the seat of Yuzhong County,
one of the three counties under the jurisdiction of Lanzhou City.
It is 60 km away from there to the city proper. Early in the West
Zhou Dynasty Taoists started to open caves to practise Taoism
there. It was renamed as 'the Xinglong Mountain' to suggest the
rejuvenation in the period of Emperor Kangxi's reign in the Qing
Dynasty. There are over 70 places of ancient buildings (some are
rebuilt in the recent 20-odd years) scattered all over the mountain.
It became famous for the fact that when Genghis Khan died in the
war against the Western Xia Regime in 1227 AD, his hat, clothes
and weapons were kept in here. His bier was moved here in 1939,
which was returned back to the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region
in 1954. In addition, the area is maintained as a natural forest
preservation zone at state level close to the city. There are
two main peaks, the eastern peak and the western one. The eastern
peak, Xinglong, is towering for 2,400 m above the sea level while
the western one, Qiyuan, with an elevation of 2,500 m. |
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