Gansu

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For travelers, there are two important sections in Gansu Province, the Hexi Corridor, where the Han culture and western regions’ culture met and melted in the Silk Road period; and Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, where you can find many Tibetan-style monasteries, such as Labrang Monastery, Milarepa Buddha Pavilion, and Langmu Monastery.

Along the Hexi Corridor, Buddhism entered China from ancient India. You can find many Buddist temples and grottoes in this area, such as Unesco sites Mogao Grottoes and Maijishan Grottoes.

There are two popular travel routes in Gansu, the Silk Road route, traveling from Xi’an to Tianshui, Lanzhou, Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiayuguan, Dunhuang; and the Amdo Tibetan route, from Lanzhou going south to Xiahe, Hezuo, and Langmusi to have an even more authentic Tibetan experience than Tibet.
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In imperial times, Gansu was an important strategic outpost and communications link for the Chinese empire, as the Hexi Corridor runs along the “neck” of the province. The Han dynasty extended the Great Wall across this corridor, building the strategic Yumenguan (Jade Gate Pass, near Dunhuang) and Yangguan fort towns along it. Remains of the wall and the towns can be found there. The Ming dynasty built the Jiayuguan outpost in Gansu. To the west of Yumenguan and the Qilian Mountains, at the northwestern end of the province, the Yuezhi, Wusun, and other nomadic tribes dwelt (Shiji 123), occasionally figuring in regional imperial Chinese geopolitics.

By the Qingshui treaty, concluded in 823 between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty, China lost much of western Gansu province for a significant period.

After the Uyghur Khaganate’s fall, a Buddhist Yugur (Uyghur) state called the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom was established by migrating Uyghurs from the Khaganate in part of Gansu that lasted from 848 to 1036 AD.

Along the Silk Road, Gansu was an economically important province, as well as a cultural transmission path. Temples and Buddhist grottoes such as those at Mogao Caves (‘Caves of the Thousand Buddhas’) and Maijishan Caves contain artistically and historically revealing murals. An early form of paper inscribed with Chinese characters and dating to about 8 BC was discovered at the site of a Western Han garrison near the Yumen pass in August 2006.

The Xixia or Western Xia dynasty controlled much of Gansu as well as Ningxia.

Source: Wikipedia

Gansu

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