Gansu
(2002 est. pop. 27.1 million). Gansu (Kansu) Province is located in northern China at the upper reaches of the Huang (Yellow) River. In the west, the province borders on Qinghai and Xinjiang, in the north on Mongolia, in the east on Ningxia and Shaanxi, and in the south on Sichuan. Gansu covers an area of 454,000 square kilometers and divides into three distinct topographical regions. The western region composes part of the Gobi desert and the socalled "Gansu corridor," a more than 1,000 kilometer-long and only 50 to 70 kilometer-wide east-west passage between the Tibetan Plateau in the south and the Gobi Desert in the north. The Gansu corridor was an important part of the ancient silk route, and agriculture in the oases here depend on the glacial streams from the Tibetan Plateau. The main crops are wheat, sugar beets, and cotton. The central region is part of the great loess plateau of northern China, an extremely eroded area, parts of which are the poorest districts in China. The southern region is a mountainous earthquake area rising between 2,000 and 4,000 meters above sea level.
About 90 percent of Gansu's population is Han Chinese. The remaining 10 percent is distributed over a number of minority nationalities who are either Muslims or who belong to Tibetan religions. The capital of the province, Lanzhou (1996 estimated population of 1.5 million), is situated in the rich agricultural area of the Huang River valley in the central region.
Gansu has been under Chinese control and influence on and off since the third century BCE and has played a continuously important role in trade between Central Asia and China. When China was strong, Gansu constituted the western frontier of China, and the Great Wall ends here. During the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), Gansu became part of the empire along with Xinjiang and Qinghai. The suppression of a Muslim rebellion in 1862–1878 almost devastated the area, and in 1928 Xinjiang and Qinghai became independent provinces. The present borders of Gansu changed several times in the twentieth century, and in 1958 a large part was cut out to become Ningxia Hui Autonomous region. In the fertile river valley of the central region, agricultural products such as millet, wheat, tobacco, melons, and fruit dominate. Gansu mainly has heavy industry, which is concentrated in and around Lanzhou, and manufactures heavy machinery, petrochemical products, and nonferrous metals. The pollution of the industrial center is high.
Further Reading
Lipman, Jonathan N. (1997) Familiar Strangers: A History of Muslims in Northwest China. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press.
Schran, Peter. (1976) Guerrilla Economy: The Development of the Shensi-Kansu-Ninghsia Border Region. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
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