Lanzhou, formerly Lanchow, is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. Historically, it has been a major link on the Northern Silk Road and it stands to become a major hub on the New Eurasian Land Bridge. The city is also a center for heavy industry and the petrochemical industry.
Lanzhou is the geographical center of China's land territory, and the third largest city in Northwestern China after Xi'an and Ürümqi. Lanzhou is also an important center for scientific research and education in Northwestern China after Xi'an. The city is one of the top 50 major cities in the world by scientific research output as tracked by the Nature Index. It hosts several research institutions, including, Lanzhou University, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou University of Technology, Gansu Agricultural University, Gansu University of Chinese Medicine, and Lanzhou Jiaotong University.
History
Early history Originally in the territory of the ancient Western Qiangs, Lanzhou became part of the territory of the State of Qin in the 6th century BC.
In 81 BC, under the Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), it was taken from the Huns' Huyandi Chanyu and made the seat of Jincheng commandery (), and later of the Jincheng (Golden City) county (), later renamed Yunwu.
From at least the first millennium BC it was a major link on the ancient Northern Silk Road, and also an important historic Yellow River crossing site. To protect the city, the Great Wall of China was extended as far as Yumen. Parts of the Great Wall still exist within the built-up area.Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine:
After the fall of the Han dynasty, Lanzhou became the capital of a succession of tribal states. In the 4th century it was briefly the capital of the independent state of Liang. The Northern Wei dynasty (386–534) reestablished Jincheng commandery, renaming the county Jincheng.
Medieval times Mixed with different cultural heritages, the area at present-day Gansu province, from the 5th to the 11th century, became a center for Buddhist study. Under the Sui dynasty (581–618) the city became the seat of Lanzhou prefecture for the first time, retaining this name under the Tang dynasty (618–907). In 763 the area was overrun by the Tibetan Empire and in 843 was reclaimed by the Tang. Later it fell into the hands of the Western Xia dynasty (which flourished in Qinghai from the 11th to 13th century) and was subsequently absorbed by the Song dynasty (960–1126) in 1081. The name Lanzhou was reestablished, and the county renamed Lanzhuan.
After 1127 it fell into the hands of the Jin dynasty, and after 1235 it came into the possession of the Mongol Empire.
Ming and Qing Under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) the prefecture was demoted to a county and placed under the administration of Lintao superior prefecture, but in 1477 Lanzhou was reestablished as a political unit.
The city acquired its current name in 1656, during the Qing dynasty. When Gansu was made a separate province in 1666, Lanzhou became its capital.
In 1739 the seat of Lintao was transferred to Lanzhou, which was later made a superior prefecture called Lanzhou.
Lanzhou was badly damaged during the Dungan revolt in 1864–1875. Modern industry began to emerge in Lanzhou during the late Qing period. During the Self-Strengthening Movement, Zuo Zongtang, then governor-general of Shaan-Gan, established the Lanzhou Machinery Bureau and the Lanzhou Woollen Textile Bureau, among the earliest modern factories in northwestern China. Weapons and ammunition produced by the machinery bureau were used during the Qing's campaigns to reclaim Xinjiang from Yakub Beg. In the New Policies period, Gansu Industrial Promotion Factory was established to encourage the growth of weaving, tailoring, silk, glass, lacquerware and ironwork industries in the city. The need to modernize transportation on both banks of the Yellow River also prompted the provincial authority of Gansu to cooperate with German engineers in the construction of the first ever steel truss bridge over the Yellow River in 1909.
Republic of China In the 1920s and 1930s it became a center of Soviet influence in northwestern China.
Second Sino-Japanese War-World War II During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) Lanzhou, linked with Xi'an by highway in 1935, became the terminus of the Chinese–Soviet highway, used as a route for Soviet supplies destined for the Xi'an area. This highway remained the primary traffic route of northwestern China until the completion of the railway from Lanzhou to Ürümqi, Xinjiang.
The Battle of Lanzhou Lanzhou's old Donggang Airport, located near the city centre, was the primary entry point for combat aircraft provided to China under the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, and along with other targets around Lanzhou, including civilian centers, were heavily bombed by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force and Navy Air Force.
Many air battles were fought between the Chinese Air Force and the Imperial Japanese air forces over Lanzhou and surrounding regions from 1937 to 1945, particularly from 1938 to 1941 when the influx of Soviet war materials formed the primary support in China's War of Resistance against the Imperial Japanese invasion. Instances of major air-battles include an IJAAF raid consisting of 30 BR.20 and Ki-21 bombers against civilian targets in Lanzhou on 20 February 1939; 17th PS, 5th PG commander Capt. Cen Zeliu and his deputy commander Capt. Ma Guolian (Ma Kwok-Lim), a Canadian-Chinese volunteer for the Chinese Air Force,Cheung, 2015, p. 63. Cen (Zeliu) and Ma Kwok-Lim, from Canada, were able to make it back to base with badly damaged planes shot down the first two bombers in the battle, followed by two more downed as Capt. Cen led another attack on the third formation. They would be joined by pilots of the Soviet Volunteer Group led by Nikolay Garilov and the 15th PS led by Li Debiao, who would all shoot down five more of the Japanese bombers; the northern Chinese air-raid early-warning net headquarters in Xi'an observed 21 of the original 30 IJAAF bombers returning from Lanzhou.
As the Imperial Japanese forces were preparing for Operation Z against the United States and other allies in Southeast Asia and the Pacific by mid-1941, the IJANF were busy training new aircrews in live combat action across China for the upcoming war in the Pacific; on 22 May 1941, Lt. Gao Youxin of the 21st PS, 4th PG engaged an IJNAF raid on Lanzhou in an I-16 fighter aircraft, while avoiding confrontation against the Zero fighters, he shot down a Mitsubishi G3M bomber north of Lanzhou. On the ground, the KMT Muslim Generals Ma Hongkui and Ma Bufang protected Lanzhou with their cavalry troops, putting up such resistance that the Japanese never captured Lanzhou.
The People's Republic On 20th August 1949, the First Field Army of the People's Liberation Army, under the command of Peng Dehuai, began the Battle of Lanzhou during what was one of the most intense campaigns in the Northwestern theatre of the Chinese Civl War, and formed an encirclement of the city from the east, west, and south. By 26th August, most of Ma Bufang's Nationalist and Ma clique forces had been defeated, and the battle ended with the PLA's entry into the city and Ma's retreat to Xining.
Following the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Lanzhou was included in the country's programme of large-scale industrial development. Owing to its position as a major transport hub in northwestern China, its proximity to oil and mineral-rich areas such as Yumen, as well as its strategic along the Yellow River, Lanzhou was designated as one of the country's key centres of industrial development during the First Five-Year Plan. Seven of the 156 major industrial projects built with Soviet assistance were planned for Lanzhou, while a further 17 of the 694 centrally designated large-scale construction projects were located in the city.
Between 1953 and 1957, construction began on 357 industrial projects in Lanzhou, and by the end of the 1st Five Year Plan in 1957, the number of industrial enterprises in the city had risen to 449, fundamentally shifting Lanzhou from its earlier reliance on traditional handcrafts and commerce toward a heavy-industrial economy centred on petroleum, chemicals, machinery, and electric power.
Many of the major projects were concentrated in the western part of the city, particularly in Xigu District. Large enterprises including the Lanzhou Refinery, Lanzhou Chemical Industry Company, Lanzhou Petrochemical Machinery Works, and Lanzhou General Machinery Works were successively built and brought into operation. The Lanzhou Refinery and Lanzhou Chemical Industry Company subsequently became major early centres of China's oil refining and petrochemical industries, which in turn had transformed Xigu from a rural countryside into an integrated industrial district widely acclaimed as "the first petrochemical industrial city of the People's Republic of China".
At the same time, Lanzhou also became part of the early development of China's nuclear industry. In 1958, Plant 504, the country's first uranium enrichment plant, began its construction in Lanzhou's Xigu District, adding nuclear fuel production to the city's growing industrial base.
The initation of the Third Front campaign further since the mid-1960s further accelerated Lanzhou's industrialization process. Between 1965 and 1975, more than 20 large and medium-sized industrial enterprises were established in the city, 37 existing enterprises were expanded or reconstructed, and 11 major factories were relocated to Lanzhou from northeastern and coastal China. Through the cumulative investment of the 1st and 2nd Five-Year Plan, and the Third Front period, industry came to dominate Lanzhou's economy. By 1965, industrial output accounted for more than 80 percent of the city's local economic output. Lanzhou was thereby transformed from an inland trade centre into one of western China's leading industrial cities.
Geography At above sea level, Lanzhou lies in China's northwest geographical center. The metropolitan area covers more than of urbanisation along the southern banks of the Yellow River, which flows through from west to east. The Qilian Ranges, Mt. Pingliang, and Mt. Kongtong are located on the south and north sides of the city.
Lanzhou is situated on the upper reaches of the Yellow River where it emerges from the mountains and has been a center since early times, being at the southern end of the route leading via the Hexi Corridor across Central Asia. It commands the approaches to the ancient capital area of Chang'an (modern Xi'an) in Shaanxi province from both the west and the northwest, as well as the area of Qinghai Lake via the upper waters of the Yellow River and its tributaries.
Climate
Lanzhou is situated in the temperate zone and has a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with hot summers and cold and very dry winters. In the urban core, based on 1971–2000 normals, the monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July. The mean annual temperature is , while annual rainfall is , almost all of which falls from May to October. The winters are so dry that snowfall is sometimes restricted to fall and spring. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 47 percent in September to 57 percent in April, sunshine is generous but not abundant, as the city receives 2,350 hours of bright sunshine annually.
Environmental problems