Gansu—“the Hometown of Grotto Arts”

Gansu Province is located in the middle part of the Silk Road between Xinjiang Yygur autonomous Region and Shanxi Province in the Northwest China. It covers and area of 454,000 sq. km with the population of 24 million. Lanzhou is the capital of the province.
     Proud of its long history, Ganzu is one of the cradles of Chinese ancient civilization. It is the birthplace of Fu Xi, the Chinere ancestor well known for its great inventions in Eight-digram, charcters and calendar. The initial farming also appeared here in earlier Zhou period, 3000 years agao. The cultural relics in Ganzu fall mainly into the Neolithic culture, the Yellow River culture, and the Great Wall culture representing the history of the civilization of the Chinese people for 8000 year. Meanwhiel, the Silk Road culture in Ganzu has drawn attention from other parts.
     Gansu has always been a must along Silk Road, and an important thoroughfare of culture and trade between China and the west. Over the past 2000 year, from the loess plateau in the east to the Gobi-desert in the west, there had been groups of famous figures like envoy Zhang Qian, mond Xuan Zang and Marco Polo advancing through mountains and over rivers.

Tourist Attractions

- Mogao Grottoes: The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes, and along with Longmen and Yungang are one of the three famous ancient sculptural sites of China. In 1987 the Mogao Grottoes was listed as the World Heritage site by UNESCO. Situated 25 km southeast of Dunhuang city, Mogao Grottoes (also named the Caves of Thousand Buddhas) were built into the desert cliffs above a river valley. It is so famous as the world’s greatest treasure house of Buddhist art extant today. Their construction started in 366 AD. The existing 492 grottoes contain 45,000 square meters of murals and more than 2415 painted sculptures, which spanned 10 consecutive dynasties in more than 1,000 years. The Mogao Grottoes at Duhuang is divided into north and south districts, totaling 735 grottoes in all. All the caves are linked by walkways and marked with the date of their carving and dynasty. A visit to the Dunhuang Grottoes can give the visitors a complete and chronological picture of Buddhist art from the Eastern Jin Dynasty through the Nothern Wei, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Xixia, and Yuan Dynasties – more than one thousand years of history.
- Yang and Yumen Pass: Some 70km southwest of Dunhuang is the Yang Pass. It was first built by Wudi emperor in Han Dynasty. Here, Han Dynasty beacon towers marked the caravan route westwards and warned of advancing invaders, but what remains has now largely disappeared under the shifting sands. Nowaday, the nearby area has been developed to the largest grape farm in the region. 98km northwest of Dunhuang, the Yumen Pass is also a well-known spot at the ancient Silk Road. Caravans heading out of China would travel up the Gansu corridor to Dunhuang, the Yumen Pass was the starting point of the road which ran across the north of what is now Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and the Yang Pass was the start of the route which cut through the south of the region.

- Crescent Lake and Singing Sand Mountains (Mingsha shan): 6km south of the center of Dunhuang at the Singing Sand Mountains, the Crescent Lake is an oasis Gobi desert, which is surrounded the numerous sand dunes. The dunes reach a relative height of 250 meters (820 feet). The climb to the top is rewarded with the dramatic view back across the rolling desert sands towards the oasis. Descending the dunes is quite easy – silde down the dune to the sound of rumbling sands or the sound of thunder or a drum-roll as the wind sweeps across the sands. The Mingsha Shan is so named for the sound of the wind whipping off the dunes. Along the side of the Crescent Lake is a pagoda in traditional Han Chinese architecture. A street lined with souvenir stalls leads up from the entrance to the complex. Many tourists ride camels here, organized by the complex operators, to get to the summit of the sand dunes. Typically the camels are guided by a local camel escort, who include both women and men. At the dunes, a popular activity for tourists is to ride sleds down the sand slopes, much like snow-sledding during winter in temperate zones.

Local Culture and Art

Gansu Province is rich in mixed cultures of Budddhism, Islam, Christiannity, Confucionism and Taoism due to its position along the Silk Rroad , therefrom many religious cultureal relics have become major component of the Silk Road cultur, and ethnic groups like Tibetan, Hui, Yugur and Mongolian carry onecivilization and their colorful folklore will enliven the Silk Road tour. 
     Rich cultural relics are the most important tourist resources in Gansu Province. The famous Silk Road is the link in ancient time between China and western countries. Oases, ancient towns, passes, part of the Great Wall, temples and grottos attract thousands of visitors home and abroad every year. Places of historic and cultural interest include the Dunhang Grottos and the Jiayu Pass (an important outpost in ancient China and at the western end of the Great Wall), etc

Food

The traditional cuisine and refreshments of Gansu is a distinctive part. Some of the most popular in Lanzhou are Babeque, Roast mutton on skewers, Gold Fish-shared Black Moss, etc. The most famous fast food including Lanzhou Beef Noodle and Cold Starch Noodles.
- Lanzhou Beef Noodles (Stretched Noodles): is the most famous local dish in Lanzhou. It was first created during the reign of Emperor Guangxu (1875 - 1908), Qing Dynasty (1616 - 1911) and it is now popular all over China. This dish has five main features: clear soup, white radish, red pepper, green caraway and yellow noodles. The noodles can be wide or slim to meet different preferences. Boys like er xi (a little wider) while girls like slim ones, the middle-aged and the old like jiuyezi (leek leaf) and maoxi (slimmer) and scholars prefer slim and jiuyezi.
- Baihe (Lily) Tao (Peach): is so named because the dish is shaped like peaches. The washed fresh lily - a specialty of Lanzhou - is steamed for about 15 minutes. The lily is then stuffed with sweetened bean paste so that it looks like a peach. The 'peach' is braised in a bamboo steamer for about twenty minutes and then served with a white sugar sauce.

Shopping

Most of the cities in Gansu are well prepared for tourists. As well as the usual China trinkets, things to buy include local specialties: Dunhuang pottery pieces, Tao ink stone, Jiayuguan ink stone, luminous jade cup of Jiuquan, carved lacqureware of Tianshui, Yellow River Stone Arts, Waist-knife of Bao'an minority, and carpets and blankets of Gansu, etc. Gansu is rich in specialties like rose, lily bulb, melons and fruits, water melon seeds, Huaniu Apple and Black Moss, etc. Over 900 species of Chinese traditional medicinal herbs around Gansu are mainly in the southern part, angelica root, licorice root, rhubarb, codonopsis pilosula and milk vetch are the most famous.

Transportation

- By Long Distance-bus: There are two main bus stations for long-distance passenger transport in Dunhuang: Dunhuang Bus Station and Dunhuang Passenger Transport Center. Dunhuang Bus Station is located at No. 24 Mingshan Road, Shazhou Town, opposite Feitian Hotel. There are bus routes to Xining, Hami, Turpan, Urumqi and Golmud, etc. Dunhuang Passenger Transport Center is located at No. 25 Mingshan Road, offers local services between Dunhuang and other cities or regions inside Gansu Province.
- By Bus: Lanzhou is the hub of the road transportation system in Gansu Province with Lanzhou East Bus Station and Lanzhou West Bus Station being the two largest. There are 750 buses to different places daily and the destinations are as far flung as Xinjiang, Baotou, Xining, Zhengzhou, Chengdu and Wenzhou. However, as Lanzhou is located in the east of Gansu Province, far from the tourist cities in the Hexi Corridor, like Jiayuguan and Dunhuang, so rail as apposed to road travel is often preferable. For the south of Gansu Province, like Sangke Prairie where no rail link is available, the bus is the only option.