Capital · Historic city · Industrial centre · Gansu
Lanzhou
兰州
Yellow River city at the head of the Silk Road
Lanzhou is the capital of Gansu, built in a narrow valley where the Yellow River cuts between loess mountains. A crossing point of the Silk Road since the Han dynasty, it is today the main transport hub of north-west China, an industrial city of petrochemicals and machinery, and the home of Lanzhou beef noodles.
Key facts
Overview
Lanzhou stretches in a long ribbon along the Yellow River, hemmed in by the White Pagoda Mountain to the north and the Gaolan and Lanshan ridges to the south. Its position at the geographic centre of China's territory and at the eastern mouth of the Hexi Corridor made it a garrison and trading town for two thousand years.
In the 1950s Lanzhou was built up as a centre of heavy industry — oil refining, chemicals and machinery — and as a university and research city. The valley traps smog in winter, a problem the city worked to reduce in the 2010s. For travellers it is mainly a gateway to Dunhuang and the Hexi Corridor, to Tibetan Gannan and to Qinghai.
Names and nicknames
金城
“Golden City”
The Han-dynasty name of the commandery; still used for the city in literary and commercial names.
黄河之都
“capital of the Yellow River”
Modern epithet for a city built along both banks of the river for some 40 km.
History
The Han established Jincheng commandery here in 81 BCE; the Sui renamed the town Lanzhou in 583. For much of history it was a frontier crossing guarded by forts, where ferries and later a pontoon bridge carried caravans across the Yellow River. In 1909 German builders completed the Zhongshan Bridge, the first permanent bridge over the river. Lanzhou became the capital of Gansu in 1666 and grew rapidly after the railway from the east arrived in 1952.
81 BCE
Jincheng commandery
The Han organised the Yellow River crossing as a commandery after taking the Hexi Corridor.
583
Named Lanzhou
The Sui gave the prefecture its present name.
1556
First Yellow River waterwheel
Duan Xu, a local official, built a large waterwheel to lift irrigation water; hundreds followed along the river.
1909
Zhongshan Bridge completed
The iron bridge, built with German materials and engineering, was the first permanent crossing of the Yellow River.
1952
Tianshui–Lanzhou railway
The rail link to the east made Lanzhou the hub of the north-west and led to its industrialisation.
2012
Lanzhou New Area
The first national-level new area in north-west China was approved north of the city.
Landmarks
Museum
Gansu Provincial Museum
甘肃省博物馆
Home of the Eastern Han bronze galloping horse from Wuwei, with Majiayao pottery, Han wooden slips and Silk Road finds.
Historic site
Zhongshan Bridge
中山桥
The 1909 iron bridge, now pedestrian, below White Pagoda Mountain.
Temple or shrine
White Pagoda Mountain
白塔山
Hill on the north bank with a Ming white pagoda and pavilions overlooking the river.
Park or garden
Five Springs Mountain
五泉山
Temple park on the southern slopes; legend says the general Huo Qubing struck the springs from the rock with his whip.
Historic site
Waterwheel Garden
水车博览园
Reconstructed Yellow River waterwheels on the riverside promenade.
Neighbourhoods
Yellow River promenade
黄河风情线
Parks and walks along the south bank, with the Mother Yellow River sculpture and sheepskin rafts on the water.
Zhengning Road
正宁路
Evening food street in Chengguan district with Hui snacks.
Food
Beef noodles
牛肉面
Hand-pulled to order in thicknesses from hair-thin to wide; locals eat them for breakfast.
Tianpeizi
甜醅子
Lightly fermented oats or highland barley, sweet and slightly alcoholic.
Huidouzi
灰豆子
Sweet pea-and-date soup.
Culture
Lanzhou has a large Hui population, and its mosques, halal noodle shops and markets set the rhythm of the city. The Yellow River is central to its self-image: the sheepskin rafts once used to cross it, the waterwheels, and the promenade where people gather in the evenings. The city is also the base of the Gansu Song and Dance Theatre and of the magazine Duzhe (读者), one of China's most widely read.
Getting around
- Lanzhou West is the high-speed station for Xi'an, Xining, Urumqi and Zhongwei; Lanzhou Station in Chengguan handles conventional trains.
- Lanzhou Metro runs east–west along the valley; an intercity railway links the centre with Zhongchuan International Airport.
Day trips
Bingling Temple Grottoes
炳灵寺石窟
Cliff-side Buddhist caves on the Liujiaxia reservoir with inscriptions from 420, reached by boat; part of the Silk Roads World Heritage site.
Qingcheng
青城古镇
Old Yellow River town east of the city with courtyard houses and a Confucian academy.
Labrang Monastery, Xiahe
拉卜楞寺
One of the six great monasteries of the Gelug school, in the Tibetan south of Gansu.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Lanzhou Municipal People's Government — Lanzhou Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Lanzhou — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
More cities in Gansu
- Dunhuang敦煌Historic city · Cultural centre · Scenic areaOasis of the Mogao Caves at the western end of the Hexi Corridor
- Jiayuguan嘉峪关Historic city · Industrial centreThe western end of the Ming Great Wall
- Tianshui天水Historic city · Cultural centreFuxi's city and the Maijishan grottoes
- Zhangye张掖Historic city · Scenic areaOasis of Ganzhou, the Giant Buddha and the Danxia hills
- Wuwei武威Historic cityLiangzhou, city of the bronze galloping horse