The northwest Chinese province of Gansu spans the Qinghai-Tibet,Inner Mongolia and Loess plateaus in the upper reaches of the yellow River. The topography is complex, and the climate unpredictable. The river valleys in the south belong to a subtropical zone, while in the north it is an arid temperate zone. The province was a center for East-West cultural and trade exchanges as early as the Han and Tang dynasties. There are more than 1,000 ancient sights attributed to different periods, including ancient grottoes, old buildings, and a rich variety of cultural relics discovered along the legendary Silk Road. Many go to Gansu to seek out the roots of world civilization. The 1,600-km-long Silk Road of the Han and Tang Dynasties unfailingly brings the visitor to such places as the Dunhuang Grottoes (a veritable world-class treasure house of art), the Jiayu Pass on the Great Wall, the Maijishan Grottoes of Tianshui, the Grottoes of the Binling Temple of Yongjiang, the Labrang Temple of Xiahe, the Xinglong Mountain of Yuzhong, the Giant Buddha Monastery of Zhangye, and the bronze sculpture of galloping horse in Wuwei.
Abbreviation: Gan or Long
Area: 454,000 square km
Population: 25.426 million
The province's mean temperature(℃)
Month |
Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
April |
May |
June |
July |
Aug |
Sept |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Temperature |
-8.4 |
-4.7 |
2.7 |
10.7 |
17.2 |
21.3 |
23.3 |
21.6 |
16.0 |
9.2 |
1.1 |
-6.3 |