Gansu is located in the north of China and at the heart of the Silk Road. It’s elongated shape is accounted by the Hexu Corridor, a thousand kilometer mountain pass. The province is widely barren and only small oasis towns provided the Silk Road with it’s much-needed lifeline through the desert.
Gansu is home to a multinational population which includes ethnic minority groups of Kazak, Mongolian, Tibetan, Hui, Dongxiang, Tu and Manchu. They influence each other and hold close ties with the Han people, so that they have developed a unique cultural community.
Additional to a breathtaking natural scenery, it’s cultural relics like the world-famous Mogao Grottoes, a large and well-preserved Buddhist art palace, have to be seen. The Labrang Monastery is one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist resorts in China and every year many pilgrims arrive here to pray.
See the famous fort at the western end of the Great Wall in Jiayuguan and visit the Dunhang “Thousand Buddha Grottoes” with paintings from a period ranging over ten dynasties.
The Silk Road Route starts from Dunhuang's Mogao Grottos in Gansu, fly to Xinjiang to explore Turpan Basin for its grape and melon harvest; then fly to Kashgar, the heart of Chinese Islam and drive to Karakuri Lake and Snow Mountains.
