page_title: Gansu
section_title: Imperial era
hierarchical_section_title: Gansu / History / Imperial era
caption_attribution_description: English: Chinese jarwith two lug handles, Neolithic period, c. 1,000 BCE, painted earthenware, Honolulu Academy of ArtsFrançais&#160;: Vase, terre cuite peinte. Gansu. Culture de Xindian (env. 2e moitié du 2e Millénaire –Ière moitié du Ier millénaire av. J.-C.).
context_page_description: Gansu is a landlocked province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
  The seventh-largest administrative district by area at 453,700 square kilometres, Gansu lies between the Tibetan and Loess plateaus and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south and Shaanxi to the east. The Yellow River passes through the southern part of the province. Part of Gansu's territory is located in the Gobi Desert. The Qilian mountains are located in the south of the Province.
  Gansu has a population of 26 million, ranking 22nd in China. Its population is mostly Han, along with Hui, Dongxiang and Tibetan minorities. The most common language is Mandarin. Gansu is among the poorest administrative divisions in China, ranking 31st in GDP per capita. Most of Gansu's economy is based on the mining industry and the extraction of minerals, especially rare earth elements. Tourism also plays a role in Gansu's economy.
  The State of Qin originated in what is now southeastern Gansu and went on to form the first known Empire in what is now China.
context_section_description: In imperial times, Gansu was an important strategic outpost and communications link for the Chinese empire, as the Hexi Corridor runs along the "neck" of the province. The Han dynasty extended the Great Wall across this corridor, building the strategic Yumenguan (Jade Gate Pass, near Dunhuang) and Yangguan fort towns along it. Remains of the wall and the towns can be found there. The Ming dynasty built the Jiayuguan outpost in Gansu. To the west of Yumenguan and the Qilian Mountains, at the northwestern end of the province, the Yuezhi, Wusun, and other nomadic tribes dwelt (Shiji 123), occasionally figuring in regional imperial Chinese geopolitics.
  By the Qingshui treaty, concluded in 823 between the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty, China lost much of western Gansu province for a significant period.
  After the fall of the Uyghur Khaganate, a Buddhist Yugur (Uyghur) state called the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom was established by migrating Uyghurs from the Khaganate in part of Gansu that lasted from 848 to 1036 AD.
  Along the Silk Road, Gansu was an economically important province, as well as a cultural transmission path. Temples and Buddhist grottoes such as those at Mogao Caves ('Caves of the Thousand Buddhas') and Maijishan Caves contain artistically and historically revealing murals. An early form of paper inscribed with Chinese characters and dating to about 8 BC was discovered at the site of a Western Han garrison near the Yumen pass in August 2006.
  The Xixia or Western Xia dynasty controlled much of Gansu as well as Ningxia.
  The province was also the origin of the Dungan Revolt of 1862–77. Among the Qing forces were Muslim generals, including Ma Zhan'ao and Ma Anliang, who helped the Qing crush the rebel Muslims. The revolt had spread into Gansu from neighbouring Qinghai.
  There was another Dungan revolt from 1895 to 1896.
caption: Xindian culture era jar with two lug handles uncovered in Gansu, dating to around 1,000 BC
exif: {}