Lanzhou, referred to as "Lan" or "Gao" for short, is the capital of Gansu Province, an important industrial base and comprehensive transportation hub in the northwest of China, one of the important central cities in the western region, an important fulcrum of the West Longhai-Lanzhou New Economic Belt, an important transportation hub and logistics center in the northwest region, one of the five central cities in the China section of the New Eurasian Continental Bridge, a bridge and link between East China, Central China and West China, and a transportation and communication hub and research and education center in the northwest region.

topography

Lanzhou has complex and diverse landforms, including mountains, plateaus, Pingchuan, river valleys, deserts and Gobi, with complete types and staggered distribution, and the terrain inclines from southwest to northeast. The terrain is long and narrow, with a length of 1.655 km from east to west and a width of 530 km from north to south. The complex landform can be roughly divided into six distinctive terrain areas.

Lanzhou is high in the west and low in the south, and low in the northeast. The Yellow River flows from southwest to northeast, across the whole territory and across mountains, forming a beaded valley with alternating valleys and basins. The canyons include Bapan Gorge, Chaijia Gorge, Sangyuan Gorge, Daxia Gorge and Wujin Gorge. The basins include Xincheng basin, Lanzhou basin, Niwan-Ishikawa basin and Qingcheng-Shuichuan basin. There are Huangshui Valley, Zhuanglang Valley, Yuanchuan Valley and Datong Valley.