Lanzhou

Lanzhou is the capital of Gansu province in northwestern China, in a narrow valley of the Yellow River between dry loess hills. Lanzhou beef noodles, hand-pulled noodles served in a clear beef broth with chili oil, are eaten across China.

Lanzhou was a stop on the Silk Road, where caravans crossed the Yellow River on their way west into the Hexi Corridor. Under the Han dynasty it guarded the route to Central Asia, and later dynasties kept a garrison and a market there. In 1909 the Zhongshan Bridge, built by German and American engineers, became the first permanent bridge across the Yellow River. In the second half of the 20th century Lanzhou grew into an industrial city with railways linking it to Xinjiang, Tibet and the east. Lanzhou University, founded in the early 20th century, became known for its research in chemistry and on the arid northwest.

Lilies grown in the hills around the city are dried and sold as a food across China. Lanzhou Foci Pharmaceutical makes traditional Chinese medicines in pill form at its plant in the city.

The Gansu Provincial Museum holds the Flying Horse of Gansu, a bronze horse of the Han dynasty shown galloping on the back of a swallow. White Pagoda Hill, on the north bank of the river, has temples and a pagoda of the Ming dynasty above the old bridge. The Waterwheel Park, on the riverbank, keeps large wooden waterwheels like those that once lifted water to the fields, first built here in the Ming dynasty by Duan Xu, an official who had seen them in the south.