Capital of Gansu Province
Lanzhou lies in the east of the province of Gansu.
Lanzhou was founded over 2000 years ago. In 81 BC it had already acquired the dimensions of a town and later developed into an important stopping-place on the Silk Road
In 581 it was given the name ''Lanzhou''. Through the construction of the Longhai Railway in the 20th C, which extends from Jiangsu to Xinjiang, the city acquired considerable importance as a meeting-point between east and west.
After 1949 Lanzhou underwent enormous economic development, becoming an important industrial center (petro-chemicals, weaving, metal processing) and achieving prominence in the field of atomic energy research. Today the city is the political, economic, scientific and cultural center of Gansu Province and the second largest city in northwest China. It is also famous for its fruit, notably its melons.