Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
City
Lanzhou is the capital city of Gansu Province in northwest China. The Yellow River, the Chinese Mother River, runs through the city, ensuring rich crops of many juicy and fragrant fruits. The city is the transportation and telecommunication center of the region (1).
Education
Lanzhou Jiaotong University （ LZJTU ） （formerly Lanzhou Railway University ） was established in 1958. In April 2003, the name of Lanzhou Railway University was changed to Lanzhou Jiaotong University. After 52 years of construction and development, LZJTU ranks as a comprehensive technical institution. The university has 2 campuses, 17 schools and a teaching department. It has 3 postdoctoral research centers, 24 doctoral disciplines, 94 master's degrees, 57 undergraduate programs, 9 provincial-level key disciplines, 2 national experimental teaching demonstration centers, and 1 national University Science and Tech (5).
Founded in 1909, Lanzhou University is one of the top universities directly administered by the Ministry of Education and elected as one of the key universities in “Project 211” and “Project 985”. It was originally named as Gansu School of Law and Politics. In 1928, it was expanded into Lanzhou Sun Yat-Sen University. It was renamed as National University of Lanzhou in 1945. In 2002 and 2004, the Institute of Gansu Grassland Ecology and Lanzhou Medical College merged in to Lanzhou University respectively.Lanzhou University currently occupies a total area of 3807 mu and consists of 6 campuses with 2 affiliated hospitals and 1stomatological hospital (5).
Culture & Tourism
Lanzhou covers an area of 1631.6 square kilometers (629.96 square miles), it was once a key point on the ancient Silk Road. Today, it is a hub of the Silk Road Tourism Ring, with Maiji Caves to the east, Bingling Temple Grottoes to the west, Labrang Monastery to the south and Dunhuang Mogao Caves to the north (1).
Lanzhou is also the center of tourism of the entire Gansu Province. The traditional tourist attractions include the green corridor of Binghe Road, the Bingling Temple, the Provincial Museum, the Mountain of Five Springs, the Lanshan Park, the Xinglong Mountain in Yuzhong County (2).
Transportation
Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport (LHW) is about 70km north of the city of Lanzhou, the second furthermost airport from the downtown, just after Lhasa airport. Lanzhou airport is in a plain of a valley on the loess plateau and on the fringe of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, a major airport in the northwest China (3).
Economy
Prior to 1949, Lanzhou was a poverty-stricken city. However, it is now a fast-growing industrial area. For example, the city's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita grew from only US $3,681 in 2008 to US $9182.28 in 2015. The city and its surrounding area is rich in a variety of minerals such gold, coal, and nickel. Additionally, Lanzhou's location near the upper course of the Yellow River is ideal for the construction of dams along the river to generate hydroelectricity. The city also supports numerous industries including textile mills, locomotive production, a rubber industry, fertilizer plants, machinery, and petrochemicals (4).
View the Lanzhou agreement:
https://www.tampagov.net/sites/default/files/city-clerk/files/lanzhouagreement_0.pdf
References