Lanzhou is a land of outstanding people and a city full of vitality and opportunities. It is in the center of China's land area and capital of Gansu Province. There are five districts in Lanzhou, including Chengguan, Qilihe, Anning, Xigu and Honggu and three counties of Yuzhong, Baolan and Yongdeng under its jurisdiction. It has an area of 13,100 square kilometers and a population of 3.14 million. The city has serene mountains and flowing rivers. It is the only city that the Yellow River goes through, characterized by the views of both North China and South China.
Lanzhou is an ancient city with a long history and a splendid national culture. It was first called "Jincheng" in the West Han Dynasty and was renamed as Lanzhou during the reign of Emperor Wen in the Sui Dynasty. Since the founding of new China, Lanzhou has developed into an important regional hub city of West China and the supporting point of LongHai-LangXin Economic Belt with construction of over fifty years, especially the practice of reform and opening up over the past twenty years and more. At the end of 2001, the GDP of Lanzhou reached 34.87 billion yuan, one of the top 50 cities nationwide in consideration of overall economic strength.
The big tide of reform and opening up has brought vitality to Lanzhou while the strategy of western development has expidited the pace of further development of the city. The industries in the area include petrochemicals, non-ferrous metallurgy, machine building and electronics. Also, textiles, refined chemicals, biological medicine, electronic information, new materials and high technology have advanced together with traditional industries. In recent years, with the continuous restructuring of industries and the economy, the high-tech industries, including high molecular synthetic material, biological medicine, and chemical refining, new building materials, have developed rapidly, have become the new economic growth points of Lanzhou.
Lanzhou is a regional commercial and financial hub. Since the five state ministries and commissions jointly approved Lanzhou as a pilot commercial and trade city, the market system has been improving. The flow of the main resources material, cash and information is on the rise. The formation of large scale commerce and trade, large scale circulation and large scale market has initially loomed. Lanzhou is ranked as one of the top ten cities nation-wide in comprehensive scientific and technological strength and density of talents.
The research and development institutes with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou Branch as the leader, the national key laboratories, with the heavy ion accelerator as the representative and the national key universities with Lanzhou University standing at the head have created excellent conditions for the development of high technology and have made Lanzhou into a key research and education base of China's western region.
The ecological construction and environmental protection of Lanzhou have continuously improved. The total investment therein is 3 billion yuan, including the reforestation of 18.8 thousand hectares of land, protection of 182 square kilometers of land from soil erosion and the completion of natural gas pipelines and safe switch and supply to natural gas from less environmentally friendly energy. There are more than 300 days when the air quality of Lanzhou is at Grade II, or better than Grade II in a year, which is a significant factor in overall quality.
The long-standing culture nurtured by the Yellow River and the advancing modern civilization have been enlightening Lanzhou's people, the people's wisdom and thought is a long tradition. The traditional celebrations are still part of people's lives, in a succession of public events and festivals. The dance drama, Grand Dream of Dunhuang has made a big hit both home and abroad and the Lanzhou traditional Drum performance has received high acclaim.
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