KANSU

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Kan-su, (Pinyin) Gansu sheng (province) of China. Administratively a part of the Northwest region, it reaches into the geographic centre of the country. It is bordered by Mongolia to the north, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to the northeast, the Hui Autonomous Region of Ningsia and the province of Shensi to the east, the Chinese provinces of Tsinghai and Szechwan to the south, and the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang to the west. A vital strategic pivot, linking China proper with the vast territory in the extreme west, the narrow corridor of Kansu has served for several centuries as a passageway between the upper Huang Ho (Yellow River) area and Chinese Turkistan. Kansu covers 141,500 square miles (366,500 square kilometres). The capital of Kansu is Lan-chou, on the south bank of the Huang Ho. WadeGiles romanization Kan-su, Pinyin Gansu, sheng (province), administratively a part of the Northwest region, reaching into the geographic centre of the People's Republic of China. It is bordered by the Mongolian People's Republic to the north; by the Chinese provinces of Tsinghai and Szechwan to the south; by the Ningsia Hui Autonomous Region, the province of Shensi, and the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region to the east; and by the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang to the west. The narrow corridor of Kansu has served for several centuries as a passageway between the upper Huang Ho (Yellow River) area and western China. Kansu became a part of Chinese territory during the Ch'in dynasty (221206 BC). It was a well-traveled corridor, renowned as the entranceway into China used by Marco Polo. The name Kansu comes from the two districts, Kan-chou and Su-chou, which Kansu comprised in the Yuan dynasty (12791368). The province was under the Ch'ing dynasty from 1644 until 1911. One of the most prominent governors general during this time was Tso Tsung-t'ang (181285), who after the Taiping and Muslim rebellions brought the province a half century of peace. Its capital is Lan-chou, a city on the south bank of the Huang Ho. Plateaus are the dominant physical features of Kansu. The area called the Kansu corridor is 120 mi. northwest of Lan-chou. This is a stretch of interior drainage where the land is relatively flat and glacier-fed streams, including the Hei (Black) River, disappear into the desert. Willows and poplars grow along the roads and ditches. Eastern Kansu is the principal centre of earthquakes in China. One of the greatest disasters of modern times occurred in 1920, when a violent earthquake centred in eastern Kansu caused great landslides. The death toll was estimated at 200,000; many cities and towns were totally destroyed. The climate in Kansu undergoes sharp fluctuations of temperature in summer and winter. Rainfall is meagre, uneven, and unpredictable. The region is frequently subjected not only to earthquakes but droughts and famines as well. The population is concentrated in the Lanchou Basin, in the fertile valley plains of the south and central sections where irrigation is possible, and in the dry terrace land of the Liu-p'an Mountains. The people are mainly Chinese, although there are groups of Mongols, Turks, and Tibetans. Most of the latter speak Chinese as a second language. Village life among the Chinese is similar to that elsewhere in northern China, with 20 to 30 families in a village. Dwellings are conventional types of mud huts. Some people live in caves, which may be elaborate, with fine furnishings, or simply scooped out of the porous yellow earth cliffs. Kansu represents a colourful mixture of races, customs, and cultures. The land abounds with mosques, lamaseries, and Chinese temples. Kansu eating habits differ slightly from those of the Chinese in other parts of the country. Rather than rice, wheat flour is eaten. Wheat is the chief crop throughout the province; barley, millet, beans, and sweet potatoes are also important food crops, although the output is insufficient to feed the population. Cotton, wool, and tobacco are produced as cash crops. Lan-chou and its vicinity are known for fruit growing. The province is rich in minerals, including oil, coal, and iron ore. Not until the 1950s were rail and highway links established between Kansu province and the rest of the country. Area 141,500 square miles (366,500 square km). Pop. (1990) 22,371,141; (1995 est.) 23,780,000. History Kansu became a part of Chinese territory during the Ch'in dynasty (221206 BC), when Chinese power began to extend up to the Kansu Corridor and into the region of modern Ningsia and Tsinghai. In ancient times all traffic between China proper and the far west was funneled through the Kansu Corridor. Along the ancient Silk Road that began at Ch'ang-an (modern Sian) and continued through the corridor, camel caravans carried the tea, silk, and porcelain of China to bazaars in the Middle East and even to the markets of Byzantium and Rome. In the train of these caravans such travelers as the Buddhist missionary Kumarajiva and the Venetian merchant Marco Polo entered China. The name of Kansu first came into existence in the Yan, or Mongol, dynasty (12061368), when it comprised the districts of Kan-chou and Su-chou. In the Ch'ing dynasty (16441911/12) Kansu covered the later provinces of Kansu, Ningsia, a part of Tsinghai, and a part of Sinkiang. The area was under the administration of a governor general of Shensi-Kansu, who was stationed at Lan-chou and had authority over both provinces. One of the most prominent governors general was Tso Tsung-t'ang (181285), who after 1878 brought a half century of peace to Kansu. A hero in the suppression of the Taiping Rebellion, Tso also helped the Ch'ing court to put down the Muslim rebellion in Kansu, which lasted for 16 years (186278) and affected more than 10,000,000 people. Before Tso assumed the governorship, Kansu was an area without law and order. The Hui in Kansu were in open rebellion, committing murder, arson, and numerous other crimes. After having effectively destroyed their strongholds, Tso extended Chinese educational and civil service systems into the conquered districts for the benefit of Hui and non-Hui alike. As a result, the violence subsided and peace prevailed. Kansu remained a province of China during the period of the Chinese republic (191149). The territory, however, shrank substantially when Sinkiang, Tsinghai, and Ningsia became independent provinces in 1928. During the 1920s and '30s the province was controlled by Muslim warlords. The provincial leader, Ma Chung-ying, of the Ma clan of Ho-chou, Kansu, was wooed by both the Japanese and Russians, but Ma came to accept nominal Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) authority in the region. Communist influence in Kansu began in 1935, after the Chinese Red Army withdrew from southeast China to Shensi, and a Communist-controlled ShensiKansuNingsia border government was established in the late 1930s. In the final stages of the civil war, the People's Liberation Army defeated Ma's troops and took Lan-chou in August 1949. The area within Kansu's jursidiction has undergone several changes since 1950. In 1954 Kansu annexed the province of Ningsia. In 1956 the A-la-shan-yu Ch'i and O-chi-na Ch'i banners in northwestern Kansu were detached and incorporated into the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In 1958 the affixed Ningsia Province was separated from Kansu to become the Hui Autonomous Region of Ningsia. In 1969 the two aforementioned banners were returned to Kansu again, leaving the territory of Kansu almost unchanged when compared with its 1950 area. In 1979, however, the banners received a decade earlier from Inner Mongolia were again detached from Kansu and transferred to Inner Mongolia. Chu-yuan Cheng Victor C. Falkenheim The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica