Kansu

/kan"sooh"/; Chin. /gahn"sooh"/, n.

Wade-Giles. Gansu.

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▪ province, China

Introduction

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.

Physical and human geography

The land

Relief

      Plateaus are the dominant physical features of Kansu. Along the southern border, the lofty Tsou-lang-nan and Ch'i-lien (Qilian Mountains) ranges separate Kansu from Tsinghai. These ranges have an average elevation of 12,900 feet (3,900 metres) above sea level. Near Lan-chou in central Kansu, the Huang Ho valley opens out, and excellent agricultural land is available. Some 120 miles (190 kilometres) northwest of Lan-chou there is a stretch of interior drainage where the land is relatively flat and where glacier-fed streams, including the Hei River, disappear into the desert; this is the area referred to as the Kansu Corridor. The higher mountains nearby are covered with forests, and their lower slopes are green with grasses, but the floor of the corridor itself is monotonously flat and barren yellow earth. Geologically, Tertiary formations (from 1.6 to 66.4 million years old) appear in a number of basins in Kansu, with strata generally composed of red clays, conglomerates, red sandstones, and gypsum.

      The topographical features of Kansu are relatively uncomplicated in the west and northwest, in contrast to the southeast, where the land has suffered local dislocations from earthquakes (earthquake). In the northwest there are very few mountains but rather a hilly terrain that merges into the Gobi (Desert) to the east. The average altitude is about 3,000 feet. The eastern part of Kansu is the principal centre of earthquakes in China. From the 6th century AD to the present, major earthquakes have taken place on an average of once every 65 years, while minor quakes occur at least once every 10 years. 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 246,000, and many cities and towns totally vanished.

Climate

      The climate in Kansu undergoes sharp fluctuations of temperature in summer (June to August) and winter (December to February), with uneven and unpredictable precipitation throughout the year. In the west the average January temperature is 18° F (−8° C) in Chiu-ch'üan, for instance, and 19° F (−7° C) in Tun-huang, 200 miles west of Chiu-ch'üan. The temperature in July in Chiu-ch'üan is 70° F (21° C), and in Tun-huang it is 81° F (27° C). Annual temperature variations for most parts of Kansu are more than 54° F (30° C).

      Rainfall is meagre throughout most of Kansu. As one goes farther inland, the precipitation becomes increasingly less frequent. In the western part of the province annual rainfall ranges from two inches (50 millimetres) at Tun-huang to three inches at Chiu-ch'üan. Irrigation depends mainly on melting snow from the Ch'i-lien Mountains. The southeastern part of the province, something of an exception to the general pattern, receives a relatively abundant rainfall. In P'ing-liang, 170 miles east of Lan-chou, rainfall reaches 20 inches. Summer is usually the period of maximum precipitation.

Plant and animal life

      Although vegetation is rather limited in the mountain area, primeval forests still exist in the high mountains of the Liu-p'an range in the eastern part of Kansu. On the floor of the Kansu Corridor, willows and poplars grow along the roads and ditches. Wild animals include marmots, deer, and foxes.

Settlement patterns

      The Han (Chinese) and the Hui (Chinese Muslims) are essentially agriculturists, although some engage in trade and industry. The Mongols are pastoralists or are seminomadic. Important urban areas are centred on Lan-chou. The largest city in eastern Kansu is P'ing-liang. A major centre in western Kansu is Chiu-ch'üan, and nearby are the respective oil and mining centres of Yü-men and Chia-yü-kuan. The population is concentrated in the Lan-chou 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. In western Kansu, population is intensively concentrated in a number of small, isolated oases scattered along the bases of the high snow-capped ranges.

The people

      The Han constitute the main racial group in Kansu. Other ethnic groups are the Monguors (Mongols), the Turks (Salars and Sarig Uighurs), and the Tibetans (Tibetan). There are Mongols to the west of Lan-chou and Tibetans scattered over an area enclosed by the Chuang-lang, Ta-t'ung, and Huang rivers.

      The Han majority tends to follow the same traditional religious practices, such as Buddhism, generally observed elsewhere in China. The most important minority group in Kansu is the Hui, living mostly in the north and west; some are of Arab, Turkish, or Mongol origin. A few Muslims are converted Chinese. The Hui include believers in both the Sunnī and Shīʿah traditions. Tibetans and Mongols follow Tibetan Buddhism. Almost every Tibetan family has at least one son in a Buddhist monastery.

      Most of the ethnic groups, including the Tibetan minority, speak Chinese as a second language. The Monguors, however, whose language differs completely from either Western or Eastern Mongolian, rarely speak a second language. Hui use both Chinese and Arabic scripts, although Arabic is usually used only for religious purposes.

      Village life among the Han inhabitants is generally similar to that elsewhere in North China. In Hui villages, however, the religious-communal life-style is distinctly different. There is a small public building that serves as a mosque, where children gather regularly to receive religious instruction and to learn the alphabet and phonetics. Hui villages are, by comparison, more organized and possess more community spirit than is usual in the Han villages. Hitherto the two peoples have been mutually segregated.

      Tibetan villages, in many aspects, are similar to Han villages. Those Tibetans who are sedentary, however, have no clearly defined clan organization, and their family ties are much looser than among the Han.

      Village dwellings are generally mud huts. Some people live in caves—which may be elaborate, with fine furnishings, or simply scooped out of the porous yellow earth cliffs. Brick structures predominate in cities and towns. The eating habits of the people are slightly different from those of the Chinese in other parts of the nation. Coarse grains and wheat flour, rather than rice, are consumed.

The economy

      Traditionally, Kansu has been an area of poverty. The frequency of earthquakes, droughts, and famines has contributed to the economic instability and low agricultural productivity of the region. Endowed with rich mineral resources, however, Kansu is building itself into a vital industrial base to support the exploitation of the province of Tsinghai to the south and the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang to the far west.

Resources

      Kansu's minerals of greatest value are the oil reserves of Yü-men, in northwestern Kansu, and coal reserves, the chief mine of which is located about 20 miles south of Lan-chou. There is a large deposit of iron ore in the Tsou-lang-nan Mountains area in western Kansu. Other mineral resources include nickel, copper, lead, zinc, antimony, and rare earth metals. There are also deposits of limestone, gypsum, quartz, and other materials used in construction.

Agriculture

      Although it is predominantly an agricultural area, and despite the fact that the per capita landholding is much larger than the national mean, output of food grain is insufficient to feed the population. The extent of cultivation in different areas depends on the elevation, the steepness of the slope of the land, and the dryness of the climate. High elevation has a greater precipitation and is therefore more favourable for farming. Terracing is prevalent and is practiced on about one-fifth of all of the cultivated land. Much of the hill land is cultivated by the use of a modified form of contour plowing. Because the slopes of the fields are so steep, however, and the fields so extensive, erosion is a serious problem, and some of the land has been abandoned. Agriculture in this area depends on the improvement of irrigation.

      Some modernization has taken place since 1949, including increased irrigation and mechanization and the introduction of chemical fertilizers. The fertile Kansu Corridor produces most of the province's food crops, which include wheat, barley, millet, corn (maize), and tubers. The province is also a modest producer of sugar beets, rapeseed, soybeans, and a variety of fruits. Attempts have been made to increase agricultural output by transforming vast areas of wasteland along the Kansu Corridor into cotton fields. More than one-third of this area is suitable for cotton. In addition, wool and tobacco are produced as cash crops. Kansu is famous for its water-pipe tobacco, which is raised near Lan-chou and farther west. Kansu's vast grasslands support large herds of livestock, about half of which are sheep. Bactrian (two-humped) camels are raised in the Kansu Corridor.

Industry

      Since 1950 strenuous efforts have been made to develop Kansu into an industrial base for northwestern China, with Lan-chou as its focus. A traditional regional centre located at the crossroads to Central Asia and the old Silk Road, Lan-chou has been a processing centre and entrepôt for centuries. Modern industrial development began only with the arrival of the railroad to Lan-chou in 1952 and its penetration through the Kansu Corridor to Yü-men and beyond in the mid-1950s. During the mid-1950s emphasis was placed on establishing heavy industry in Lan-chou. The city became a major producer of petroleum and now has dozens of other large modern industrial enterprises, including plants that produce petroleum drilling and refining equipment, locomotive equipment, chemical fertilizers, and petrochemicals. Efforts have also been made to build Lan-chou into a base for nuclear industry. Other important industrial installations in Kansu include the oil refinery at Yü-men and the iron-and-steel plant at nearby Chiu-ch'üan.

Transportation

      The major barrier to development in this area has been the absence of transportation facilities. Before 1952 only the Lung-hai Railway connected Kansu with the coastal area; in that year an extension between Lan-chou and T'ien-shui to the southeast was completed. In addition, a railway extends northwestward from Lan-chou via Yü-men to Wu-lu-mu-ch'i, the capital of Sinkiang. Railways have also been built connecting Lan-chou to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and to the rich mineral area of the Tsaidam Basin in northwest Tsinghai. The highway system has also been greatly expanded. Highways radiate from Lan-chou toward Tsinghai, Sinkiang, Inner Mongolia, Shensi, and Szechwan. Because of considerable silting and the river's seasonal flow, navigation on the Huang Ho is limited to the section between Lan-chou and Chung-wei.

Administration and social conditions

Government

      From 1949 to 1954 Kansu was subject to the authority of the Northwest Military Affairs Commission. After 1954 the province came directly under the jurisdiction of the central government in Peking. Lan-chou, however, remained a military regional headquarters.

      The provincial government has its headquarters in Lan-chou. Three municipalities (shih) are under the direct supervision of the provincial government—Lan-chou itself; Chia-yü-kuan, at the western terminus of the Great Wall (which runs from northwest to southeast through the province); and Chin-ch'ang in the central sector of Kansu. Intermediate administrative divisions include eight prefectures (ti-ch'ü) and two autonomous prefectures (tzu-chih-chou)—the Lin-hsia-hui-tsu Autonomous Prefecture, inhabited by Hui, and the Kan-nan-tsang-tsu Autonomous Prefecture, inhabited by Tibetans. On the third level of administration the province is further divided into counties (hsien), autonomous counties (tzu-chih hsien), and municipalities (shih) under county jurisdiction.

Education

      The educational standard is comparatively lower than elsewhere in North China, and the percentage of people with at least a primary-level education is well below the national average. Since 1950 educational facilities have been greatly expanded, however. Universities and colleges are mostly located in Lan-chou, including Lan-chou University, the Northwest Normal College, and the Northwest Institute for Minorities. Special colleges providing training for railway work, the petroleum industry, animal husbandry, and veterinary medicine are also established in Lan-chou.

Health and welfare

      By Western standards, the area is backward in health and sanitation. The most common diseases are the fecal-borne intestinal diseases spread through the use of human waste as fertilizer. The shortage of water supplies and the lack of modern doctors, nurses, and pharmacists constitute a serious problem. The state has funded projects to dig wells and channel water in afflicted areas.

      Welfare is more concerned with the victims of natural disasters than with the poor in general. Frequent earthquakes and severe droughts require the government to assume responsibility for relief. In the Hui community, a part of the public welfare is organized by the Muslims themselves; Muslim officials collect obligatory charity for this purpose. Since 1949 the government has made general progress in Kansu with its welfare program for workers and peasants. New residential areas, for instance, have been built in Chiu-ch'üan for families of workers in the Yü-men oil fields. Medical clinics have been established in remote areas, where most people previously relied on local herb doctors.

Cultural life

      Kansu represents a colourful mixture of races, customs, and cultures. The land abounds with mosques, monasteries of lamas, and Chinese temples.

      Communal life in Han villages is marked by religious observances, particularly rituals connected with ancestor worship; seasonal celebrations, such as the New Year, the Dragon Boat Festival, and the Moon Festival; and customs relating to birth, marriage, funerals, and burials. All of these activities are similar to those of the Han throughout the nation. Village theatricals provide another type of communal activity.

      Most of the Monguors and Tibetans (Tibetan) have abandoned their nomadic way of life and have become sedentary villagers. They live in brick and mud houses resembling their former tents (yurts). Tibetans insist on simultaneous group actions within the village. Every year, when the first day of spring planting is determined by the horoscope, for instance, the villagers go to the fields in their best clothing. The fields are then plowed simultaneously, and the seeds are sown at the same time in each field. During the course of the growing season, the villagers periodically parade through the fields carrying holy books on their heads.

      The Hui are faithful followers of Islām (Islāmic world) and strictly observe the month-long fast of Ramaḍān, during which they abstain from food, drink, and sexual intercourse between sunrise and sunset. Before darkness falls, pious, bearded men say their prayers in public, and one or two of the elders may preach on points of theology, quoting the Qurʾān in oddly mutilated Arabic. At nightfall a communal feast is eaten; the community fires blaze all night, and people call and shout to one another. Among the Hui, the ḥājjīs, those who have completed the pilgrimage to Mecca, are highly respected in the community. The number of pilgrimages has, however, decreased considerably since 1949.

      The western part of Kansu has long been a region renowned for ancient and classic artistic works. Stone caves in Tun-huang have many kinds of religious paintings on their walls, dating from the T'ang dynasty (AD 618–907). In Wu-wei large numbers of writings on bamboo slips have been found on the sites of the old frontier garrisons of the Han Empire (206 BC–AD 220). In 1964 a coherent bamboo text comprising a large part of one of the classic works on ritual (the I Li) came to light in western Kansu. In Tun-huang, within a Buddhist cave-temple, a library was discovered that had been immured there in the year 1035. It consisted of voluminous rolls of texts, including many valuable paintings and Buddhist classics.

History

      Kansu became a part of Chinese territory during the Ch'in dynasty (221–206 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 Kumārajīva and the Venetian merchant Marco Polo entered China.

      The name of Kansu first came into existence in the Yüan (Yüan Dynasty), or Mongol, dynasty (1206–1368), when it comprised the districts of Kan-chou and Su-chou. In the Ch'ing Dynasty (1644–1911/12) 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 (1812–85), 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 (1862–78) 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 (1911–49). 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 (Chinese Communist Party) Red Army withdrew from southeast China to Shensi, and a Communist-controlled Shensi–Kansu–Ningsia 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 Ed.

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