Gansu

Gansu is a province in the northwest of China and lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus. Historically, it is the combination of the two regions, gan and su, and marked the end or beginning of China proper depending upon if you were traveling east towards Xi'an Shaanxi or west towards Qinghai, Xinjiang and even Central Asia. Gansu's western frontier thus juts right into the borders of the vast steppes of Mongolia, the unforgiving deserts of Xinjiang and the high mountain wastelands of the Tibetan Plateau. The Yellow River passes through the southern part of the province.

Gansu spans the Qinghai-Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Loess plateaus in the upper reaches of the Yellow River. The topography is complex and the climate unpredictable. The river valleys in the south belong to a subtropical zone while the north is an arid temperate zone. The province was a center for East-West cultural exchangesas early as the Han and Tang dynasties. Many people go to Gansu to seek out the the roots of world civilization. The 1,600-km-long Silk Road of the Han and Tang dynasties unfailingly brings the visitor to such places as the grottoes at Dunhuang (a veritable world-class treasure house of art), the Jiayuguan Pass on the Great Wall of China, Majiishan Grottoes of Tianshui, the Labrang Temple of Xiahe, the Great Buddha Temple at Zhangeye and the bronze sculpture of galloping horse in Wuwei.

Gansu has a population of 26 million in 2009 and has a large concentration of Hui Chinese, and the historical home, along with Shaanxi of the dialect of the Dungans, who are Hui who migrated to Central Asia. The southwestern corner of Gansu is home to a large ethnic Tibetan population. The capital is Lanzhou, located in the southeast part of the province.

Gansu is home to some of the largest and most important Tibetan monasteries outside of Tibet province. Travel by local bus across high, frigid plateaus to reach them. Ride horses across the plateaus past yurts. Share lunch with Tibetan monks. Share yak butter tea with monks. This part of China bears almost no resemblance to Eastern Han China. Empty, wild, culturally and ethnically distinct, it offers some of the most exhilarating travel in the world.

Imagine 7 hours of travel across a high plateau in a rickety bus dating from 1970. Every few hours, one of your neighbors, swathed in yak wool, stops the bus, dismounts, and starts walking to the horizon. You can see for 20 miles in all directions. There are no towns in sight. It is an empty and riveting land.
Beware of the time of year you travel there. It is wicked cold even in May. In the most interesting rural areas , very few housing options are available. Probably, there will be no heat. So bring layers or buy a yak wool coat.