The so-called Hexi Corridor is a 1,000km passage of Gansu Province in northern China. It featured heavily on the Northern Silk Road in providing access from China to the rest of Asia and incorporates many interesting towns and cities.
Both the military and traders used the Hexi Corridor to get to and from northern China, through Xinjiang, into Central Asia. In its entirety, it runs from near the Gansu capital (Lanzhou) at Wushaolin hillside, right through to the Jade Gate in the northwest of Gansu, and to the border at Xinjiang.
The cities of Zhangye and Dunhuang also feature here and include a slew of oases such as Crescent Moon Lake outside Dunhuang. Tourists can do various tours of the Hexi Corridor, including treks of the snow-capped Qilian Mountains in the south, the Alashan Plateau in the north, and camel treks in the inhospitable Gobi Desert.
The town of Xining, in neighboring Qinghai Province, was once the major center of the Hexi Corridor and has a pretty mountain setting. Other major attractions on the Hexi Corridor include the Mati Si Caves near Zhangye and the Mogao Caves near Dunhuang.
Getting There & Away
The main access towns of the Hexi Corridor are Lanzhou in the south, Zhangye in the middle, and Dunhuang in the northwest. They all have airports with flights to Beijing (2 hours) and elsewhere in China. Bus travel time between Lanzhou and Dunhuang takes about 22 hours.