As the largest and capital city of Gansu, Northwest China, Lanzhou may be not famous as Dunhuang, but it still keeps irreplaceable and spectacular charm. It is the only city that China’s Mother River - Yellow River flows through, which was a crucial traffic route and commercial town on the Silk Road as well as a profound belt connecting ethnic minorities of western regions. Lanzhou is now more a transfer hub rather than a popular tourist destination.
It is often taken as a starting place of the holiday, because the city is well-connected with Qinghai (Xining), Tibet, Gansu (Zhangye, Dunhuang, Jiayuguan) and Xinjiang by high speed bullet train, together with convenient and frequent domestic flights from Beijing, Xian, Chengdu, Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc. The culture of Yellow River, Tibetan Buddhism and Ancient Silk Road are three most famous features of Lanzhou.