Green Band on Silk Road--Hexi Corridor

After leaving Lanzhou and running westward along the Yellow River, in almost one and half-hours, the train crosses Yellow River at a place named Hekou. Geographically speaking, the place crossing Yellow River can be exactly called Hexi and also from this place, people begin to speak of Hexi Corridor.

There are green region, river, Gobi and desert dotted in Hexi Corridor. With its plain tettain and abundant products, the corridor is just like a green band in northwest Gansu.

The Corridor starts at the Black Sheath Mountain from east and ends at Jiayu Pass to west. It leans Qilian Mountains on south, and from north it clings to Hexi Mountains and Youshou Mountains. Teng Geli Desert and Badanjilin Desert are on its north. From east to west, its whole length is 100 kilometers and the width is 1,000 kilometers. It has an average elevation of 1,400 meters above sea level.

In the Han Dynasty, four famous prefectures of Hexi were established here, which consisted of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang. And the old saying “gold Zhangye and sliver Wuwei” began coming into being.

On a train banging all day and all night, when looking at the green areas appearing outside intermittently and Qilian Mountains with its parts 4,000 meters above sea level covered with ice and snow, tourists will fancy an old story happened here. The historical celebrities like Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty, Wei Qing and Huo Qubing come before their eyes vividly.

Wei Qing was Emperor Wu’s brother in-law and brother of Queen Wei. Huo Qubing was an illegitimate child of the elder sister of Queen Wei. According to this, Hu Qubing was the nephew of both Wei Qing and Emperor wu. All the three people played a significant role in Chinese history.

When he was still a child, Hu Qubing was very weak. He caught diseases consequently. He always cried and cried. Once in the palace he disturbed the rest of Emperor Wu. In order to make him grow healthy, Emperor Wu, Liu Che gave him the name Huo Qubing.

At the age of 18, Huo Qubing started to escort Emperor Wu. He was good at both horse art and arrow shooting and he always fought against Hun invaders with his uncle Wei Qing. After 20,in 121AD,he led his troops going to Hexi Corridor individually for two times. Once he arrived at Rouge Mountains, and the other time Qilian Mountains, capturing 40,000 Hun invaders. He forced King Hunye to kill King Xiutu and lead 10,000 persons subjecting to Han Dynasty. From then on, east from Lanzhou, west to Robujor (now the Luobu Desert), the invaders were swept and Hexi Corridor was added on the map of Han Dynasty.

Written by www.travel-silkroad.com
Translated by Beijing Star-light Translation Center
September 12, 2002