Hexi Corridor

The Hexi Corridor (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell),Template:Efn also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China. It refers to a narrow stretch of traversable and relatively arable plain west of the Yellow River's Ordos Loop (hence the name Hexi, meaning 'west of the river'), flanked between the much more elevated and inhospitable terrains of the Mongolian and Tibetan Plateaus.

As part of the Northern Silk Road, running northwest from the western section of the Ordos Loop between Yinchuan and Lanzhou, the Hexi Corridor was the most important trade route in Northwest China. It linked China proper to the historic Western Regions for traders and military incursions into Central Asia. It is a string of oases along the northern edges of the Qilian Mountains and Altyn-Tagh, with the high and desolate Tibetan Plateau further to the south. To the north are the Longshou, Heli and Mazong Mountains separating it from the arid Badain Jaran Desert, Gobi Desert and the cold steppes of the Mongolian Plateau. At the western end, the route splits into three, going either north of the Tianshan Mountains or south on either side of the Tarim Basin. At the eastern end, the mountains around Lanzhou grants access to the Longxi Basin, which leads east through Mount Long along the Wei River valley into the populous Guanzhong Plain, and then into the Central Plain.

Geography

The Hexi Corridor is located in western Gansu Province. It stretches roughly Template:Convert from the Wushao Mountains in the east to Yumen Pass in the west, Template:Convert from north to south, ranges from Template:Convert in width, and covers an area of approximately Template:Convert or around 60% of the area of Gansu Province. Its population was 4.82 million people in 2011, representing around 19% of the province's total population. As of 2024, the corridor contains 20 administrative divisions and five prefecture-level cities, which are, from east to west: Wuwei, Jinchang, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Jiayuguan.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The elevation of the Hexi Corridor descends from around Template:Convert above sea level in the southeast to Template:Convert in the northwest,Template:Sfn and is internally divided by three uplifts into four intermontane basins.Template:Sfn It is bordered by the Qilian Mountains in the south and southeast, the Kumtag Desert to the west, the Mazong, Helan, and Longshou Mountains to the north, the Badain Jaran Desert to the northeast, and the Tengger Desert to the southeast.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Qilian Mountains run south of the Hexi Corridor for Template:Convert and contain several peaks exceeding Template:Convert above sea level, while the mountains to the north generally range from Template:Convert in height.Template:Sfn

Three major inland rivers flow through the Hexi Corridor: the Shiyang, Heihe, and Shule rivers. These rivers originate from the melting of glaciers and snow in the Qilian Mountain and form extensive alluvial fans and inland drainage basins in their lower reaches, beyond which lie deserts and large sand dune fields. Arable land in the Hexi Corridor mainly consists of regions around the oases that form in the deserts and around the rivers, which have supported both nomadic populations and settled civilizations for millennia.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

History

Prehistory

The Hexi Corridor has been the site of cultural exchanges across Eurasia since prehistory.Template:Sfn It was first settled around 4800Template:NbspBP in Neolithic times by millet farmers from the Yangshao Culture in the western Loess Plateau,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn who enabled the spread of millet to Central Asia and the rest of Eurasia and Africa.Template:Sfn These farmers also used pottery production techniques from Northern China.Template:Sfn Several cultures developed in the Hexi corridor during this time, such as the Majiayao, Banshan, and Machang.Template:Sfn

The oldest known bronze object discovered in China, dating to 5000–4500 BP, was unearthed at the Majiayao site.Template:Sfn The introduction of copper-smelting technology around 4200 BP marked the beginning of the Bronze Age in the Hexi Corridor,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and bronze production reached its peak between 4000 and 3500 BP.Template:Sfn Bronze artifacts from the Hexi Corridor dating to this period account for approximately 70 percent of all bronze objects found in China prior to the Shang dynasty.Template:Sfn During this time, domesticated livestock were introduced to the region,Template:Sfn so local cultures such as the Shajing, Qijia, Xichengyi, Siba, and Shanma developed agricultural economies based on smelting copper, cultivating millet, and herding animals such as sheep, pigs, cattle, and horses.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Wheat and barley from the Fertile Crescent arrived in the Hexi Corridor via Central Asia around 4000 BP,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and later spread into China proper.Template:Sfn By around 3700–3500Template:NbspBP, most likely due to the continual weakening and retreat of the East Asian monsoon since 4000Template:NbspBP which had caused increasing aridity,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn the more drought-resistant wheat and barley had replaced millet as the main staple crop in the Hexi Corridor.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Cultures after this time period (such as the Shajing culture) saw a decrease in site numbers and bronze artifacts,Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn and became dominated by nomadic production rather than agriculture.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Han dynasty

File:Han dynasty (60 BC) with the Hexi Corridor highlighted.png

The Han dynasty in 60 BCETemplate:Plainlist

Template:See alsoThe nomadic Yuezhi resided in the Hexi Corridor in the 3rd centuryTemplate:NbspBCE.Template:Sfn The Great Wall of China was constructed into parts of the Hexi Corridor following the Qin-Xiongnu Wars,Template:Sfn and the defeated Xiongnu formed a confederacy under leader Modu Chanyu.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 176Template:NbspBCE, the Xiongnu defeated the Yuezhi, most of whom fled from the region while the remaining population moved south into the Qilian (Nanshan) Mountains to live with the Qiang.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Xiongnu were subsequently in complete control of the Hexi Corridor.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

During the Han-Xiongnu Wars, Han dynasty general Huo Qubing expelled the Xiongnu from the Hexi Corridor at the Template:Ill (121Template:NbspBCE).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The province of Liangzhou was created with its capital at Guzang (modern Wuwei City), within which the commanderies of Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang (the Four Commanderies of Hexi) were established.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn This gave the Han dynasty control over major trade routes to Central Asia and is regarded by most scholars as the beginning of the Silk Road.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Agricultural garrison towns were established in the Hexi Corridor to secure the route and the Great Wall was extended to Yumen Pass Template:Convert west of Dunhuang.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Additionally, the Han dynasty's acquisition of the Hexi Corridor allowed them to conquer the Tarim Basin and establish the Protectorate of the Western Regions in 60Template:NbspBCE,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn and proved instrumental in defeating the Xiongnu as it prevented contact between them and the Qiang.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

File:Han Dynasty Granary west of Dunhuang.jpg

Ruins of the Big Fangpan Castle at Yumen Pass, the western end of the Han-era Great Wall.

Following the collapse of the interregnum Xin dynasty in 23Template:NbspCE, the Hexi Corridor was settled by large numbers of Qiang people and came under the control of warlord Template:Ill, who submitted to the reinstated Eastern Han dynasty in 29Template:NbspCE.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the 2nd century CE, millions of Han settlers withdrew from the Hexi Corridor when the Qiang began to raid the region.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Yuezhi, Xiongnu, and Qiang instigated the Liangzhou Rebellion in 184, which largely isolated the Hexi Corridor from central control and contributed to the fall of the Han dynasty.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn By the end of the Han dynasty, the Hexi Corridor was occupied by warlords Han Sui, Ma Teng and Ma Chao.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 214, warlord Cao Cao conquered the region and incorporated it into his state of Cao Wei.Template:Sfn

Six Dynasties and Sixteen Kingdoms

File:五胡一六国.gif

Timeline of the Sixteen Kingdoms.

Template:See also Cao Cao's son Cao Pi of Wei deposed the Han dynasty in 220, marking the start of the Three Kingdoms era.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 230, rival Three Kingdoms state Shu Han attacked the Hexi Corridor as part of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions.Template:Sfn In 266, Cao Wei became the Jin dynasty, which inherited the Hexi Corridor.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 270, the Xianbei, related to the Xiongnu, began a rebellion in the region which lasted until 279.Template:Sfn Starting in the late 3rd century, groups such as the Kushans (descended from the Yuezhi) and Sogdians established a widespread presence in the Hexi Corridor as merchants along the Silk Road.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These groups contributed significantly to the spread of belief systems such as Buddhism into the Hexi Corridor.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

File:Dunhuang Mogao Ku 2013.12.31 12-30-18.jpg

Part of the Mogao Caves, near Dunhuang.

The state of Former Liang was founded in the Hexi Corridor in the early 4th century, and became the longest-lasting and most politically stable of the Sixteen Kingdoms.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 376, Former Liang was conquered by Former Qin; various parts of the Hexi Corridor then came under the control of Later Liang in 386, Southern and Northern Liang in 397, and Western Liang in 400, before reunifying under Northern Liang in 421.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn During this period, the Hexi Corridor was spared from much of the turmoil of the Central China Plains, which caused increased migration to the region and led to it becoming a centre of culture in China.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Buddhist culture and activity flourished in the region; the first of the Mogao Caves were constructed during this time,Template:Sfn and the extensive creation of Buddhist artworks and translation of texts at this time directly contributed to the adoption of the religion in the rest of China.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 439, Northern Wei conquered Northern Liang and ended the Sixteen Kingdoms era, though the final Northern Liang stronghold at Dunhuang remained until 442.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A garrison was then established at Dunhuang to defend against the Rouran and significant numbers of civilians were moved from the Hexi Corridor to the Wei capital at Pingcheng, promoting the readoption of classical Chinese culture and spread of Buddhism in the Central Plains.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the 470s, the Northern Wei government considered abandoning the Hexi Corridor due to repeated raids by the Rouran. They later defeated the Rouran in 492, although the region remained largely desolate into the early 6th century.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn After the fall of Northern Wei, the Hexi Corridor came into the control of Western Wei in 535, which became Northern Zhou in 557.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Medieval history

File:Tibetan empire greatest extent 780s-790s CE.png

A map showing the Hexi Corridor under Tibetan control in the late 780s.

In 581, Northern Zhou became the Sui dynasty,Template:Sfn which later reunited China Proper for the first time in three centuries.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 609, Emperor Yang of Sui toured the region and personally commanded an expedition against the Tuyuhun to protect its trade routes.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Warlord Li Gui seized control of the Hexi Corridor in 617 and proclaimed himself ruler of Liang, which was conquered by the newly-founded Tang dynasty in 619.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 627, Buddhist monk Xuanzang passed through the Hexi Corridor on his way to India.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Between 630 and 657, the Tang dynasty conquered territories from several Central Asian states to secure the Hexi Corridor and consolidate control over the Silk Road.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The renewed stability encouraged trade and cultural exchange; goods as well as religions such as Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, and Islam spread through the region into central China, and cities in the Hexi Corridor became increasingly cosmopolitan.Template:Sfn This expansion also brought the Tang into conflict with the Tibetan Empire, which began encroaching on the Hexi Corridor around 670.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 711, the Hexi Corridor was organised under a military governor (jiedushi) as one of nine frontier commands of the Tang dynasty,Template:Sfn which by 742 possessed a quarter of all horses in the empire and represented its third-largest military force.Template:Sfn

File:Mogao Cave 156 battle.jpg

One of several murals at the Mogao Caves commissioned by general Zhang Yichao's successors depicting his victory over Tibetan forces.Template:Sfn

Tang forces were withdrawn from the Hexi Corridor following the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion in 755 and the Tibetan Empire gradually occupied the region, culminating in their capture of Dunhuang in 786 and the rest of the Hexi Corridor in the 790s.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Following this, residents of the region adopted various Tibetan customs such as the use of Tibetan names and the Tibetan script, which continued even after the Tang dynasty reasserted control.Template:Sfn Tibetan influence in the Hexi Corridor during this period led to the spread of Tibetan Buddhist culture to the rest of Eurasia, where it remained a dominant culture into the early 20th century.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The Tibetan Empire collapsed in 842;Template:Sfn the Hexi Corridor was then seized by warlord Zhang Yichao in 848, who established the Tang-loyal Guiyi Circuit in 851.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Guiyi Circuit reunified the Hexi Corridor and reached its greatest extent in the 860s.Template:Sfn Its power and territory then steadily declined under pressure from two Uyghur states: the Qocho Kingdom in the Tarim Basin to the west and the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom to the east,Template:Sfn which was founded after the Guiyi Circuit lost control of its eastern provinces in the 880s.Template:Sfn

By the early 10th century, the Guiyi Circuit was confined to the area surrounding Dunhuang, and was almost completely isolated from the rest of China by the Ganzhou Uyghurs' seizure of goods along the Silk Road.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 911, the Guiyi Circuit became a vassal of the Ganzhou Uyghurs and reopened the Silk Road in 925.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn After this, Dunhuang once again became a centre of culture in the region;Template:Sfn some of the largest temples at the Mogao Caves were constructed during this time, and Buddhist texts produced at Dunhuang were freely distributed to the Ganzhou and Qocho kingdoms. This revival was partly driven and financed by the diplomatic relations that the three states maintained with one another and with the dominant dynasties of the Central Plains.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Western Xia dynasty and Mongol rule

File:Western Xia.png

The Western Xia dynasty at its greatest extent around 1150.

The timeline of the Hexi Corridor's conquest by the Tangut-led Western Xia dynasty remains somewhat unclear, with Western Xia likely beginning its invasion in 1028 and completing the conquest in 1036.Template:Sfn However, a state (possibly the Guiyi Circuit or a Uyghur kingdom) in the vicinity of Dunhuang may have remained independent until at least 1052, though the Tanguts controlled the entire region by the 1070s.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn After the conquest of the Hexi Corridor, large numbers of civilians were mobilized for a campaign against the Song dynasty and the region's trade routes were increasingly bypassed by merchants, leading to a decline in the region's prosperity.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 1205, the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan plundered the Hexi Corridor in the first of their attacks on Western Xia; this was followed in 1209 by a full-scale invasion launched through the corridor which led to Western Xia's submission as a vassal in 1210.Template:Sfn Genghis Khan invaded once again in 1225, conquering the entire Hexi Corridor in 1226 and the rest of Western Xia in 1227, the year of his death.Template:Sfn

Sometime between 1271 and 1275 (shortly after the establishment of the Mongol Yuan dynasty), Marco Polo travelled through the Hexi Corridor on his way to Xanadu, and recorded sights such as the giant reclining Buddha statue at Zhangye and the region's yaks.Template:Sfn

Ming and Qing dynasties

File:20160507 China 6097 Jiayuguan sRGB (29881726912).jpg

The Great Wall east of Jiayu Pass, constructed 1539–1541 during the Ming dynasty.Template:Sfn

In 1370, the newly-established Ming dynasty seized the eastern section of the Hexi Corridor from the Mongols and captured most of the remaining territory in 1372.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Later that same year, they constructed Jiayu Pass Template:Convert east of Dunhuang,Template:Sfn which left the city under the control of the Northern Yuan dynasty and led to it largely being abandoned.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn By this point, the Hexi Corridor had largely lost its importance as a major trade route.Template:Sfn

Like the Han dynasty over a millennium prior, the Ming dynasty established garrison towns along the frontier shortly after their conquest of the region.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In 1524, Jiayu Pass was closed and Dunhuang was occupied by the Turfan Khanate.Template:Sfn The Ming dynasty rebuilt the Great Wall through the Hexi Corridor from 1539–1541 and added an extension in 1573.Template:Sfn

In 1644, the Hexi Corridor was briefly seized by the short-lived Shun dynasty until Qing forces under general Ajige defeated them in 1645.Template:Sfn In 1648, Muslim rebels led by Template:Ill occupied most of Gansu and retreated west to the Hexi Corridor in June of that year, where the rebels held out against Qing generals Template:Ill and Template:Ill in the cities of Ganzhou (Zhangye) and Suzhou (Jiuquan) until 1649.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn After the Qing victory, 5,000 rebels were executed and Muslims in the Hexi Corridor were resettled away from major cities.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Between 1674 and 1676, the Hexi Corridor was isolated from the rest of the Qing dynasty during the Revolt of the Three Feudatories, in which Zhang Yong and his lieutenants played a major role in its suppression.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

File:Dungan Revolt Map.png

A map of Zuo Zongtang's military campaign against the Dungan Revolt.

Thousands of soldiers and farmers were settled in the Hexi Corridor to cultivate the land in the 1720s as part of a defensive system designed to isolate the Dzungar Khanate from Kokonor (Qinghai),Template:Sfn where a Dzungar uprising had been quelled.Template:Sfn By the 1750s, yields of millet and wheat, the region's two main crops, had become so high that the Qing dynasty frequently redistributed its harvest across the empire to stabilize grain prices and alleviate famines.Template:Sfn

Most of the Hexi Corridor fell to Muslim rebels in 1865 during the Dungan Revolt, which triggered further revolts in Xinjiang.Template:Sfn In 1873, General Zuo Zongtang laid siege to Jiuquan with 15,000 soldiers, and attacked its walls with siege guns and explosives. More than 7,000 Muslims were executed after the city's capture, and the remaining Muslims in the Hexi Corridor were resettled to southeastern Gansu to prevent future collaboration with Muslims in Xinjiang.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

In 1907, archaeologist Aurel Stein explored the Hexi Corridor, where he rediscovered treasures such as the Mogao Caves and a collection of ancient Sogdian letters in Dunhuang.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Modern era

File:嘉峪关 兰新铁路关城景区段之HXD1C-6133牵引货列 01.jpg

The Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway near Jiayuguan City.

The Hexi Corridor, along with the rest of Gansu, was seized by Hui Muslim warlords in 1911 following the collapse of the Qing dynasty and the onset of the Warlord Era. These warlords established the Ma clique, which declared its allegiance to the newly-formed Kuomintang government in 1927.Template:Sfn In August 1949, Gansu was captured by the People's Liberation Army during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War.Template:Sfn

The Lanzhou–Xinjiang railway, which runs through the Hexi Corridor, began construction in 1952 and opened in 1963.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1987, the Mogao Caves were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Lanzhou–Xinjiang high-speed railway, also passing through the Hexi Corridor, began construction in 2009 and opened in 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2025, the Chinese government announced a plan to construct a Template:Convert "national heritage route" along the Hexi Corridor, which is expected to be completed in ten years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Geography and climate

The Hexi Corridor is a long, narrow passage stretching for some Template:Convert from the steep Wushaolin hillside near the modern city of Lanzhou to the Jade Gate<ref name="ISBN_9868141982">Zhihong Wang, Dust in the Wind: Retracing Dharma Master Xuanzang's Western Pilgrimage, 經典雜誌編著, 2006 Template:ISBN</ref> at the border of Gansu and Xinjiang. There are many fertile oases along the path, watered by rivers flowing from the Qilian Mountains, such as the Shiyang, Jinchuan, Ejin (Heihe), and Shule Rivers.

A strikingly inhospitable environment surrounds this chain of oases: the snow-capped Qilian Mountains (the so-called "southern mountains" or "Nanshan") to the south; the Beishan ("northern mountains") mountainous area, the Alashan Plateau, and the vast expanse of the Gobi desert to the north.

Geologically, the Hexi Corridor belongs to a Cenozoic foreland basin system on the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

File:阳关烽燧遗址航拍3.jpg

The ruins of a Han dynasty watchtower made of rammed earth at Dunhuang.

The ancient trackway formerly passed through Haidong, Xining and the environs of Juyan Lake, serving an effective area of about Template:Convert. It was an area where mountain and desert limited caravan traffic to a narrow trackway, where relatively small fortifications could control passing traffic.<ref>Template:Cite web </ref>

There are several major cities along the Hexi Corridor. In western Gansu Province is Dunhuang (Shazhou), then Yumen, then Jiayuguan, then Jiuquan (Suzhou), then Zhangye (Ganzhou) in the center, then Jinchang, then Wuwei (Liangzhou) and finally Lanzhou in the southeast. In the past, Dunhuang was part of the area known as the Western Regions. South of Gansu Province, in the middle just over the provincial boundary, lies the city of Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province. Xining used to be the chief commercial hub of the Hexi Corridor.

The Jiayuguan fort guards the western entrance to China. It is located in Jiayuguan pass at the narrowest point of the Hexi Corridor, some Template:Convert southwest of the city of Jiayuguan. The Jiayuguan fort is the first fortification of Great Wall of China in the west.

See also

• Liang Province
• Juyan Lake Basin
• Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

References

Sources

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