Location: situated in western part of Gansu province, midway of Hexi Corridor; located between 9720'-10212' east longitude and 3728'-3957' north latitude

Neighboring Areas: Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Qinghai provinces, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regions

Physical Features: located in the area where the Qinghai-Tibet and Inner Mongolia Plateaus adjoin; borders the Mt. Qilianshan in the south, Mountain. Helishan and Mountain. Longshoushan in the north, long and narrow clime which shapes as a running horse; the highest altitude in southeast reaches 5564 meters and the lowest altitude in northwest is 1284 meters; the elevation of Zhangye city is 1474 meters

Population: 1.17 million
Area: 41,900 sq km

History: anciently named Ganzhou, Zhangye was a famous commercial port on the Silk Road and one of the biggest international trade markets in the country. Merchants from the west kept coming here for trading. Irrigation from the Black and Shandan rivers makes agriculture here quite developed. It gains the reputation of "lush southern-type fields in the desert".
Nationalities: Han, Yugu, Tibetan, Hui, Mongolian, Zhuang, Uygur

Climatic Features: continental climate with the average sunlight of over 3000 hours annually; coldest in January and hottest in July and the comfortable months for travel is from June to September
Average Temperature: 7C annually
Rainfall: annual average rainfall 104-459mm

Mountains: Mt. Qilianshan, Mt. Helishan and Longshoushan

Rivers: Heihe River

Products: Chinese date, apple, pear, garlic, honey, wine, cashmere

Local Highlights: Wooden Tower of Sui Dynasty, Shandan Buddha Temple and Shandan Horse Farm, Giant Buddha Temple.