Breathtaking beauty of a magical oasis

When people talk about Northwest China, they think of boundless deserts and desolate sand. The historic city of Zhangye, in Gansu province, however, is an oasis, colorful, magical and exotic.

Nourished by melting snow from the towering Qilian Mountains in the south and China's second-largest continental waterway, the Heihe River, running through it, the city embraces the charm of southern and western China and features a host of geographic marvels, including Danxia landforms and canyons.

The name Zhangye, meaning "open arms" in English, is adopted from the lines of an ancient poem that says: "Stretch the country's arms out to reach the Western Region" - a testament to its role as a bridge on the ancient Silk Road.

Dating back to the Western Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 24), the city emerged as an outpost on the route linking North China, the Tarim Basin and Central Asia that was taken by traders and the military. Its long history has endowed the city with a splendid cultural heritage.

Zhangye was formerly named Ganzhou. Impression of Ganzhou, a photographic contest run by the local government in partnership with China National Geography magazine, provides a glimpse of the city's beauty - through the camera lens. Selected from 4,000 pictures taken by 2,000 photographers over the four months from June, the final award-winning shots were unveiled on Oct 26.

lijing2009@chinadaily.com.cn

Spectacular: A view of Mayinghe Grand Canyon. Chen Xinwen / For China Daily

Rugged terrain: The Danxia landform is the largest and most typical of China's arid regions. It is characterized by red rocks and steep cliffs. Liu Zongxin / For China Daily

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/04/2016 page4)