Discovering Gansu's diversity, from Lanzhou to Gannan

In the mid-90s Zhongshan Bridge continued to carry a limited amount of vehicle traffic, but today it is pedestrianized. I would walk slowly across, stopping to look down on the sometimes turbulent waters or to gaze upon the constant flow of people. Lanzhou, like other northwestern cities such as Xining, reflects the region's demographic diversity — you see many Hui (Chinese Muslim) men wearing white circular caps or ladies with heads covered with green or black scarves mingling with maroon-robed Buddhist monks and Tibetans who had come down from nearby uplands or from Qinghai. Simply enthralling.

Beyond the bridge, steps led steeply up White Pagoda Hill (baita shan), where small temples provided a respite to gaze across the river, while looking over an increasingly modernizing city toward the Five Spring Mountain (wuquan shan). That long ridge hems Lanzhou tightly in toward the Yellow River. It was also interesting also to look down on the rooftops of mosques with their distinctive minaret towers — reminders this has long been a leading gateway to China's northwest.