The Power of Place: East Asia

The Power of Place: East Asia

1. Location of Lanzhou and Shenyang on a Map of China

Distance and various geographical barriers remove Lanzhou and Shenyang from the heartland of Han China. The mountains, steppes and plateaus of central and western China act as a barrier for Lanzhou, while the Yellow Sea and the broken periphery of the Mongolian Plateau plays as a barrier for Shenyang.

2. Cultural Crossroads

A place where many cultures meet and merge is termed as a cultural crossroad.

Lanzhou as Cultural Crossroads

Lanzhou city is located very close to the geographic centre of today's China. In the third century B.C., Lanzhou city was founded during the Qin dynasty. It is one of the interesting cultural crossroads of China. In an extensive trade network, Lanzhou has served, historically, as a stopover point. For thousands of years, it has been an established regional center, presenting an access to Central Asia through the old Silk Road. The location of city makes the most of the Huang He river's shallowness as the river passes on the mountainous region and comes into the Lanzhou basin. The cultural concourse of Han, Hui, Mongol, and Tibetan started out in ancient times keeps on these days as the region embarks on industrial development. A borderland or frontier is represented by the region that has been, over time, under the control of various groups. This frontier situation is reflected by the cultural mosaic found today.

For North Central China, Lanzhou is a major transportation hub, connecting the eastern provinces with Xinjiang, Qinghai and Tibet and has rail connections to Mongolia and Russia.

3. Impact of Foreign Investment on the Shenyang's Development

Though there is a decline in the economic might of Shenyang, however, a vivid point in economic future of Shenyang is investments in new machinery by ...