Free Republic

Archaeologists have unearthed relics that suggest prehistoric humans lived along the Silk Road long before it was created about 2,000 years ago as a pivotal Eurasian trade network. An excavation project that started in 2010 on ruins in northwest China's Gansu Province has yielded evidence that people who lived on the west bank of the Heihe River 4,100 to 3,600 years ago were able to grow crops and smelt copper, the researchers said. The site is believed to date back to the Han Dynasty (202 BC - AD 220). Over the past three years, archaeologists have discovered a variety of...

127 killed as mudslides devastate China town Landslides triggered by torrential summer rains in northwest China killed 127 people and left 2,000 missing in the latest of a series of flood-related disasters to befall northern China where the heaviest rains in a decade have now cost more than 1,400 lives. By Peter Foster in Beijing Published: 9:22AM BST 08 Aug 2010 A small county town in a hilly area of Gansu province was smashed by a wave of mud and debris shortly after midnight on Saturday, according to local reports, with cars being swept down streets that were instantly turned...

">

Gansu Locked Down After Riots 2008-11-21 Local officials and residents say a curfew has been imposed on Longnan city following two days of violence between police and protesters. RFA Volunteer A police officer kicks a protestor restrained by two fellow officers in Longnan, Gansu province. HONG KONG—Authorities in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu have imposed a curfew on some districts of Longnan city following two days of violence between security forces and local residents resisting eviction. "The whole area is under curfew," a local official who declined to be identified said. "Any groups of more than three people will...

An ancient oasis in destitute Gansu province along the historic Silk Road, Dunhuang is in danger of being swallowed by the sands of the adjacent Kumtag desert, which are creeping closer at a rate of up to 13 feet a year... The problem stems from centuries of unsustainable grazing and farming practices and overuse of already slim and strained water resources. The government has attempted to blunt the spread through reforestation, incentives and other means... Once a welcome oasis for Silk Road travelers thanks to an ancient store of groundwater, Dunhuang is drying up. [page 2] The water table in...

Ancient pottery with plowing design unearthed www.chinaview.cn 2004-08-07 10:57:27 LANZHOU, Aug. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- A 4,800-year-old piece of colored pottery bearing designs of plowing was recently unearthed at Lintao County in northwest China's Gansu Province. Chinese archaeologists believe the pottery, which is 30-cm-talland 34-cm in width, belongs to the Majiayao culture, a historical period in about 3300 B.C. to 2050 B.C.. The picture on the pottery vividly portrays a scene of plowing in simple black lines. Beside the farmland is a river, painted in several zigzag lines. Wang Zhi'an, president of the Gansu Provincial Majiayao Culture Society, said the design...