Jiayuguan City emerged due to mineral resources, took shape with the establishment of enterprises, and derived its name from the pass. It is a new modern industrial and tourist city developed alongside the construction of Jiuquan Iron and Steel (Group) Co., Ltd. in 1958. Established as a city in 1965 and named after Jiayuguan Pass — the western starting point of the Great Wall in the Ming Dynasty — it is one of China’s four prefecture-level cities without subordinate districts or counties. Currently, it administers 2 sub-districts (Xiongguan and Gangcheng) and 3 towns (Xincheng, Wenshu, and Yuquan), encompassing 31 communities and 17 administrative villages (117 villager groups). With a total area of 1,224 square kilometers, a built-up area of 70.4 square kilometers, 118,000 mu of cultivated land, and a permanent population of 315,000, the city has successively won honors such as China Excellent Tourist City, National Sanitary City, National Model City for Environmental Protection, National Garden City, National All-for-One Tourism Demonstration Zone, National Model City for Law-Based Government Building, National Civilized City, Excellent City in China for Taking the Lead in Building a Moderately Prosperous Society in All Respects, National Demonstration Zone for Ethnic Unity and Progress, National Food Safety Demonstration City, and China’s Happiest Cities.
Situated in western Gansu’s Hexi Corridor, Jiayuguan is the geographical center of four provinces/autonomous regions (Gansu, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang). It has long been a vital transportation hub on the ancient Silk Road, a key transfer town on the New Eurasian Land Bridge, an important node of the Silk Road Economic Belt in Gansu, and a major logistics distribution center in western Gansu, known historically as the "First Pass of Hexi" and "Key to the Borderlands".
The city boasts a three-dimensional transportation network integrating highways, railways, and air routes. National Highway G30 (Expressway) and G312 run through the entire territory. Jiayuguan Railway Station is the largest marshalling station in the Hexi Corridor, Jiayuguan South Railway Station is a crucial node on the Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway, and Jiayuguan Jiuquan Airport is a 4E-class international alternate airport on the Eurasian air route. The city has been designated as a national strategic pivot city for modern circulation.
As the largest iron and steel industrial base in northwest China and an important old industrial base in Gansu, Jiayuguan possesses an annual production capacity of 10 million tons of high-quality steel, 1.2 million tons of stainless steel, 1.7 million tons of electrolytic aluminum, and 1 million kilowatts of photovoltaic power. It has formed a modern industrial system with metallurgy as the mainstay, supported by new energy, equipment manufacturing, power chemicals, new building materials, and food brewing.
Jiayuguan Industrial Park (High-Tech Zone) is one of the first national low-carbon pilot parks and has been rated as an Excellent Development Zone in Gansu for 12 consecutive years. The Jiaxi Photovoltaic Industrial Park is listed among Gansu’s seven 1-million-kilowatt photovoltaic power generation bases. Six major national energy networks (including oil, natural gas, and electricity) pass through the city. The comprehensive support zone for the National Nuclear Base of CNNC No. 404 has been constructed locally. With a concentration of scientific research and military-industrial units as well as large and medium-sized enterprises in surrounding areas, Jiayuguan is the region with the most abundant and active production factors in western Gansu.
The city is home to diverse and fascinating attractions, including historical sites, Gobi wetlands, snow-capped mountains, and canyons. Silk Road culture, Great Wall culture, frontier culture, and Wei-Jin culture converge here.
Key attractions include: the world cultural heritage — Jiayuguan Pass (National 5A-level scenic spot, known as the "First Majestic Pass Under Heaven"), the First Pier of the Great Wall, the Overhanging Great Wall, Heishan Rock Paintings, and the underground galleries of the Wei-Jin Tomb Group (over 50 historical and cultural relics in total); national 4A-level scenic spots such as Zixuan Wine Chateau, Caohu National Wetland Park, and East Lake Ecological Scenic Area; and Fangte Happy World and Fangte Silk Road Myth — the largest and most technologically advanced theme parks in northwest China.
The city has cultivated brand events such as the International Triathlon, International Short Film Festival, and Great Wall Marathon. It has also launched The Majestic Pass — China’s first epic drama about the Great Wall — and Jiayuguan Under Heaven — the first real-scene night tour project of the Great Wall. Jiayuguan has successfully been selected as the second batch of National Demonstration Zones for the Protection and Utilization of Cultural Relics.
Adhering unswervingly to the strategy of "Building the City Through Ecology", Jiayuguan has carried out the "Greening Year" activity for 30 consecutive years. A number of popular ecological management projects and park green spaces with excellent ecological benefits have been built, forming a green ecological circle where "greenery is visible everywhere and scenery abounds around every corner".
The urban green coverage rate reaches 41.05%, with a per capita park green space area of 29 square meters. The water quality of drinking water sources, surface water, and groundwater all meets 100% of the standard. The city is renowned as the "Pearl of the Gobi with Lakes and Mountains".
Small yet refined, strong, and distinctive, Jiayuguan exudes a strong modern vibe with an urbanization rate of 94.75%. Indicators such as education, medical care, elderly care, and social security rank among the top in Gansu, and its social governance level leads the country.
In recent years, the city has thoroughly implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches and instructions during his inspection of Gansu, and fully implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the Provincial Party Committee. Focusing on the functional positioning of building a pilot zone for common prosperity, a demonstration zone for industrial transformation and upgrading, a high-quality ecological livable city, and an important symbol of the Great Wall culture in Gansu, Jiayuguan has strived to become a model city for integrated urban-industrial development, local-enterprise cooperation, urban-rural integration, green development, social governance, and people’s well-being.
In 2024:
- Regional GDP increased by 8.2%, ranking second in Gansu.
- General public budget revenue grew by 8.4%.
- Fixed asset investment rose by 6.1%.
- Per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents reached 55,821 yuan and 30,742 yuan respectively, both ranking first in Gansu.
The city has won awards from the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People’s Government for eight consecutive quarters over two years, including four "Contribution Awards" and four "Progress Awards", showing a sound momentum of steady progress and positive economic development.
