Wuwei, city, east-central Gansu sheng (province), northwestern China. It is situated at the eastern end of the Hexi (Gansu) Corridor (through which the Silk Road ran southeast to northwest) to the north of the provincial capital, Lanzhou. Wuwei became an important defensive area under the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce). It has kept the same name ever since. In the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 ce) it became the seat of a prefecture called Liangzhou, known under the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12) as Liangzhou prefecture.

A traditionally strategic point, Wuwei is located where roads from Lanzhou in the south and from Yinchuan (now in the Hui Autonomous Region of Ningxia) to the east joined to form the main Silk Road. Since the late 1950s it has been an important rail junction on the line from Lanzhou to the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang. A spur line runs east to join the main Lanzhou-Yinchuan-Beijing line near the Gansu-Ningxia border.

Wuwei is the chief market and collecting centre not only for the irrigated area surrounding the city itself but also for the products (especially wool) of the pastoral nomads who live in the surrounding grasslands. Some industries have been developed locally, chiefly wine making and food processing; in addition, chemicals, building materials, textiles, and metallurgical products are manufactured. An ancient city with many monuments, Wuwei has been designated by the national government as one of China’s historical and cultural cities. Pop. (2002 est.) 199,370.

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