Zhangye

Zhangye

Zhangye (simplified Chinese: 张掖; traditional Chinese: 張掖; pinyin: Zhāngyè), formerly romanized as Changyeh or known as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in central Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It borders Inner Mongolia on the north and Qinghai on the south. Its central district is Ganzhou, formerly a city of the Western Xia and one of the most important outposts of western China. The city was formerly also known as Ganzhou, named after the sweet waters (Chinese: 甘泉; pinyin: Gānquán) of its oasis. An alternative theory states that "Gan" was from the Ganjun Hill (绀峻山) near the city. The name of province came from a contraction of Ganzhou and Suzhou (modern Jiuquan). The name appears in Marco Polo's Travels under the name Campichu.[3]