town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
of
Gaolan County
Gaolan County () is a county of Gansu Province, China, one of 58 counties of Gansu. Its postal code is 730200, and its population in 2019 was 147,000 people, a 13% decrease since 1999. It falls under the administration of the prefecture-level cit ...
,
Lanzhou
Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...
,
Gansu
Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...
Province, People's Republic of China.
The town was first historically described as a military garrison and fort, established in 1495 during the reign of the
Hongzhi Emperor
The Hongzhi Emperor (30 July 1470 – 9 June 1505), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Xiaozong of Ming, personal name Zhu Youcheng, was the tenth emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1487 to 1505. He succeeded his father, the Ch ...
in the
Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
, being located in strategic position in a bend of the
Yellow River
The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...
. The town is known for its large ancient pear orchard, with trees up to 500 years old, and the orchard itself being established 600 years ago. The
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' long wall") is a series of fortifications in China. They were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against vario ...
crosses the Yellow River at Shichuan town as well, a few ruins of it are still visible.
Villages
Shichuan administers 9
villages
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...