FERTILE LAND AND FACTORIES
Gansu Province Ñ The train, heading north from Lanzhou up to deserts and oases of the Hexi Corridor, first crosses a dry but fertile narrow valley irrigated by the Yellow River, where fields give way to factories.
Lanzhou, capital of poor and arid Gansu Province and a stop along the ancient Silk Road, is one the most polluted cities on earth. Located in a narrow valley surrounded by hills, the industrial city of 3 million is a basin accumulating smog. The government has reduced the use of coal, closed the worst factories and leveled a mountain to allow the wind to sweep out the pollution. But the improved air of the city, located in the heart of ChinaÕs desertified northwest, is becoming more and more affected by dust storms.
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