Hexi Corridor

English

Alternative forms

• Ho-hsi Corridor (Wade–Giles)

Etymology

Partial calque from Mandarin and from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin Chinese pronunciation for 河西走廊 (Héxī Zǒuláng).

Proper noun

Hexi Corridor

1. (historical) Part of the Northern Silk Road running northwest from the bank of the Yellow River. Consisting of a string of oases, it was the most important route from North China to the Tarim Basin and Central Asia for traders and the military.

   Synonym: Hexi

   • [1964, Yu-ti (任育地) Jen, 中国地理概述‎^[1], Peking: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 195:

     The Hohsi Corridor is long, narrow and easily passable. Over 1,000 kilometres in length, it is bordered on the south by the Chilien Mountains and on the north by the broken, slightly lower Peishan Mountains. It is penetrated by the rolling sand from Inner Mongolia. The corridor, though an arid area, is constantly watered by the melting snow and ice from the Chiliens. The irrigation system here goes back 2,000 years, when agriculture was originally developed on the oases on which most of the towns and villages have since arisen.]

   • [1964 April 14 [1963 November 20], “Small Su-pei Mongol Hsien Grows”, in Communist China Digest‎^[2], number 117, Joint Publications Research Service, sourced from Peiping, Kuang-ming Jih-pao, →OCLC, page 17:

     Su-pei Mongol Autonomous Hsien is situated in the western portion of the Ho-hsi Corridor of Kansu Province, bordering A-k'o-sai Kazakh Autonomous Hsien...]

   • [1969, “Northwest China: The Mongolian-Sinkiang Region”, in The Physical Geography of China‎^[3], volume II, Frederick A. Praeger, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 212:

     The geological structure of the Alashan Plain is more complex. The central portion of it was composed of ancient pre-Sinian deposits which were gradually overlaid by a mantle of Quaternary sands, but crop out on the surface in the elevations. The northern part is composed of Paleozoic and Mesozoic (chiefly Cretaceous) sediments while the southern piedmont portion (i.e., the Hohsi Corridor) was filled by beds of Paleozoic sedimentary and Meso-Cenozoic continental deposits which reach particularly great thickness in certain depressions such as the Chiuch’uan, Kanchou and Chaoshui.]

   • 1993 August, Miao Wang, Shi Bao Xiu, “A Detour Through the Desert to Etzina”, in Tu Nai Hsien, editor, From the Pamirs to Beijing: Tracing Marco Polo's Northern Route‎^[4], Hong Kong: HK China Tourism Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 94, column 1:

     When we were in Zhangye we consulted a map and saw that the Ruoshui River has its source in the Qilian Mountains, then winds north through the Hexi Corridor and into the desert. It then flows through the forests of Ejin Banner and pours into two lakes — the Gaxun Nur and the Sogo Nur.

   • 2003, Geology and Health: Closing the Gap‎^[5], Oxford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 17:

     Dust-fall sampling along the Hexi Corridor shows that while it is traditionally believed that dust storm activity peaks in spring to early summer, the pattern is more complex (Figure 2.2).

Synonyms

• Kansu Corridor

Translations

corridor

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 河西走廊 (zh) (Héxī Zǒuláng)

• Japanese: 河西回廊 (かせいかいろう, Kasei Kairō)
• Xibe: ᡥᡝᠰᡞ
  ᡯᡝᡠ
  ᠯᠠᡢ (hesi dzeo lang)

Further reading

• Saul B. Cohen, editor (1998), “Hexi Corridor”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[6], volume 2, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 1276, column 3