Zhangye City, anciently known as Ganzhou, is a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of Gansu Province, a national famous historical and cultural city, an ecological city of the Gobi Wetland, a tourist center city and an important trade circulation hub in the west of the Hexi region, as well as one of the agricultural and sideline product processing and energy bases in Gansu Province, as approved and determined by the People's Government of Gansu Province. As of February 2023, Zhangye City has 1 district and 5 counties under its jurisdiction, with a total area of 38,600 square kilometers. As of the end of 2022, Zhangye City had a resident population of 1,120,100 people.
Zhangye City is located in the northwest of Gansu Province, in the middle of the Hexi Corridor. It is close to Wuwei City and Jinchang City of Gansu Province in the east, Jiayuguan City and Jiuquan City of Gansu Province in the west, bordering with Qinghai Province in the south and Inner Mongolia in the north. Within the Qilian Mountains water conservation area, the Black River Oasis, desert Gobi three major ecosystems intertwined, snow-capped mountains and glaciers, forests and grasslands, colorful Danxia, fertile fields, wetlands and migratory birds, desert sand dunes and other landforms are intertwined.
Zhangye City had human activities as early as five thousand years ago. During the pre-Qin period, the weak water basin was inhabited by the Yuezhi. After the Xiongnu took possession of Hexi in the fourth year of the Qianyuan period of the Western Han Dynasty (176 BC), the area belonged to the right land of the Xiongnu. In the sixth year of the Western Han Dynasty (111 years ago), Dunhuang County was set up in the west of Jiuquan County, and Zhangye County was set up in the east of Yanzhi Mountain at the same time. Since ancient times, it has been a major trading town on the Silk Road, and has been known as the "South River on the Seas" and "Golden Zhangye". With deep cultural deposits and rich humanistic landscapes, Zhangye is a famous national historical and cultural city and an excellent tourist city in China.
In 2022, the gross regional product of Zhangye will be 58.151 billion yuan, an increase of 6.1% over 2021 at constant prices.