Lanzhou Military Region
(Lanzhou Military Area Command, Lanzhou War Zone)

Last updated: 16 January 2008

The Lanzhou Military Region (MR), or Lanzhou Military Area Command (MAC), is headquartered in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province. Its area of responsibilities (AOR) includes the five northwest provinces (regions) of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Qinghai, and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. The military region is bordered to the north by Mongolia, the Altai Republic of the Russian Federation; and to the west by Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir; and to the southwest by India.

During the Cold War era, the Lanzhou MR was one of the most important three MRs that formed the northern defence line against the Soviet Union. The status of the Lanzhou MR had somehow decreased since the end of the Cold War. However, with the growing secession movement in Xinjiang, and the U.S. and NATO forces deployment in Afghanistan and other Central Asian republics since 2001, the importance of the Lanzhou MR is increasing again.

The Lanzhou MR has two group armies (21st and 47th) and five provincial military districts. Most of these units are poorly equipped compared to those deployed in the east and south. The Xinjiang MR, though not one of the top-level military regions, enjoys more autonomy than any other provincial military district, with its own subordinated military districts (Northern Xinjiang and Southern Xinjiang) and mobile divisions and brigades.