The Hexi Corridor is located in western Gansu province, bordered to the south by the Qilian Mountains and to the north by the Gobi Desert.

From west to east, the major cities are: Dunhuang, Yumen, Jiayuguan, Jiuquan, Zhangye, Jinchang, Wuwei, and finally Lanzhou in the southeast.

[4][5] Just south of the provincial boundary of Gansu lies Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, which served as the chief commercial hub of the Hexi Corridor along the Northern Silk Road.

[19][20] Bronze age societies in the Hexi Corridor at this time include the Shajing, Qijia, Xichengyi, Siba, and Shanma cultures.

[21] Wheat and barley from the Fertile Crescent arrived in the Hexi Corridor via Central Asia around 4000 BP,[22][23][24] and later spread into China proper.

[39] The Xiongnu were pushed out of their heartlands by the Qin dynasty in 215 BCE, and the Great Wall of China was constructed to enclose these conquered territories, which included parts of the Hexi Corridor.

[38] In 176 BCE, the Xiongnu confederation under Modu Chanyu decisively defeated their previous overlords, the Yuezhi,[42][43][44] while also subjugating twenty-six other tribes in the vicinity.

He was unsuccessful in doing so, and was captured and held by the Xiongnu on both his way to the Yuezhi and back, but was able to give detailed accounts of various kingdoms in the Tarim Basin and further areas which had been unknown to the Chinese before then.

[53][54][55] In the Battle of Hexi [zh] in 121 BCE, Han general Huo Qubing expelled the Xiongnu from the region,[56] and four new commanderies were established on these lands, namely (from east to west) Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan and Dunhuang.

[65][66] During the turbulent reign of Wang Mang, Han lost control over the Tarim Basin, which was reconquered by the Xiongnu in 63 CE and used as a base to invade the Hexi Corridor.

Dou Gu defeated the Xiongnu again at the Battle of Yiwulu in 73 CE, evicting them from Turpan and chasing them as far as Lake Barkol before establishing a garrison at Hami.

After the new Protector General of the Western Regions Chen Mu was killed in 75 CE by allies of the Xiongnu in Karasahr and Kucha, the garrison at Hami was withdrawn.

The Hexi Corridor is a long, narrow passage stretching for some 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) from the steep Wushaolin hillside near the modern city of Lanzhou to the Jade Gate[67] at the border of Gansu and Xinjiang.

In western Gansu Province is Dunhuang (Shazhou), then Yumen, then Jiayuguan, then Jiuquan (Suzhou), then Zhangye (Ganzhou) in the center, then Jinchang, then Wuwei (Liangzhou) and finally Lanzhou in the southeast.