The district also includes some sparsely populated arid highlands south of the river, stretching for several tens of kilometers up to the border of the Dingxi prefecture-level city.

In the 1940 it was part of Gaolan County, and two towns were located at the present urban centre, Huaqiao (握桥镇) in the east and Bingping (丙屏镇) in the west.

The name of the district is derived from a stream (hé), located seven (qī) li from downtown Lanzhou, and between the two former towns.

Long-distance buses depart from Lanzhou West Bus Station.

The local economy mainly depended on state-owned enterprises, but service industry and commerce has become of greater importance.