Meanings
alternative Ho-hsi Corridor
- historicalA geographical region of relatively arable terrain in modern western Gansu Province, China, 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.
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...
[1964 April 14 [1963 November 20], “Small Su-pei Mongol Hsien Grows”, in Communist China Digest, number 117, Joint Publications Research Service, sourced from Peiping, Kuang-ming Jih-pao, →OCLC, page 174 more examples
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.
A Concise Geography of China
[1964, Yu-ti (任育地) Jen, 中国地理概述 [A Concise Geography of China], Peking: Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 195The 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.
[1969, “Northwest China: The Mongolian-Sinkiang Region”, in The Physical Geography of China, volume II, Frederick A. Praeger, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 212When 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.
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, Hong Kong: HK China Tourism Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 94, column 1Dust-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).
2003, Geology and Health: Closing the Gap, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 17Synonyms: Gansu Corridor, Hexi
Synonyms & antonyms
proper nounA geographical region of relatively arable terrain in modern western Gansu Province, China, 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.
Origin
- Mandarin河西走廊
- EnglishHexi Corridor
Partial calque from Mandarin and from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 河西走廊 (Héxī Zǒuláng).
More words from Mandarin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 河西走廊
- 河西走廊 (Héxī Zǒuláng)corridor
Japanese 河西回廊
- 河西回廊 (Kasei Kairō)corridor
Polish Korytarz Gansu
- Korytarz Gansucorridor
Cite this entry
Hexi Corridor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hexi%20Corridor
“Hexi Corridor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hexi%20Corridor. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hexi Corridor,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hexi%20Corridor.
Source: Hexi Corridor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.