The Beijing–Lhasa Expressway (), commonly abbreviated to Jingzang Expressway (), is part of the
Chinese national expressway network and is planned to connect the nation's capital,
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, to the capital of the
Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), often shortened to Tibet in English or Xizang in Pinyin, Hanyu Pinyin, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China. It was established in 1965 to replace the ...
,
Lhasa
Lhasa, officially the Chengguan District of Lhasa City, is the inner urban district of Lhasa (city), Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, Southwestern China.
Lhasa is the second most populous urban area on the Tibetan Plateau after Xining ...
.
It passes through seven of
China's administrative regions, including the Beijing municipality, the province of
Hebei
Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
, the autonomous regions of
Inner Mongolia
Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...
and
Ningxia
Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...
, the provinces of
Gansu
Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...
and
Qinghai
Qinghai is an inland Provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. It is the largest provinces of China, province of China (excluding autonomous regions) by area and has the third smallest population. Its capital and largest city is Xin ...
, and finally the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Passage
Beginning from Beijing and driving southwest to Lhasa, the expressway runs approximately through Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu and Qinghai, for a total of seven provincial-level divisions. Excluding the two terminal points, it passes through the major cities of
Zhangjiakou
Zhangjiakou (), also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the southwest ...
,
Jining District
Jining District ( Mongolian: ; ) is an urban district that serves as the administrative seat of Ulanqab, a region governed as a prefecture-level city in the mid-western part of Inner Mongolia, China. It has an area of approximately 114.2 ...
,
Hohhot
Hohhot,; abbreviated zh, c=呼市, p=Hūshì, labels=no formerly known as Kweisui, is the Capital (political), capital of Inner Mongolia in the North China, north of the China, People's Republic of China, serving as the region's administrativ ...
,
Bayannur
Bayannur or Bayannao'er ( zh, c=巴彦淖尔市, p=bāyànnàoěr; ''Bayannaɣur qota'', Mongolian Cyrillic Баяннуур хот) is a prefecture-level city in western Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China. Until 1 December 2003, the ...
,
Wuhai
Wuhai (; ''Üqai qota'', Mongolian Cyrillic: Үхай хот) is a prefecture-level city and regional center in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, and is by area the smallest prefecture-level division of the region. It is located on ...
,
Yinchuan
Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and was the capital of the Tangut people, Tangut-led Western Xia, Western Xia dynasty. It has an area of and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 C ...
,
Wuzhong,
Baiyin
Baiyin ( zh, s=白银 , t=白銀 , p=Báiyín , l=White-Silver) is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Gansu province, People's Republic of China. Established in the 1950s as a base for mining non-ferrous metals, its mines are becoming exhau ...
,
Lanzhou
Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...
,
Xining
Xining is the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. As of the 2020 census, it had 2,467,965 inhabitants (2,208,708 as of 2010), of whom 1,954,795 l ...
and
Golmud
Golmud, also known by various other romanizations, is a county-level city in the Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, China. It is now the second-largest city in Qinghai and the third largest in the Tibetan P ...
.
As of August 2010, just over fifty percent of the expressway is open to traffic, which mainly comprises the stretch between Beijing and Xining. Like
China National Highway 109
China National Highway 109 connects Beijing with Lhasa. It runs westwards from Beijing via Datong, Yinchuan and Xining to Golmud before turning southwest to Lhasa. The portion of the highway from Xining to Lhasa is known as the Qinghai-Tibet Hig ...
and the
Qingzang railway, it is expected to pass west through Golmud before heading southwest into Tibet and Lhasa. Because of climatic conditions, this stretch of the expressway does not yet have a construction timetable.
As of 2019 the expressway is completed between Beijing and Golmud, and the section between Nagqu and Lhasa was completed in August 2021. The mountainous section between Golmud and Nagqu is not yet shown on maps, and reserved for future plans.
The G6 merges with the
G7 in Huhhot and does not split until Linhe (now Baynnur).
Ningxia
The expressway is of particular importance in Ningxia, where 86.7% of the urban population lives in cities along the expressway, and over 90% of the provincial GDP is generated in these cities. In 2020, a 2x4 lane bypass around Ningxia's capital Yinchuan was opened, and another in Ningxia will be widened to 2x3 lanes.
Detailed itinerary
See also
*
Badaling Expressway (part of the G6 in Beijing)
*
Expressways of China
The expressway network of China, with the national-level expressway system officially known as the National Trunk Highway System (; abbreviated as NTHS), is an integrated system of national and provincial-level expressways in China.Li, Si-min ...
*
Jingzhang Expressway (part of the G6 in Hebei)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:G6 Beijing-Lhasa Expressway
06
Expressways in Beijing
Expressways in Hebei
Expressways in Inner Mongolia
Expressways in Ningxia
Expressways in Gansu
Expressways in Qinghai
Expressways in Tibet