Lanzhou Military Region

Lanzhou Military Region
Lanzhou Military Region (highlighted)
Simplified Chinese	兰州军区
Traditional Chinese	蘭州軍區
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lánzhōu Jūnqū

The Lanzhou Military Region was one of seven military regions in the People's Republic of China. It directed all military and armed police forces in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, and Shaanxi. The Ali area of northwest Tibet also falls under this Region. It is headquartered in Lanzhou in Gansu Province. It is bordered to the south by the Chengdu Military Region, and to the north by Mongolia, the Altai Republic, which is a political subdivision of the Russian Federation, and Kazakhstan. This region is now part of the Western Theater Command due to the military reforms of 2015.

In 2006 the International Institute for Strategic Studies attributed the Region with an estimated 220,000 personnel, a single armoured division, two motorised infantry divisions, one artillery division, one armoured, two motorised infantry, one artillery, one anti-aircraft brigades plus a single anti-tank regiment.

The Region included two Group Armies (the 21st at Baoji and the 47th at Lintong) plus two Armed Police Units (the 7th and 63rd). The known smaller formations included the 12th Armoured Brigade ('84701 Unit') at Jiuquan, Gansu. The region also included the Xinjiang Military District, unusual among PRC military districts in that it contains a significant number of combat troops (the 4th Infantry Division, 6th Infantry Division, 8th Infantry Division, and, apparently, the 11th Highland Motorised Infantry Division reportedly either at Urumqi or in the Karakoram Mountains (Blasko 2000).