Yumen City Administrative Divisions

Yumen (玉门市) is a county-level city administered by Jiuquan City (酒泉市) in western Gansu Province. Located in the western section of the Hexi Corridor, between the Qilian Mountains and the Gobi Desert, Yumen occupies about 13,500 square kilometres and is one of China’s most historically important industrial cities. It rose with petroleum, became a cradle of China’s modern oil industry, and is closely associated with Wang Jinxi (王进喜), the legendary “Iron Man” of Chinese petroleum history.

Today, Yumen has a more complex administrative geography than an ordinary county-level city because its development has involved the relocation of the municipal center, old oilfield settlements, industrial parks, state farms and migrant-settlement townships. Current local-government descriptions commonly summarize Yumen as comprising the new and old urban areas, three major industrial parks, 12 township-level rural administrations and one urban subdistrict. A 2024 local governance report likewise describes Yumen as having “two urban areas, three industrial parks, 12 townships and one subdistrict.”

For tourism, this geography is particularly important. The Old Urban Area represents petroleum and industrial heritage; Chijin is closely connected with Wang Jinxi’s birthplace and red culture; Qingquan preserves the Huoshaogou Bronze Age archaeological landscape; Changma leads into the Qilian Mountains and grotto heritage; while Huangzhawan, Liuhe, Xiaxihao and other oasis townships are developing rural, ecological and agricultural tourism.

Administrative Structure of Yumen

A useful distinction needs to be made between current local administrative management and older national statistical coding.

Current Yumen government descriptions use a practical management structure of nine towns, one ordinary township and two Dongxiang ethnic townships, making 12 township governments, together with Xinshi District Subdistrict (新市区街道). The Old Urban Area (老市区) is administered separately through the Yumen Old Urban Area Administrative Committee, rather than functioning in daily government administration as an ordinary town. An official Gansu investment profile describes Yumen as having nine towns and three townships, while current 2026 procurement records confirm that Qingquan Township (清泉乡) remains an operating township government.

Some statistical and administrative-code databases still list Laojunmiao Town (老君庙镇) while omitting Qingquan Township. This reflects a long-standing historical inconsistency: plans in the early 2000s proposed merging Qingquan and Yumen East into Laojunmiao, but historical administrative records note that the proposed changes were not fully implemented in actual local administration.

For tourism and contemporary local-government information, the table below therefore follows Yumen’s current practical management system, while treating the Old Urban Area, industrial parks and state farms separately.

How Administrative Geography Shapes Tourism

Yumen’s attractions are much more dispersed than those of a conventional compact city. The modern municipal center lies in the New Urban Area, whereas the famous petroleum heritage is concentrated in the Old Urban Area, many kilometres away. Archaeological heritage is found around Qingquan, mountain landscapes and grottoes around Changma, and rural tourism in a series of oasis towns along agricultural and irrigation corridors.

This creates four broad tourism themes: industrial and red heritage, prehistoric and Silk Road archaeology, Qilian Mountain ecology, and oasis agricultural tourism.

Old Urban Area: China’s Petroleum Heritage Core

The Yumen Old Urban Area (玉门老市区) is the most distinctive tourism zone in the municipality. The development of the Yumen Oilfield began in the 1930s, and China’s first major modern industrial oilfield grew here. The area preserves an unusually complete landscape of oil wells, factories, workers’ settlements, industrial facilities and revolutionary-era memories.

The Yumen Oilfield Red Tourism Scenic Area (玉门油田红色旅游景区) is a national 4A tourist attraction, a national industrial-tourism demonstration base and a nationally recognized red-tourism destination. Its heritage includes Lao Yi Jing or “Old Well No. 1,” Laojun Temple, petroleum-worker cave dwellings, early drilling sites, Oil City Park, the Wang Jinxi Memorial Hall and historic refinery and machinery facilities. In 2024 it was selected among China’s “Industrial Tourism Innovation Stars.”

The Old Urban Area also contains the 693 Civil Defense Project and the newer “Light of Yumen” Industrial Experience Hall (玉门之光工业体验馆), which uses interactive displays to interpret oil extraction, renewable energy and Yumen’s industrial transformation. The latter remained part of Jiuquan’s official tourism offerings during the 2025–2026 winter season.

For travelers interested in China’s twentieth-century industrial history, the Old Urban Area deserves considerably more attention than an ordinary sightseeing stop.

Chijin Town: The Homeland of the “Iron Man”

Chijin Town (赤金镇) is closely associated with Wang Jinxi, one of the most famous figures in the history of China’s petroleum industry. The Iron Man Hometown Scenic Area (铁人故里景区) is officially rated 3A and combines Wang Jinxi-related heritage with local farming culture and rural tourism.

Chijin therefore complements the Old Urban Area: the Old Urban Area explains the industrial system in which Wang Jinxi worked, while Chijin presents his family background, rural upbringing and the cultural roots from which the “Iron Man Spirit” developed.

Qingquan Township: Huoshaogou and Bronze Age Civilization

Qingquan Township (清泉乡) is one of Yumen’s most important archaeological areas. The Huoshaogou Site (火烧沟遗址) dates roughly to 4,000–3,800 years ago and represents an important Bronze Age culture of the Hexi Corridor. Archaeological discoveries include pottery, bronze objects, stone tools, jade and other material illustrating early metalworking and cultural exchange across Eurasia.

The associated Huoshaogou Primitive People Tribe Scenic Area (火烧沟原始人部落景区) is rated 3A and incorporates interpretation, reconstructed cultural experiences and pottery-related educational activities.

Qingquan is therefore more important for archaeology, study tours and prehistoric Silk Road themes than for conventional landscape sightseeing.

Changma Town: Qilian Mountain Ecology and Grotto Heritage

Changma Town (昌马镇) lies toward the Qilian Mountains at an average elevation of around 2,095 metres. It provides one of the strongest natural contrasts with Yumen’s desert and industrial landscapes.

The Tianjing Changma Scenic Area (天境昌马旅游景区) is a national 3A attraction. The wider Changma landscape includes springs, wetlands, red-willow vegetation, mountain scenery and traditional villages. Natural features such as Tiansheng Bridge (天生桥) and Qianyan Spring (千眼泉) are combined with historical resources including Changma Grottoes (昌马石窟) and local Silk Road traditions.

Changma is Yumen’s strongest area for combining mountain scenery, grotto culture, rural tourism and ecological recreation.

Huangzhawan Town: Oasis Agriculture and Ecological Tourism

Huangzhawan Town (黄闸湾镇) is one of Yumen’s most active rural-tourism areas. Guoxiang Huayuan Scenic Area (果巷花苑景区) in Zehu Village is a national 3A attraction, while Bulu Lake (布鲁湖) has developed around wetlands, ecological aquaculture, walking paths and seasonal cultural activities.

During the 2021–2025 period, Huangzhawan expanded agricultural-tourism integration, with Guoxiang Huayuan receiving 3A status and Bulu Lake developing into an increasingly important recreational area. Local reporting places annual visitor numbers to its tourism projects at around 120,000.

Liuhe Town and the Rural Tourism Belt

Liuhe Town (柳河镇) is represented by the Hongtianyuan Rural Tourism Scenic Area (红田园旅游景区), another national 3A attraction. Its tourism character is based on farmland, fruit and vegetable production, ecological improvement, village experiences and agricultural study tours.

The area around Hongqi Village demonstrates Yumen’s transition from desert-margin farming settlements toward integrated agriculture, ecology and tourism. By 2026, the village’s agricultural landscapes and study-tour facilities had become a recognized part of the local rural-tourism economy.

Other Oasis and Ethnic Townships

Huahai Town (花海镇) is one of Yumen’s important oasis agricultural areas and is particularly associated with melons and irrigated farming. Its tourism potential lies mainly in seasonal agricultural experiences rather than major conventional attractions.

Xiaxihao Town (下西号镇) lies close to the modern urban area and has developed countryside recreation and village-based tourism, including the Impression Chuanbei (印象川北) rural tourism concept.

Liuhu Town (柳湖镇) and Liudun Town (六墩镇) are primarily agricultural and migrant-settlement areas. Their value for tourism is more closely related to oasis farming, rural development and study-tour programs than to established scenic attractions.

Xiaojinwan Dongxiang Ethnic Township (小金湾东乡族乡) and Dushanzi Dongxiang Ethnic Township (独山子东乡族乡) are important areas for understanding Yumen’s modern population history. Dongxiang communities relocated to western Gansu through resettlement programs and have established distinctive agricultural settlements here. Dushanzi remains an active Dongxiang ethnic township in 2026, with agriculture—particularly melon production—forming an important part of the local economy.

For cultural travelers, these communities should be visited through appropriately arranged local programs rather than treated as commercial ethnic-theme attractions.

Complete Yumen Township-Level Administrative Table

The following table uses current local-government management practice rather than mechanically reproducing older statistical codes.

Special Management Areas Not Counted as Ordinary Townships

The three industrial parks are explicitly identified in Gansu’s official profile of Yumen and should not be added to the count of statutory or locally governed towns and townships.

Important Note on Laojunmiao Town and Qingquan Township

Older databases may show the following list:

Xinshi District Subdistrict + Yumen, Chijin, Huahai, Laojunmiao, Huangzhawan, Xiaxihao, Liuhe, Changma, Liuhu and Liudun towns + Xiaojinwan and Dushanzi ethnic townships.

This is the structure preserved in some statistical-code databases through at least 2023.

However, this coding does not perfectly reflect contemporary local administration. Qingquan Township has an operating township government in 2025–2026, while the Old Urban Area continues to be governed by its own administrative committee. Yumen’s current practical descriptions therefore favor the formulation “new and old urban areas + three industrial parks + 12 townships.”

For a travel website, tourism planning document or current destination guide, this practical management structure is the clearer approach.