Situated within the narrow Hexi Corridor of West Gansu province, the Jiayuguan City Prefecture is bordered in the North by the Black Mountains (Hei Shan) on the other side of which lies the Alxa League of the Inner-Mongolia Autonomous Region.
In the South the border is naturally formed by the Qilian Mountain Range (Qilian Shan ; 祁连山), which at some 5200 to 5800 meters in height, are in fact the last foothills of the Tibetan Plateaux seperating the Hexi Corridor from Qinghai Province (East Tibet).
