The Lanzhou–Qinghai railway, abbreviated as the Lanqing railway (simplified Chinese: 兰青铁路; traditional Chinese: 蘭青鐵路; pinyin: Lánqīng Tiělù) was built as the first step of an ambitious plan set by the People's Republic of China to connect Tibet with the rest of China by railway. LanQing railway, designed in 1956 and built from May 1958 to September 1959, runs 188 Kilometers long, connecting Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu province, and Xining, the capital city of Qinghai province.